TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Web tool helps advise when flu needs a doctor

Staff file photo by KATHY MOORE (2007)

Type in your age — it's only for people older than 12 — and answer questions about fever, other symptoms and your underlying health.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: October 7, 2009

WASHINGTON - Wondering whether swine flu's bad enough to require a doctor's attention? An interactive Web site may help you decide, using the same type of triage calculations that doctors at Emory University use.

Microsoft Corp. unveiled the site Wednesday at www.h1n1responsecenter.com.

Type in your age — it's only for people older than 12 — and answer questions about fever, other symptoms and your underlying health.

The program may conclude you've probably got swine flu, but will say that rest and fluids should be enough care or that you need a nonemergency call to your own doctor.

But answer that you've been short of breath — or that you felt better but then the fever came back with a worse cough — and the program flashes: "You might be very sick! Call your doctor now."

It's part of efforts, including local hot lines, to keep people who aren't that sick from flooding already crowded emergency rooms.

Microsoft licensed the self-assessment tool from Emory, which based it on what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined are key risks factors for a bad flu outcome. A large insurer tested the tool against more than 2,500 records of patient visits for flu-like symptoms in Colorado, and only two people deemed low-risk were hospitalized within the following two weeks.

"It reflects the best available science," said Emory emergency medicine specialist Arthur Kellermann.

The CDC also posts lists of signs to seek emergency flu care, including for children, at www.flu.gov.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT