There's no better use of technology these days than enlisting it as a tool to track swine flu. As alerts for swine flu begin emerging, one of the technologies being used is a business intelligence tool from SAP, reports InformationWeek.com. It is being used by Emergency Medical Associates (EMA), which provides emergency services to hospitals and health systems in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The SAP technology will enable EMA to alert the Centers for Disease Control and 21 emergency medical departments about the patterns of outbreaks.

"By drilling down into specific syndromes in our patient reports, we can pinpoint spikes in fever and flu-like symptoms that are swine flu indicators," said Jonathan Rothman, director of Data Management, Emergency Medical Associates, in an SAP statement.

When the statistics grow bigger than normal, EMA will be able to pinpoint a swine flu outbreak. The SAP tool is one of many technology tools being used by healthcare providers to follow the progression of the virus. Other tools include Twitter, as well as Google tools and iPhone apps. The Centers for Disease Control is tapping Twitter, YouTube and other social networks to track swine flu.

For more on using tech to track swine flu:
- check out this InformationWeek.com article

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