There are several US influenza surveillance systems [10] , and taken as a whole, they provide an excellent overview of influenza activity at any period during the influenza season. However, only CDC Virus Surveillance data tracks nationwide activity of laboratory-confirmed influenza. The original publication describing and validating the Google Flu Trends methods intentionally excluded specifics concerning the statistical model used out of concern that public knowledge of the search terms could alter its usefulness to track influenza activity [2] . Nevertheless, without the publication of the Google Flu Trends statistical model, further independent, prospective validation or improvements upon the model are not possible.