[(Title)] Is Googling Symptoms a Bad Idea?.

Whether it's E. coli and salmonella infections, strep throat, or any other illness someone may suspect they have, many people turn to search engines like Google or health sites like WebMD to find their fate.

无论是大肠杆菌和沙门氏菌感染，链球菌感染，还是其他任何可能怀疑患病的疾病，许多人都会转向Google等搜索引擎或像WebMD这样的健康网站来寻找自己的命运。

That's why the search phrase, "My symptoms are..." is a popular Google search among others.

这就是为什么搜索短语“我的症状是……”是一个流行的谷歌搜索等等。

While this approach can bring up some unlikely results—a toothache doesn't always mean mouth cancer—a team of Australian scientists found it might actually help.

虽然这种方法可能会带来一些不大可能的结果，比如牙痛并不总是意味着口腔癌。一个澳大利亚科学家小组发现这样做可能会真正有所帮助。

Published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, the study showed that a search engine diagnosis might help patients enter the exam room more informed.

这项研究星期一发表在《澳大利亚医学杂志》上，表明搜索引擎的诊断可能有助于病人进入更了解他们症状的检查室。

The researchers focused on 400 patients who the emergency room in two Australian hospitals. They found that more than one-third of the patients consulted the internet before coming to the hospital.

研究人员重点关注了澳大利亚两家医院急诊室的400名病人，他们发现，三分之一以上的病人在进入医院前咨询了互联网。

These weren't first-time offenders either—49 percent of the patients said they consult Dr. Google regularly for health advice.

这也不是他们初次患病，49%的病人说他们会定期咨询谷歌医生的健康建议。

The patients felt that their internet searches before they went to the hospital actually helped in their meetings with a medical professional.

病人们觉得他们去医院之前的网络搜索实际上有助于他们与医疗专业人员的会面。

"Specifically, patients reported they were more able to ask informed questions, communicate effectively, and understand their health provider," the team wrote in the study.

研究小组在研究中写道：“具体而言，病人们报告他们更有能力提出知情的问题、进行有效的沟通、了解他们的健康提供者。”

The team also found that people who were  "e-health literate"  were more likely to search out information on the internet before coming to the hospital.

该小组还发现，那些“懂电子健康”的人在来医院之前更有可能在互联网上搜索信息。

They probably were able to feel more confident about the information they could find on the internet than those who weren't, so therefore, chose to use that resource.

他们可能比那些没有在互联网上找到信息的人更有信心，因此，他们选择了使用这种资源。

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"In addition, it was shown that searching does not usually reduce the patient's confidence in the diagnosis or treatment plan provided by the practitioner, nor is it associated with reduced compliance with these treatment plans,"  they wrote.

“此外，研究表明，搜索通常不会降低患者对医生提供的诊断或治疗计划的信心，也不会降低患者对这些治疗计划的依从性，”他们写道。

The brand logo of Alphabet Inc's Google is seen outside its office in Beijing. Researchers found that more than one-third of patients consulted the internet before coming to the hospital.   THOMAS PETER/REUTERS

However, a 2014 study showed that around 70 percent of results are accurate, so patients shouldn't enter the doctor's office expecting what they found was correct.

然而，2014年的一项研究表明，大约70%的结果是准确的，所以病人不应进入医生的办公室，等待他们找到正确的结果。对于更罕见的情况，只有大约30%的网上信息是准确的。

For conditions that were more rare, only around 30 percent of the online information was accurate.

In 2015, a study revealed that over 90 percent of web pages that discuss common diseases share the visitor's information with third parties, such as Facebook and Amazon.

2015年，一项研究显示，超过90％的讨论常见疾病的网页与第三方（如Facebook和亚马逊）共享访问者的信息。

These third parties could use this information to tailor ads to the person based on that medical condition.

这些第三方可以利用这些信息根据健康状况，根据个人定制广告。

This could lead to an embarrassing situation later on if the person receives an ad for a private medical condition while someone else is viewing the computer screen.

如果某人在收到一则关于私人医疗条件的广告时，而其他人正在查看其电脑屏幕上，这可能会导致后来出现尴尬的情况。

One downside of Dr. Google that this new Australian study found is that it could affect patients psychologically. They reported that 40 percent of the patients who used the internet to research their condition felt worried or anxious.

谷歌博士的这一最新研究发现有一个缺点，就是可能会对病人产生心理影响，他们报告说，40%的患者使用互联网来研究他们的病情，感到焦虑或焦虑。