Disease-tracking used to be left to the experts: the epidemiologists and public health scientists who used complex mathematical algorithms and other tools most of us can't begin to understand.

But then along came Twitter.

Now, everybody can track the spread of diseases like swine flu in real time, alerting public health officials to potential new cases in their community so that the scope and speed of a disease spread can be tracked.

At least, that had been the hope.

Twitter has produced millions of "tweets" about swine flu since this outbreak began a mere week ago. But most of it has been nothing but noise.

Granted, many users have used Twitter to trade valuable tips. But many more have used it to spread panic, misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Here are just a few random Twitter tweets on the topic:

• LA_Decostified: We bought some eggplants last week that are "a product of Mexico", is it safe to eat them or would it be risky? #swineflu
• erindgardien: @enkiv2 You're bloody insane. #swineflu is an attempt by @himeobs to oust the current mexican regime via violent purging
• lolprez: Only Mexicans and indigenous have died from the #swineflu. I suspect Cortez and his conquistadores are responsible this germ fare attack.

When the term "swine flu" quickly moved up to become the most popular search term on Twitters, many Twitter-ers hoping to boost their followings, simply would tack on the "#swineflu" tag to their status updates just to get more readers.

And then came the swine flu jokes. To wit (or not):

• mperschbacher: I have the swine flu fever and the only cure is more bacon! #swineflu
• _dangerous: Some people may already have #swineflu: Amy Swinehouse, Gail Porker, Sam Hamm, Francis Bacon, The Kid in My Brother The Pig and Source Edge.
• lcaller: Oh good god, can i stick a filter on twitter to filter out all the #SwineFlu crappy jokes. It's getting tiresome & It's not pig or clever!

The problem of misinformation being spread across the Twitterverse became so bad that the CDC stepped in. The CDC already had several Twitter accounts but opened up a new one called @CDCemergency. It's been issuing clear-headed postings with bulletins on confirmed cases, and information on antiviral drugs and ways to prevent the disease.

• CDCemergency: CDC reminds you that you can NOT get swine flu from eating pork. http://bit.ly/16YpY1 #swineflu

So what many had hoped in the earliest days of this outbreak would be a great way of tracking how swine flu has spread has turned into nothing but a joke for most.

Part of the problem, of course, is what makes Twitter so much fun in the first place: the simplicity of its format. Users have only 140 characters to send out their "tweet" status updates. That doesn't give a lot of room for context and explanation.

But plenty of other websites have been able to translate the full story and clear up confusion. The CDC website in particular has done a great job of providing lots of updates and background information about swine flu right from the starts.

The World Health Organization's website has also been helpful. The Public Health agency of Canada was a bit slow to get started on providing helpful info on swine flu but has since stepped up its game.

But Healthmap, in particular, has stood out.

It was created by Google with support from the CDC, the National Library of Medicine, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research The site aggregates news feeds from Google News, the World Health Organization, ProMED (a network for health professionals), and elsewhere to map out all of the disease outbreaks.

Even HealthMap made it to Twitter. Its Boston-based co-founders set up a Twitter account that has allowed them to get information out to the public in a quicker fashion -- and to a lot more people. Here are a few recent "tweets."

• healthmap: First US Swine Flu death http://bit.ly/LTX5y #swineflu
• healthmap: HK to set up quarantine camps should virus spread: http://tinyurl.com/cgagpc #swineflu

As relevant information has been flagged, they've been posting it to their Twitter feed, keeping the information up-to-the minute.

Proof positive that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.