Police in Mexico protect themselves from the swine flu outbreak.

A Seattle area startup company has been on the front lines of sounding alarm bells over the deadly swine flu that is rapidly spreading throughout North America. Before word hit the mainstream media or the blogosphere, Kirkland-based Veratect was notifying state and federal health officials that a problem was brewing.

Using its artificial intelligence and global network of multilingual analysts, Veratect detected the first indications of the influenza outbreak in Mexico at the end of March. As such, it was the first to alert the Emergency Operations Center and Global Disease Detection Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Veratect CEO Bob Hart. It also passed the information on to health officials in Colorado, Nevada and Washington state.

Hart compares Veratect's 24/7 disease tracking system -- which includes 30 professionals in operations centers in Kirkland and Arlington, Virginia -- to a fire lookout.

"(We) allow our customers to react to the first wisps of smoke rather than only being about to respond to a fully involved forest fire," he says.

The current outbreak of swine flu has killed more than 80 people in Mexico and now is rapidly spreading through the U.S. and other countries. There have been no deaths in the U.S. as a result of the flu, though The New York Times reports that health officials anticipate more severe cases as the infection spreads.

The World Health Organization has not yet dubbed the swine flu a pandemic, instead calling it “a public health emergency of international concern."   (More information here from the CDC.)

At Veratect, Hart said the entire team is monitoring the situation. It is in frequent contact with health and public safety groups.

"We have blog and twitter feeds going and of course our full web feeds for our subscribers," said Hart, a well known Seattle entrepreneur who previously led communications startup Tegic. "We do think that this is an extremely serious event and the rapid spread illustrating the global risk of infectious disease."

Veratect has raised $7.5 million in venture funding, and is currently looking to raise an additional $5 million. Its backers and board members include Lee Huntsman, president emeritus of the University of Washington, John Carleton of Benaroya Capital and Denny Weston of Fluke Venture Partners.

[Flickr photo via sarihuella]