CH&S Netways

SARS—What is next andhow do you know?

T he rapid spread of severe acute respira-tory syndrome (SARS) early in 2003and the resultant actions by govern-

ment agencies around the world shows howquickly a major crisis can affect our evershrinking globe. SARS, political turmoil andother fast moving events seem to be occurringwith more frequency. So how do we learnabout and monitor a major health issue suchas an epidemic or serious health hazard on theInternet? You can begin your research with thetraditional search engines that will list thou-sand of entries. To narrow your search forinformation on a particular epidemic or out-break of a disease in a certain region, we sug-gest you begin with some of the followingresources.

You can start your quest concerning anymajor health issue with the U.S. Center forDisease Control and Prevention,1 commonlyknown as the CDC, where you can find infor-mation about health issues in the U.S. andforeign countries. You can find the most recentinformation about infectious diseases, epi-demics and other serious health hazards world-wide at the CDC site. The World HealthOrganization,2 WHO, web site is another goodsite for information on health issues around theworld. The site is set up with major announce-ments on the home page that allows thosesearching for information to quickly get tothe key issues at hand. Announcements aboutmajor epidemics such as SARS and regionaloutbreaks of cholera or other health threats areprominently displayed on the home page soyou can concentrate on a specific region ofconcern or on a particular type of health issue.

At the United States Department of State3

web site you can find announcements andwarnings about medical and health issues inother countries. The State Department mostoften will then point you in the direction ofthe CDC and WHO. The State Department siteis well organized and contains plenty of infor-mation about countries around the world. TheCanadian Consular Affairs4 web site is anotheron-line location with information to assist withfinding the latest information on major issuesof concern for foreign locations.

There are a number of non-government siteswith travel information to help you prepare foryour trip. We found educational institutions

with medical schools and large departmentsdedicated to the study of public health to begood sources of information. Some of those wefound most useful were the Kansas UniversityMedical Center,5 the University of TexasHealth Science Center at Houston,6 the LaneMedical Library at the Stanford UniversityMedical Center7 and the Harvard UniversityWorld Health News8 information center.

In the private sector we found many of thesites concentrate on selling products and train-ing courses. For information on travel medi-cine visit the web site for the InternationalSociety of Travel Medicine.9 The ISTM, isrepresented in 53 countries with members thatinclude physicians, nurses and public healthprofessionals from academia, government andthe private sector. The ISTM site is very wellorganized with information from CDC andWHO that is synthesized and summarized intoeasy to use categories.

Major news sites naturally carry articlesabout major on-going epidemics or majorhealth issues. You can find much of whatyou need on the traditional news sites suchas CNN,10 CBS,11 ABC,12 MSNBC,13 FOX,14

BBC15 and other major media. Don’t forget themajor papers that are on-line such as theWashington Post,16 New York Times17 andLos Angeles Times.18 These major publicationswill have up-to-date articles, some with in-depth information. Have a safe and healthyjourney on your search for information.

References1. http://www.cdc.gov/2. http://www.who.int/3. http://www.state.gov/4. http://www.voyage.gc.ca/5. http://library.kumc.edu/6. http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/7. http://lane.stanford.edu/index.html8. http://www.worldhealthnews.harvard.edu/9. http://www.istm.org/

10. http://www.cnn.com/11. http://www.cbsnews.com/12. http://abcnews.go.com/13. http://www.msnbc.com/14. http://www.foxnews.com/15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/16. http://www.washingtonpost.com/17. http://www.nytimes.com/18. http://www.latimes.com/

1074-9098/03/$30.00 � Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society 35doi:10.1016/S1074-9098(03)00073-X Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.