New York, Feb 28 (IANS): A new Google Glass app is here that can take picture of a diagnostic test strip, sends the data to a computer which rapidly sends back a diagnostic report to the patient.

The Google Glass - the wearable computer device - could potentially save lives especially in isolated or far-flung locations, say scientists.

The app could also help researchers track the spread of diseases around the world.

"It's very important to detect emerging public health threats early, before an epidemic arises and many lives are lost," said Aydogan Ozca from University of California, Los Angeles.

"With our Google Glass app and our remote computing and data analysis power, we can deliver a one-two punch - provide quantified biomedical test results for individual patients and analyse all those data to determine whether an outbreak is imminent," he explained.

The app uses Google Glass' built-in camera to take a picture of a diagnostic test.

The wearable computer transmits images of these test strips with their custom-created Quick-Response (known as 'QR') code identifiers to more powerful computers in other parts of the world for analysis.

Then, a quantified diagnostic result is beamed back to the Google Glass user.

If the user is in a remote area without WiFi, then he or she can connect Glass to a smart phone to transmit the data along with geographical information for disease tracking, said the study that appeared in the journal ACS Nano, a publication of the American Chemical Society.

Google Glass is a pair of eyeglasses without the lenses but with a small rectangular transparent screen near the right eye that functions as a tiny computer screen. A mouse is built into the right arm of the frame.