Sickweather, the iPhone app that shows where illnesses are reported on social media in real-time, has updated its product just in time for the back-to-school season to alert parents and teachers when they enter the so called “Sick Zones.” The latest version adds animated radar maps that create weather-like reports which are easy-to-grasp.

When someone publicly posts “My kids have the flu” on Facebook or Twitter, Sickweather qualifies that report using its patent-pending technology and then plots it on a map, which can be viewed at the local level as a single report, or now by intensity of groups of reports at the regional level, like a radar. Then, when a Sickweather user travels near this “Sick Zone,” he or she will get a real-time alert on their iPhone warning them of their proximity to the flu. Parents can use the alerts as prompts to proactively wash hands, refill prescriptions, or restock the medicine cabinet with their most-used remedies.

Non-iPhone users, on the other hand, can access a limited feature Live Map and Forecast at the Sickweather website, and sign-up for free email alerts.

Sickweather successfully identified the early start of the 2012 Flu Season 6 weeks before the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). The Baltimore-based company recently graduated from the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator powered by Techstars.