Dennis RomeroYesterday's news of the first case of Ebola diagnosed on U.S. soil probably has you a bit hypochondriacal today—checking your temperature, noting a slight frog in your throat.
Well, it's possible you are sick. It's almost impossible that it's Ebola.
See also: How Not to Get Ebola
The folks at Sickweather, an app and website that gives you real-time information on local illnesses based on social media data mining, say L.A. is in the midst of a cold-virus wave:
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“Reports of common cold are on the rise” in L.A. this week, Sickweather says.
How do they know? The tech firm says it uses “a patent-pending process” to track self-reported illness found on Twitter and Facebook.
The company then creates five-day maps of 23 maladies, including flu, colds, fever and allergies, the latter three of which it says are “going around Los Angeles.”
Illness reports are clustered into points on the map.
Credit: Sickweather
Fall is cold and flu season, even if it doesn't feel like fall around L.A. Children go back to school, share viruses with each other, and bring them home. Earlier sunsets mean we hang out with each other in closer quarters indoors, too.
So don't be surprised if there's more sniffling and sneezing around you this week. Just remember to wash your hands, use hand sanitizer and, if you're sick, try not to cough on your mates. Unless you don't like them that much.
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