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Apps Help People Avoid Diseases, But Are They Accurate?

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Are you sick? There's an app for that!

Just like you have a neighborhood crime watch, now you can track germs in your neighborhood all thanks to health apps.

"It's clearly the allergy season, there's no doubt about that," said Dr. Peter Yellowlee with UC Davis.

Many feel bad, but not enough to make a trip to the doctor. Instead of guessing, you can check your neighborhood sick apps and get a clue as to what's going around.

"Knowing that everyone around you is sick, just to be more careful, I guess, and to wash your hands more," said Davis Resident

The developer of SickWeather says the idea stemmed from a stomach bug 5 years ago.

"I happened to be on Facebook that same day and saw a friend reporting the same symptoms, that's when it occurred to me that Facebook could be a real-time source of information for the spread of illness," said Graham Dodge, CEO of SickWeather.

You can log on, report your illness and see what others are reporting around you.

"Certainly it's potentially helpful for tracking common diseases. Has flu season really begun? Are allergies getting worse now?" said Dr. Yellowlee.

There are 165,000 mobile apps for healthcare according to Yellowlee. He downloaded SickWeather and believes it's the wave of the future. But for right now, he said it lacks a lot of data because there aren't enough people entering in their illnesses. Plus, he said there could be an error with people false reporting symptoms.

Dodge said the more people use it the more helpful the app will be.

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