Google wants to be more than a giant search engine; it wants to be closer to its users through its new tool called Google Flu Trends. What exactly does the new tool do? Well, it is expected to help US authorities by tracking flu outbreaks weeks earlier than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracking bureaus, which uses information from reports received from state health departments and local hospitals.

How does it work? The mechanism appears to be very simple, as it will track the number of Google searches for term related to flu such as “thermometer” or “cold remedies.” When residents of an area search for such terms, that area is likely to become the host of a new flu outbreak. This way, residents in that area will be able to get their flu vaccine in order to avoid infection.

Annually, influenza kills about 36,000 Americans while 200,000 others are hospitalized. Seniors present a high risk of complications from the flu. That’s why the majority of flu deaths occur among this category of age.

With the help of the new tool, US health authorities hope they will succeed in reducing the number of flu victims. Glen Nowak, spokesman for CDC stated that “the sooner we have indication that flu is in a community, the earlier public health officials can take action.”

Traditional survey techniques employed by the CDC take about two weeks to precisely identify outbreaks. Hopefully, the new tool will be more efficient than that.