Infoveillance of mucormycosis in india: A google™ trends based study

ABSTRACT

India reported highest incidence of Mucormycosis in the past and during the second wave of COVID-19. Google Trends is a potential tool for infoveillance of infectious disease like Mucormycosis. Relative Search Volume (RSV) for term Mucormycosis (+ Black fungus), diabetes, steroid, oxygen, D-dimer (+ferritin) had been extracted from Google Trends for three months (March to May 2021) and state-wise prevalence for Mucormycosis released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was used for the analysis. India reported highest RSV for Mucormycosis among the top five countries with COVID-19 cases. RSV peak for oxygen preceded the Mucormycosis spike. Correlation between state-wise prevalence of Mucormycosis and their corresponding RSV was not significant. While a positive correlation was observed between Mucormycosis, diabetes and steroid, it was not statistically significant. Infoveillance using Google trends can serve as a proxy marker for the public health needs and priorities much before actual field surveys. © 2021, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine. All rights reserved.