September 3, 2009 Tracking swine flu? There's an app for that Play video

(NECN: Latoyia Edwards) - The fight against the swine flu could be just a finger tip away.

Clark Freifield is showing off his the latest creation, an application found on Apple's iPhone called "Outbreaks Near Me".

Its a collaboration between Children's Hospital Boston and MIT, just released to coincide with the upcoming flu- season. iPhone users can immediately pinpoint and receive news agency alerts about the very latest outbreaks of illnesses like the H1N1 virus found in one's neighborhood or around the globe.

Clark and his colleague developed the "Outbreaks Near Me" application in just 3 months. Its used in conjunction with another one of the Boston researchers invention an alert system called healthmap.org. That website saw heavy traffic when the swine flu first surfaced last spring.

The launch of Outbreaks Near Me application saw ten thousand internet visits in just a few days of operation. It distributes alerts in 7 languages, and iPhone users can download the application for free at iTunes app store.