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Health
& Medicine
Links to Health & Medicine On-Line
. Anthrax
Information
From the Centers for Disease
Control and Elsewhere
We first ran these links to
accompany last month's Focus
On: Anthrax, Separating Fact from Fiction. We decided to run them for
another month since, though the current anthrax threat seems to be subsiding,
there are still understandable concerns out there.
 CDC:
Disease - Anthrax
The Centers for Disease Control's Anthrax site
is extremely informative; however, considerable portions of it are geared to
the medical and other health professional communities. Nonetheless, if
you're concerned about anthrax and want the latest and best information
available, this is probably the site of choice on-line.
.
This
page is broken down into three main categories: Agent Information,
which includes an FAQ, Fact Sheets, Medical Information, a *.pdf document on
Clinical Anthrax, and CDC Advisories, as well as links to other anthrax
resources, info on Civilian biodefense, and more. The second section
contains two links to the Clinical Level-A Lab Protocol -- one in Word and
the other in Acrobat *.pdf. This protocol is the one the CDC requires
for confirming cases of anthrax. The last section is an extensive
listing of News & Media links, beginning with a CDC Update on the
Florida Anthrax Case, dated October 4, 2001.
.
In
addition to the link above, the CDC also has info on anthrax at two other
pages: the Public
Health Preparedness and Response Home Page, and the MMWR
[Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review] Current Volume which features
"Information About Anthrax and Bioterrorism." None of it is
light reading. But it can fill in an awful lot of the gaps between
fact and fiction.
Rating:
****1/2 [4-1/2 Stars]
.- Information
about Anthrax -- The New England Journal of Medicine
This
NEJM is maintaining a site which is updated frequently. Like the CDC
site, it is geared toward physicians and other medical professionals.
But here, too, there is valuable information to be found.
.
Currently,
in addition to links to the CDC information, the NEJM site provides links to
a half dozen articles. One -- "Medical Progress: Anthrax" --
was published in 1999. Another -- " Anthrax: The
Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak" -- was published in May of
2000. But the remaining four, including the one we cited in this
month's Focus on "Anthrax, Separating Fact from Fiction," were all
published this month. There is also a direct link to our other primary
source for this month's Focus -- the 141st Chapter of Harrison's
Principles of Internal Medicine (15th edition, New York: McGraw-Hill)
.
In
addition to these resources, the NEJM anthrax page also provides a link to
Other Potential Biologic Threats, including Smallpox, Plague, Tularemia,
Botulism, and more. Again, if you're not familiar with medical
concepts and terminology, this site may leave you wondering what it was you
just read. But with a little patience and a good medical dictionary
on-hand, much of it is decipherable and ultimately worthwhile for those
concerned about the threat of anthrax.
Rating: **** [4 Stars]
. - Medscape
Newsbeat - Anthrax
Much more geared toward the general public,
Medscape is maintaining this info page on anthrax. Note, however, that
registration, which is free, is required before you can access the site, so
if you're not already registered, click
here first. ...
.
The
Medscape anthrax site is broken down into several categories: US
Cases, Diagnosis and Treatment, US Government Response, International Cases
and Response, Science, Commentary, Related Articles, and Related
Links. Each contains numerous links with titles and brief
descriptions. Finally, each and every page of Medscape is nicely
cross-referenced to other Medscape resources in a section called Recommended
Links. So, for example, on this anthrax page, you'll also find links
to an Index for the Newsbeat Collection; to Related Articles -- in this
case, Cutaneous Anthrax Images; to a Related Resource Center {Bioterrorism};
and to Related Specialties {Critical Care and Infectious Diseases}.
.
Much
of what you'll find at Medscape you can make your way through as you would a
newspaper. That's because that is the source of much of what you'll
find here. But not the usual headlines. Instead, Medscape draws
heavily upon sources like the international Reuters Health news service, a
specialized and quality operation. In addition, it also links to the
CDC, as well as other general interest sources.
Rating: ****1/2
[4-1/2 Stars]
About Links to Health & Med On-Line
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amount of info on the web is enormous, as anyone who's ever tried to run a
search can attest to. To put it all in context, best estimates say that
only a fraction -- maybe 20 - 40 % of what's out there -- is actually making
its way to the search engines. Well, here at DownStreet,
we'd like to try to help. So each issue, we post a few links in Health
& Med to sites that might interest you. Sometimes the links will be
related to one another ... sometimes we'll just offer up a
somewhat random sampling. Sometimes they're about Vermont sites,
sometimes not. Of course, while we can't vouch for
the fact that every link we provide will be of interest to everyone, we do our
best to filter out the noise and the bustle and focus on quality sites.
... In that light, we hope you enjoy these sites as much as we have. . *******
******* If you know of any
links that you think are worthwhile, why not send them along to
...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
... If we agree, we'll be happy to
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Thanks. *******
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