Special Feature: The Internet and Clinical Infectious Disease
November 15, 2001
Special Feature: The Internet and Clinical Infectious Disease
By Stan Deresinski, MD, FACP
The following is a selected list of valuable sites on the World Wide Web related to clinical infectious disease, with an addendum dealing with bioterrorism. I would appreciate any suggestions that would make this list more useful, while keeping it manageable in size.
General Resources
o National Library of Medicine (www.nlm.nih.gov).
o Gateway (http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd). Replacing GratefulMed. Provides access from a single search to (among others):
- Locatorplus (http://locatorplus.gov). For books, journals, and audiovisuals in NLM collection;
- PubMed (www.pubmed.gov). More than 11 million citations from 4300 journals back to 1966;
- OldMedline—991,869 records from 1958 through 1965;
- AIDS Meetings.
o Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). (www.idsociety.org). Access to full-text Journal of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Infectious Diseases for subscribers; access to guidelines. New: IDSA Discussion Group. Emerging Infections Network, etc.
o American Society of Microbiology (www.asmusa.org). Access to full text ASM journals, ASM news, etc. for subscribers.
o IDLINKS (www.idlinks.com).
o CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases (www.cdc.gov/ncidod.index.htm).
o Medscape Infectious Diseases (www.medscape.com/Home/Topics/ID/InfectiousDiseases.html) Requires registration.
o Johns Hopkins Infectious Diseases (www.hopkins-id.edu).
Hospital Epidemiology
o SHEA (www.shea-online.org).
o APIC (www.apic.org).
o Needlestick! (www.needlestick.mednet.ucla.edu). CDC-funded UCLA implemented expert system for assistance in management of occupational exposures to blood and body fluids.
Antimicrobial Therapy
o University of Pennsylvania Medical Center Guidelines for Antimicrobial Therapy (www.medupenn.edu/bugdrug). Excellent comprehensive resource with links to published treatment, prophylaxis, and prevention guidelines.
Tropical and Travel Medicine
o CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases Travelers’ Health (www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm). The Primo free site.
o Travel Health Online (www.tripprep.com). Shoreland, Inc. Destination information, traveler information, travel medicine provider list.
o U.S. Department of State Travel Warnings (http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html).
o International Society of Travel Medicine (www.istm.org).
o World Health Organization (www.who.int/home-page).
o Listserv Discussion Groups: ("subscribe ____ (your name)" in body of message:
- ProMedmail—(moderated)—([email protected]). ProMed Archives is a good repository of outbreak information (www.fas.org/promed);
- TRAVELMED—the ISTM listserve (unmoderated): ([email protected]);
- TropMed—the ASTMH listserve (moderated): ([email protected]);
- MMWR—CDC: ([email protected]); MMWR-TOC;
- Emerging Infectious Diseases—CDC: ([email protected]); EID-TOC;
- WER—WHO: ([email protected]); WER-REH.
o Navy Medical Department Guide to Malaria (www.vnh.org/Malaria/Malaria.html).
o Malaria (www.rph.wa.gov.au/labs/haem/malaria/index.html). Overview of diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment but the best feature is a quiz based on blood smears.
o Atlas of Parasitology (www.cdfound.to.it/HTML/atlas.htm#int2).
o World of Parasites (http://martin.parasitology.mcgill.ca/jimspage/worldof.htm). Click on a map and a list of parasites present in the country appears along with epidemiologic information and links to images; also a great animated Plasmodium life cycle.
o DPDx. Identification and diagnosis of parasites of public health concern. (www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/default.htm).
o Drugs for Parasitic Infections. Medical Letter, March 2000 (www.medicalletter.com/freedocs/parasitic.pdf).
o Selected Cases from the Gorgas Course in Clinical Tropical Medicine (http://info.dom.uab.edu/gorgas) with great photos.
Bacterial and Mycobacterial Infections
o The Helicobacter Foundation (www.helico.com).
o CDC Division of Tuberculosis (www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/mmwrhtml/maj_guide.htm). Includes epidemiological data, management guidelines.
o Core Curriculum on Tuberculosis (www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/corecurr/default.htm).
o Hansen’s disease (www.who.int/lep).
Viral Infections
o All the virology on the World Wide Web. (www.virology.net/garryfavweb.html). A comprehensive set of links to all things viral.
o Virus Diseases (www.mic.ki.se/Diseases/c2.html). Another comprehensive set of links to all things viral provided by the Karolinska Institute.
o FluNet Global Surveillance Network (http://oms2.b3e.jussieu.fr/flunet).
o HepNet (www.hepnet.com/doctors.html). Try the quizzes.
o International Herpes Management Forum (www.ihmf.org). Deals with HSV, VZV, CMV.
HIV/AIDS
o HIV Insite (http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu). Extensive clinically valuable resources, including the AIDS Knowledge Base, excellent drug database.
o Johns Hopkins AIDS Service (www.hopkins-aids.edu). Includes the manual, Medical Management of HIV Infection.
o Medscape HIV/AIDS (http://HIV.medscape.com/Home/Topics/AIDS/AIDS.html). Rapidly available summary reports of meetings may be its most valuable feature as well as drug interaction section.
o 8th CROI (2001) (www.retroconference.org/2001). Searchable abstracts from the meeting.
o Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group. AACTG (http://aactg.s-3.com). Parts require a password. Just ask anyone at an ACTG site and they’ll give it to you.
o HIV/AID Treatment Information Service (www.hivatis.org). "Your central resource for federally approved treatment guidelines for HIV and AIDS."
Prions
o The Official Mad Cow Disease Home Page (www.mad-cow.org)
o The UK Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit (www.cjd.ed.ac.uk)
Fungal Infections
o Doctor Fungus (www.doctorfungus.org).
o Treatment guidelines. See guidelines at IDSA site (www.idsociety.org).
o Aspergillus (www.aspergillus.man.ac.uk).
STDs
o American Social Health Association (www.ashastd.org).
o Public Health—Seattle and King County STD Program (www.metrokc.gov/health/apu/std). Reformatted treatment guidelines with links to CDC guidelines, patient information material, etc.
Additional Image Resources
o CNS Infections (www.vh.org/Providers/TeachingFiles/CNSInfDisR2/Meninges.html)
o Dermatology Atlas (www.dermis.net/doia.mainmenu.asp?zugr=d&lang=e)
o Dermatologic Image Database (http://tray.dermatology.uiowa.edu/DermImag.htm)
Bioterrorism
o Disease Specific Information
The San Francisco Department of Public Health web site (www.medepi.org/sfdph/bt). Has an excellent table listing, in syndromic fashion, potential threats at the link labeled "Can you recognize these public health threats?"
o From the New York City Department of Health:
- Anthrax: http://nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/antmd.html
- Plague: http://nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/plaguemd.html
- Botulism: http://nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/botmd.html
- Q fever: http://nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/qfmd.html
- Tularemia: http://nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/tulmd.html
- Smallpox: http://nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/smallmd.html
o Anthrax: JAMA. 1999;281:1735-1745.
o Smallpox: JAMA. 1999;281:2127-2137.
o Plague: JAMA. 2000;283:2281-2290.
o Botulism: JAMA. 2001;285:1059-1070.
o Tularemia: JAMA. 2001;285:2763-2773.
o Coccidioidomycosis: J Appl Microbiol. 2001;91: 602-605.
General Information
o Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at www.hopkins-biodefense.org.
o Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute for International Studis at http://cns.miis.edu.
o Henry L. Stimson Center Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project at www.stimson.org/cwc/index.html.
o CDC at www.bt.cdc.gov.
Guides to Web Resources
The Clinical Infectious Disease Series (full text available to journal subscribers at www.idsociety.org) to date:
o Shafer RW, Deresinski SC. Human immunodeficiency virus on the Web: A guided tour. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;31:568-577.
o Strausbaugh LJ, Liedtke LA. The Emerging Infections Network electronic mail conference and Web page. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;32:270-276.
o Keystone JS, Kozarsky PE, Freedman DO. Internet and computer-based resources for travel medicine practitioners. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;32:757-765.
o Angus BJ. Malaria on the World Wide Web. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;33:651-661.
o Kato-Maeda M, Small PM. User’s guide to tuberculosis resources on the internet. Clin Infect Dis. 2001; 32:1580-1588.
o Gantz NM, Goldsmith EE. Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia resources on the World Wide Web: A descriptive journey. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;32: 938-948.
Dr. Deresinski, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Stanford; Director, AIDS Community Research Consortium; Associate Chief of Infectious Diseases, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, is Editor of Infectious Disease Alert.