The above implementation is appropriately known as Google Health and, with the Mountain View giant's expansion into so many new areas in recent years, something like this is hardly surprising. This new service sees Google stepping even further into health territory and will run alongside tracking services such as Flu Trends and the recently release Flu Trends Mexico - launched in light of the recent outbreak of Swine Flu.
Whilst it remains unclear exactly what Google intends to do with the data, you can already see the possibilities for potential search results. Searchers will be pointed towards specific information depending on what they are searching for.
However, it is certain that there will be many sceptics - not least from the medical professions - of self diagnosis and treatment.
Obviously, storing health profiles and important medical records on Google Health is bound to raise a few eyebrows for privacy champions. However, the security of medical records stored by the government and health establishments have been called to question in recent years too.
While younger, fitter, users may not immediately see the benefit of having medical records online - or, for that matter, the ability to access and updated the information on a regular basis - more elderly users, or people that tend to travel frequently may find the service invaluable in years to come.
In any case, this new move simply represents the effort being made by Google to constantly improve search results and our experience of the web in general. We have all been there - looking for a particular piece of information and being unable to find it, and this is especially frustrating when it's relating to illness. So perhaps Google's ongoing effort to improve is something we can all appreciate.
