Microsoft just deployed an interactive Web site designed to help people decide whether a case of swine flu requires a doctor's attention, employing the same type of triage calculations that doctors at Emory University use.
This tool is intended only for people over 12 years of age. Enter your age and answer additional questions about fever, other symptoms and your underlying health, and the site will advise whether a doctor's attention is recommended.
Microsoft licensed the self-assessment tool from Emory, which based it on key risks factors for a bad flu outcome according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A large insurer tested the tool against more than 2,500 records of patient visits for flulike 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 Dr. Arthur Kellermann.
The CDC also posts lists of signs to seek emergency flu care, including for children, at http://www.flu.gov.
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