Microsoft Launches Swine Flu Response Site

Microsoft Oct. 7 announced a new Website, the H1N1 Response Center, which provides users with relevant content and allows consumers to gauge symptoms and receive guidance using an H1N1 self-assessment service. The site offers consumers a self-assessment licensed from medical and public health experts at Emory University.

The service assists people in deciding whether their symptoms could be caused by the H1N1 flu virus and provides guidance on what they can do next.

Resource Library:

If a person decides to see a provider after taking the assessment, a prepare-for-visit tool allows him or her to compile an organized health history for providers by combining the self-assessment answers with health information stored in the user's account in Microsoft HealthVault, a personal health application platform designed to put consumers in control of their health information.

"Any pandemic has the potential to create major disruptions in society," David Cerino, general manager of Microsoft Health Solutions Group, said in a statement. "Now more than ever, we are in a position to implement solutions to help people make better decisions during these outbreaks, such as social distancing, because of the technological advancements that companies like Microsoft have made over the past few years."

The self-assessment licensed from Emory University is based on a SORT (Strategy for Off-site Rapid Triage). The assessment reflects current public health and clinical science, vetted by a national network of experts from public health, clinical medicine, health education and infectious disease. It is grounded in a clinical strategy endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians, the leading organization for emergency medicine in the United States.