Harvard Does Its Part in the Swine Flu Pandemic

You know the swine flu pandemic is serious when Harvard Medical School decides to get into the game commercially.

This week, the school's Health Publications Division released an iPhone application named “The HMSMobile Swine Flu Center," now selling for $1.99.

The goal? To utilize Harvard’s extensive knowledge in order to “tell you how you can reduce your risk of contracting H1N1 anytime, anywhere through your iPhone," according to the trippy promotional trailer below:

After the jump, FlyBy dissects what this two-dollar technological wonder actually does.

Using videos, animations, and text, the iPhone application allows you to:

The application is available on the App store in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. It can be purchased here.

Overall, the application does what it sets out to do, which is to provide the public with timely information on prevention and outbreaks of the H1N1 virus. The features are easy to use and the graphics are well designed. The fact that people have instant access to the most updated information – where there is an outbreak, when the first symptoms are spotted, how to prevent infection – relieves some of the anxiety about the global pandemic. Still. This can't be good for all those hypochondriacs out there.

And what if (gasp!) one doesn't own an iPhone? The rest of us will have to make do with Google searches.