Searching High and Low

Looking for statistics, charts, or maps on H1N1 or seasonal influenza?  Here are three sources to get you started:

Centers for Disease Control: Flu Activity & Surveillance

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm

Includes several charts and statistical tables including

• weekly and cumulative data on the number of infected
• a breakdown of types of influenza
• number of hospitalizations and deaths
• pediatric deaths and more

Also includes a map of the United States showing geographic spread and degree of reported flu activity (includes both seasonal and H1N1). Updated weekly.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/WeeklyFluActivityMap.htm

American College Health Association

The American College Health Association collects data on the number influenza-like illnesses reported on colleges and universities in the United States. Counts are submitted on a voluntarily basis by colleges and universities and are not to be considered inclusive of all institutions of higher education.

Their epicurve chart displays weekly data from late August through present and shows the number of new cases and the “attack rate” per 10,000 people.

Google’s Flu Trends

Google’s Flu Trends map shows trends in flu search activity. Google reports that an increase in flu-related searches are “good indicators of flu activity.”  Activity is mapped geographically for the United States and can be compared to data from prior years.

News from Florida: Free open textbooks for everyone.

It was announced recently that a joint program called Orange Grove Texts Plus (OGT+) has been established between the University Press of Florida (UFP) and The Orange Grove, Florida’s Digital Repository, to provide free downloads of open access textbooks.  Downloads of electronic versions of books are available to anyone from the Orange Grove website.  Print copies can be ordered “for about half the cost of traditional textbooks” (see “For Students”).

Most of the news stories I saw on the announcement said this would be free for Florida students (they were Florida-based publications) but as open access web resources go, they are indeed available to those outside of Florida.  Currently, 126 books are available in the collection (here’s the list [PDF]) but they plan to include a “large selection” of titles from UFP’s 1600 title backlist.

You can browse the collection online at The Orange Grove site and choosing:

Browse Collections > Open Textbook Resources