London, January 5 : A method used by search engine Google to rank search results may help reduce the transmission of hospital acquired infections like the “superbug” MRSA, say researchers.
Clive Beggs, a Bradford University researcher who is studying prevention and control of hospital acquired infections, says that Google's PageRank algorithm may help identify key routes of infection and transmission by analysing data from wards. He says that his may in turn help focus preventive measures more accurately.
As for the web world, PageRank ranks web pages in terms of importance by analysing how many other pages link to them.