iPhone App Does Battle with Swine Flu

[Michael Essany]

Helping prepare the world for combat with a potential global Swine Flu pandemic, Harvard Medical School is modifying our iPhone into a full blown anti-Swine Flu device with a little help from their new application - The Swine Flu app.

Now available for download at a cost of $1.99, the new iPhone app is designed to provide alerts about Swine Flu outbreaks within your geographic proximity.

From the Washington Post:

The Swine Flu Application includes videos, animations and text that allow you to learn the basics about swine flu, how to reduce the risk to you and your family, and how to prepare your business for the pandemic. The app also features real-time updates and news from Harvard Med School about H1N1.

The app also provides a "hot line" guide to help you locate and obtain medical treatment in your community. If you're feeling under the weather, you can even check your symptoms to see if any match those commonly attributed to the H1N1 virus.

I tested out the app yesterday and am happy to report I appear to free of the illness. However, the app still managed to scare the life out of me with the frightening information it contains.

A hypochondriac's delight, this application may sound familiar given that it isn't the first of its nature, but this latest mobile offering from Harvard Medical School carries the credibility that can only come from the affiliation with such a prestigious institution.

The Swine Flu App is part of Harvard Medical School's greater mobile strategy, called HMS Mobile, which aims to deliver a series of iPhone Applications aimed at promoting public health.

It may be a wee bit of a stretch to say that the new iPhone application can actually save your life or even prevent anyone from actually contracting the illness, but medical experts say knowledge is power when it comes to at least avoiding the virus. And, in this regard, the iPhone app is a great tool for safeguarding our personal well-being.



Image via thisisbrandx.com

[shabz_de_don]

oh well... ive been through it,,, and thankfully its over for me!... tho this would of been useful like straight after the swine flu for caught!

lol i always see this on pages... i thought id do it for a laugh...

1st :P

[iphone4idiots]

Timing on this is great. I'm sure H1N1 coverage will be very heavy the next six weeks. Doesn't seem to have hit Nashville very hard yet - relative to TV coverage

[Kirk7741]

well, yet again, there is an app that helps us all with valuble information, but we have to pay for it!!!!! if you want us educated (and possibly even safe from the piggy flu) dont make us pay!!!!!

on a totally unrelated note, im third!!!!!!

[JerseyScottie]

Potential to become a global pandemic? Not to burst your bubble but it's been classified as a global pandemic for a couple months now.30,000 people die per year from the regular flu,the swine flu is nothing to be worried about..typical global media
blowing things up to make them sound more dangerous then they actually are which results in everybody being scared.

[NArush]

well, yet again, there is an app that helps us all with valuble information, but we have to pay for it!!!!! if you want us educated (and possibly even safe from the piggy flu) dont make us pay!!!!!

on a totally unrelated note, im third!!!!!!

It's not like it's $20 bucks. I mean $1.99? I know we're in a recession... but geez, for the price of a cup of coffee you can get potential health info that could possibly cost you hundreds of dollars (if not thousands), should you get the swine fever.

[agent005]

Yeah as one who was tested and diagnosed with Swine.....It sucks, but honestly, it's not that bad. It's being hyped because it is contagious....and yet, sadly, no more than the regular flu.

But that isn't such a great headliner. 'Generic Flu strikes cities for the X amount of years in a row!'

[rwin84]

Capitalism at it's finest.

[Nitsson]

What a con. They’re capitalising on peoples fear of what, at the end of the day, is a over-hyped media-driven variant of the flu with a low mortality rate.

Each to their own of course, but I’ll save my $1.99.

[KartRacer]

I wish I could make two bucks off of stupid, easily fooled people of this country. Maybe I should write an app about a massively overblown HEAD COLD that stands to make drug manufacturers big money helped along by our lying media and our government that's in their back pocket. Hmmmm.....

I hope I get it so I can infect as many people as possible, then maybe they'll actually have an immune system worth a ****. People take way too many drugs these days for things they don't need to and it's making their lives worse. You don't fend of infections by taking massive amounts of medicine. There are some things that are better to suffer through so you build up a natural immunity to so the next time it comes around you can laugh at other weaklings.

[GTOpilot]

What a con. They’re capitalising on peoples fear of what, at the end of the day, is a over-hyped media-driven variant of the flu with a low mortality rate.

Each to their own of course, but I’ll save my $1.99.

I'm saving my $1.99 but as a father, this flu variant has me very concerned.

I have two little ones and there was a confirmed H1N1 case on my daughters bus..I found out an hour ago.

Now I hear that a 12 year old has died from it in my state. Considering my state is the size of a thumbnail, its something to be concerned about.

Considering this came from Harvard, I would think they would have the integrity to offer FREE info and advice to the masses.

[TooSlo]

Considering this came from Harvard, I would think they would have the integrity to offer FREE info and advice to the masses.

As we all know, schools have to be able to make ends meet in these times where the gov't is......


Oh hell, I can't keep a straight face through that.

[ecd5000]

$1.99 for that HA im so tired of all this swine flu crap everywhere, ITS THE FLU.

[thestrangestick]

Wow, I hope these twats are donating all profit to charity. Oh wait, this is the real world, these cowardly wankers are profiting off a ridiculous media circus. What's next? Bird Flu app? Oh wait...

[thevmax]

I sWHINE
You sWHINE
We all sWHINE ... for ?