How Google Is Fighting Ebola, One Contagion Free Tablet at a Time

The technology giant has developed a tablet computer with antivirus protection--that is, protection from the viruses that actually kill people.

Chris Newmarker and Brian Buntz

Although Google's co-founders have downplayed the importance of healthcare for its business, the company has steadily introduced a range of medical-related technologies, from glucose-reading contact lens technology it is developing with Novartis to a partnership with Mayo Clinic to improve search engine health terms.

The Mountain View, CA-based technology giants latest salvo into the health space is a tablet computer that can be sterilized via soaking in a chlorine solution. In addition, the device is designed to be used by medical professionals wearing gloves.

Google's Google.org charitable arm came up with the device after Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, relayed a request from Jay Achar, MD, whom the group has stationed in Magburaka, Sierra Leone, according to reports from media outlets including Wired, BBC, and The Telegraph. Achar and other treating Ebola patients have had to write down patient information on pieces of paper, walk to the edge of the enclosure, and yell the information to colleagues on the other side of a fence before destroying the paper.

The situation has meant that doctors have spent a great deal of time recording information about patients versus actually treating them.

Google's solution was an Android tablet with medical record software that is encased in waterproof polycarbonate, which stands up to chlorine-based sterilization and enables it to withstand the moisture and hot temperatures of a tropical climate. The device does not have sharp edges, a precaution to make sure it doesn't tear medical workers' protective clothing. Plus, it doesn't even have to be plugged in for recharging, but can instead be laid on a tabletop recharging device.

And because Google kept the technology open source, MSF officials are hopeful it can be used during treatment of other outbreaks such as cholera, according to the BBC.

Combating Ebola has been an important focus for Google.org, which has donated $10 million to support nonprofits including InSTEDD, International Rescue Committee, Medecins Sans Frontieres, NetHope, Partners in Health, Save the Children, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Google also provided a $5 million matching grant that raised an additional $2.5 million from the public for Ebola response, and Google co-founder Larry Page has donated another $15 million through his family foundation.

The contagion-proof tablet computer provides yet another example of how Google is more than willing to apply it's "moonshot" thinking to specific medical problems where odds of success are high.

Find out how more about how Google has enlisted the help of Mayo Clinic to update the definitions of the 400 most frequently sought health-related terms on its search engine. Or check out five other ways Google could potentially transform medtech--and maybe even cheat death.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed and MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker. Brian Buntz is the editor-in-chief of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @brian_buntz.

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