Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Bioterrorism Web Site Resources for Infectious Disease Clinicians and Epidemiologists

2003; Oxford University Press; Volume: 36; Issue: 11 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/374560

1537-6591

Natalie Ferguson, Lynn Steele, Carol Y. Crawford, Nathan L. Huebner, Jamila C. Fonseka, Jason Bonander, Matthew J. Kuehnert,

Bacillus and Francisella bacterial research

Finding bioterrorism-related information on the World Wide Web can be laborious.We hope to help readers find such information more easily by summarizing essential information in a consistent framework.A panel of 7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewers identified Web sites and evaluated them for sponsorship, mission, content usefulness, online ease of use, and adherence to commonly accepted quality criteria.Of 1100 potential sites identified, 81 were chosen for target content of interest, and 43 were selected for inclusion.The results were classified into general purpose/portal sites; biological agent information; laboratory, infection control, epidemiology, and mental health information; and emergency contact sources, news and updates, event preparedness resources, information for first-responder settings, clinical and public education materials, and research resources.Agents covered included anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulism, tularemia, and viral hemorrhagic fever.After the 11 September and anthrax terrorist attacks of 2001, vast amounts of information about bioterrorism were placed on the World Wide Web [1-3].As investigators and scientists have sought to understand the details and implications of these events, government agencies and other organizations have published recommendations, educational materials, preparedness templates, and other information to help frontline clinicians.As the Web increasingly becomes a mainstream publication channel, organizations use Web sites for primary information dissemination.However, practitioners seeking specific documents online may find the process a laborious one that requires sifting through search engine results and following links to sites of varying relevance.Although numerous sites have published pages or "subsites" devoted to bioterrorism-related clinical issues, many of them consist largely of links to other sites.Within sites, materials may not be organized intuitively, making them even