@article{ref1,
title="Monitoring a toxicological outbreak using Internet search query data",
journal="Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.)",
year="2012",
author="Yin, Shan and Ho, Mona",
volume="50",
number="9",
pages="818-822",
abstract="Background. A novel group of drugs of abuse colloquially known as &quot;bath salts&quot; had a dramatic rise in exposures recently noted in Europe and the United States. Internet search query data have been shown to be correlated with office visits for influenza-like illnesses. The purpose of this study was to determine whether internet search query data could have been used as a surveillance method for this outbreak. Methods. This was a retrospective database review of the National Poison Database System and internet search query data provided by Google Insights for Search (GIS) comparing exposures reported to &quot;bath salts&quot; with internet searches for &quot;bath salts&quot;. Results. 1072 cases of exposures to &quot;bath salts&quot; were reported to US poison centers from 7/1/10 to 2/28/11. GIS data for the search term &quot;bath salts&quot; had a correlation of 0.84 with exposures to bath salts reported to US poison centers over the study period. Poison center exposures and GIS data did not differ significantly in detecting a change from the baseline (p = 0.85). When comparing exposures by state to search volumes by state for &quot;bath salts&quot;, the correlation was 0.79. Symptoms and treatments were typical of an exposure to a sympathomimetic drug. Conclusions. Internet search data correlated very well with exposures reported to US poison centers for a novel drug of abuse. In this particular outbreak, it is possible that using internet search data may have provided a means for public health officials to monitor the rise in usage on a national and regional basis.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1556-3650",
doi="10.3109/15563650.2012.729667",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/15563650.2012.729667"
}