A team of UCLA researchers found that Twitter and other real-time social media can be used to track HIV outbreaks and drug behavior, potentially helping detection and prevention efforts.

The team's study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine and conducted through the Center for Digital Behavior at UCLA, suggests a link between geographic outbreaks in the U.S. and tweets with phrases that indicate drug-related and sexually risky behavior.

Researchers collected more than 550 million tweets between May 26 and Dec. 9, 2012, and developed an algorithm to find phrases including words such as "sex" and "get high." They then plotted those tweets on a map and ran statistical models to check if the locations matched areas where HIV cases had been reported.

They found a significant relationship between those tweets and locations with high numbers of reported cases. However, they used public data from 2009, which they cite as the main weakness of the study. In order for public health experts to predict future outbreaks, frequently updated data is necessary.

Other studies and tools have already shown the power of new media in monitoring various health outbreaks, such as Google Flu Trends. However, as Sean Young, co-director of the Center for Digital Behavior, said in a statement, "This is the first [study] to suggest that Twitter can be used to predict people's health-related behaviors and as a method for monitoring HIV risk behaviors and drug use."

The study shows that California, Texas, New York and Florida were the states with the largest overall proportion of HIV risk-related tweets. Washington, D.C., Delaware, Louisiana and South Carolina had the highest per capita rate of HIV risk-related tweets.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[H/T Circa]