Tracking Norovirus Outbreaks Using Social Media Data

The chapter explores the seasonality of Norovirus, commonly known as the Winter Vomiting Bug, and the Food Standards Agency's efforts to predict outbreaks using Twitter data. It discusses a study from 2013 that revealed a strong correlation between social media posts about illness and laboratory reports of Norovirus cases. Dr. Shahn Thomas introduces the agency's innovative approach of using algorithms to monitor social media for signs of sickness, particularly Norovirus, with a high accuracy in predicting upticks in cases.