Called Google Flu Trends, Google's philanthropic arm is testing the tool, which developers say may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Times reported.
"It turns out that traditional flu surveillance systems take 1-2 weeks to collect and release surveillance data, but Google search queries can be automatically counted very quickly," Google said on its official blog, the Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday. For now, the service will track only flu cases in the United States, but Google is hoping to eventually use the technique to track the flu worldwide, The Times reported.
Google, Inc.'s (NYSE: GOOG) shares fell $15.97 to $295.49 Wednesday afternoon amid a broader market sell-off.
Another GOOG revenue stream?
Economist David H. Wang said there undoubtedly will be a revenue stream attached to this technology. "It is an intriguing concept, one that I imagine could prove to be valuable to hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and others involved in health treatment... which shows you why the water well that is Google's search is not likely to run dry any time soon," Wang said. Wang added that he does not own Google's shares or shares of any search engine company.
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu," is responsible for about 500,000 deaths worldwide each year, the AFP reported Wednesday.
Stock Analysis: It remains to be seen whether Google Flu Trends will more accurately detect flu outbreaks than, for example, emergency room data, but the potential is there, at least in theory, for a knowledge collection advance, and, of course, for monetization. Stay tuned.
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