So what do they do with all of that search data at Google? Well, apparently one of the things that they do is use it to attempt to estimate flu occurrences around the world, including Birmingham, AL.

Flu Trends is one of the projects that exist on Google.org – the company’s philanthropic arm – that appears to be quite accurate in figuring out when different parts of the country come down with the flu. Eerily so – but it looks like if the trend won’t be that bad for the rest of the year (at least, so far).

Screenshot: from Google.org