A new application for the iPhone has recently been made available to all iPhone/iPod Touch users for free.  The app is called “Outbreaks Near Me”.  It is developed by researchers in Childrens Hospital Boston with the help of the Media Lab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The application has support from Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google.com.  It enables users to track and report outbreaks of diseases in real time.

The application is associated with HealthMap, an online service which collects and filters emerging infectious diseases such as the a(H1N1) influenza or commonly known as Swine Flu.

“We hope individuals will find the new app to be a useful source of outbreak information — locally, nationally, and globally,” said HealthMap co-founder John Brownstein, an assistant professor in the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program.

“As people are equipped with more knowledge and awareness of infectious disease, the hope is that they will become more involved and proactive about public health,” he said.

“We aim to empower citizens in the cause of public health, not only by providing ready access to real-time information, but also by encouraging them to contribute their own knowledge, expertise, and observations,” he said.

“In enabling participation in surveillance, we also expect to increase global coverage and identify outbreaks earlier,” he added.

Personally I think this is a great application.  With the help of everyone who will report cases of infectious disease, everyone will be aware of outbreaks and will be able to prevent them from spreading.