Google to Display Medical Information in Search Results

Google said it would add a feature wherein online searches on health-related topics would display relevant and verified medical details on the search page using Knowledge Graph.

If a user searches for a topic such as "conjunctivitis", the page will pull up details such as symptoms, treatments, age factor and whether the condition is contagious, Google Product Manager, Prem Ramaswami, said in a blog post.

Google said it had worked with doctors to compile the data, which had been checked by its medical team and doctors at the Mayo Clinic for accuracy.

The company, however, warned that the search results should not be considered medical advice.

One in 20 Google searches are on health-related topics, the company said.

Starting in the next few days, when you ask Google about common health conditions, you'll start getting relevant medical facts right up front from the Knowledge Graph. We'll show you typical symptoms and treatments, as well as details on how common the condition is-whether it's critical, if it's contagious, what ages it affects, and more. For some conditions you'll also see high-quality illustrations from licensed medical illustrators. Once you get this basic info from Google, you should find it easier to do more research on other sites around the web, or know what questions to ask your doctor.

We worked with a team of medical doctors (led by our own Dr. Kapil Parakh, M.D., MPH, Ph.D.) to carefully compile, curate, and review this information. All of the gathered facts represent real-life clinical knowledge from these doctors and high-quality medical sources across the web, and the information has been checked by medical doctors at Google and the Mayo Clinic for accuracy.

That doesn't mean these search results are intended as medical advice. We know that cases can vary in severity from person to person, and that there are bound to be exceptions. What we present is intended for informational purposes only-and you should always consult a healthcare professional if you have a medical concern.

But we hope this can empower you in your health decisions by helping you learn more about common conditions. We're rolling it out over the next few days, in the US in English to start. In the long run, not only do we plan to cover many more medical conditions, but we also want to extend this to other parts of the world. So the next time you need info on frostbite symptoms, or treatments for tennis elbow, or the basics on measles, the Google app will be a better place to start.

Written with inputs from Reuters