There are few things in this world that cannot be easily replaced, repaired, or regained. Our health and the health of the ones we love falls into this category. The best thing we can do to protect our health, above medication or rest, is prevention.

This week, news broke of a new and fatal swine flu on the Mexico-U.S. border. It has quickly turned into a growing outbreak and possible pandemic. Knowing about these important and growing cases is vital to public health. Fortunately, there are several useful online resources that track health information and disease outbreaks.

This resource guide will help you better track not only cases of Swine Flu, but other public health concerns as well.

Step 1. Check the WHO Disease Outbreak News Center -- http://www.who.int/en/

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the leading source for health and disease-related information. If you’re just looking for breaking news on major epidemics and outbreaks, visit their Disease Outbreak News Center, which provides current and historical information on diseases, as well as an RSS feed.

Step 2. Set up Google News Alerts

One of the best ways to keep up-to-date on recent changes or breaking news is to use Google News and Google Alerts to have breaking news emailed to you or sent to your RSS reader. Set up a Google News Alert with the keywords “swine flu” to be sure you catch any major mention of the issue.

Step 3. Check the CDC Travel Notices for Outbreak Alerts -- http://www.cdc.gov/

If you’re looking to travel, check the CDC’s Travel Notices. The Center for Disease Control provides information on major outbreaks across the world and is the U.S. body that determines whether or not an area is safe for U.S. citizens to travel to. The CDC has several levels of notices, from minor cases to epidemics. Always check the CDC’s notices before traveling - especially to areas that may be affected by the swine flu. The information is also available as an RSS feed.

Step 4. Find Where the Flu has Spread with HealthMap - this is really cool

While the WHO provides up-to-date information on outbreaks, HealthMap takes it several steps further. HealthMap aggregates news feeds from the WHO, Google News, ProMED, and elsewhere to map out all of the disease outbreaks. It includes a heat index to understand how bad certain situations really are and the most recent health-related news items.

Tip: To check just for influenza-related news, check only the box that says “influenza” under “Diseases, last 30 days”.

The best defense is to Stay Calm and Stay Informed!

While there’s likely to be much concern on social networking sites about public health incidents, it’s important to keep things in proportion, and go direct to the sources of news rather than spreading panic.

This is the last post I will make on this subject unless it is needed.

Gary