key: cord-0971023-ql5sd08s authors: Leggat, Peter A. title: Travel Medicine Online: International sources of travel medicine information on the Internet date: 2004-01-17 journal: Travel Med Infect Dis DOI: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2003.11.001 sha: cf2fe61a6ffe095128a354e2c9bb23278acf70b3 doc_id: 971023 cord_uid: ql5sd08s Access to global information through the Internet has become an essential ingredient to successful practice in travel medicine. Internet sites that may be useful to travel health practitioners include those that represent international organisations (eg. http://www.who.int), national and international professional bodies (eg. http://www.istm.org), national public health and disease control centres (eg. http://www.cdc.gov). These useful sites often include online journals, geographic epidemiological information, regular outbreak alerts and news and downloadable information sheets for travellers, as well as those providing official guidelines and policies in travel medicine. It is also useful to have access to search engines, which can search the literature as well as the Internet. Access to global information through the Internet has become a virtual prerequisite for the practice of travel medicine. An enormous amount of information has been posted to the Internet or World Wide Web (WWW or simply the 'web'). It is important to target official and professional sites, which provide reasonably accurate and up-to-date information. The information may assist in developing an information portfolio that will empower the practitioner to better target the health advice and interventions that they provide for the traveler. Some sites also have useful information that the practitioner can provide to the traveler, such as fact sheets. In this report, an annotated list of selected official and professional international websites is provided, together with a small selection of other national websites that may be of value as a starting point for the travel health practitioner. stated to be an unmoderated discussion group, it can be a useful network to source information as well as practical solutions to problems faced in travel medicine. Subscription as an ISTM member is a prerequisite for participation. For full-time and other actively involved travel health practitioners, it is probably useful to belong to an email-based discussion group. http://www.who.int The World Health Organization (WHO) website is probably the leading source of international health information and publications (see Fig. 2 ). It is a very large site and has some useful disease prevalence and distribution information, as well as some of the latest developments in areas such as drug resistance. There is also a very useful link on the home page dealing with the latest news on disease outbreaks and it is possible to look through archived news as well. While not all information is directly relevant to travel medicine, it does have a link to a dedicated site for travel medicine. WHO International Travel and Health http://www.who.int/ith/index.html For many years, the WHO has published guidelines for travel health titled International Travel and Health. 1 In recent years, these have been annually updated and more recently they have also been available on the Internet (see Fig. 3 ). Previously referred as the 'yellow' book by the color of its cover, it is the 'blue' book, reflecting a change in the color of its cover. This publication is a useful adjunct to national guidelines on travel health, where these are available. It has a very useful country-by-country guide, which includes basic information such as the capitol city, elevation, vaccination requirements with special reference to yellow fever vaccination, and the general situation with respect to malaria. A useful editorial on the development of these guidelines is given elsewhere. http://www.cdc.gov Although not primarily an international website, it is an official site of the US Government frequently linked from many other official sites around the world. Like the WHO, the CDC has a very large website and is also a leading source of international health information and publications. It has some useful disease prevalence and distribution information. There is also a very useful link on the home page dealing with the latest news on disease outbreaks and it is possible to look through some archived news as well. There is a very useful A -Z section, which includes fact sheets on various diseases. While not all information is directly relevant to travel medicine, it does have a link to a dedicated site for travel medicine. CDC Travelers Health http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm For many years, the CDC has published guidelines on travel health titled Health Information for International Travel. 3 In recent years, these have been updated biannually and more recently have become available online (see Fig. 5 ). These guidelines are referred to now as the yellow book, reflecting the color of its cover. It is a comprehensive book of guidelines on travel health for the USA. Some special features include 'build custom report' feature, which allows the compilation of travel health information from the guidelines database on yellow fever vaccine requirements, malaria, and potential health risks. This could be very useful information globally, if the information is managed in the context of national guidelines for travel health for various countries. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is an indexed public health journal, which is published weekly. Like the Weekly Epidemiological Record, it focuses on disease outbreaks and health concerns, but with a special emphasis on the USA. There have been some very useful reviews of travelers' health related issues. CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/ Emerging Infectious Diseases is a peer-reviewed and indexed public health journal, which is published monthly. It aims to track and analyze disease trends with a view to providing information on emerging infectious diseases. Established in 1995, all issues of the journal are available online. http://www.iamat.org/ International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers (IAMAT), a well known not for profit organization, was founded in 1960 and maintains a network of travel health practitioners and clinics globally. Individual travelers can also join IAMAT. It has a number of resources of disease and geographical medicine issues available at its website, but some benefits are limited to members (see Fig. 6 ). International Society for Infectious Diseases Promed-mail http://www.promedmail.org/ This is another useful networking and listserv resource and information source on emerging infectious disease. It is available in several languages. Participation in this email based discussion group is by subscription. A useful review of other national and international organizational websites has been published elsewhere. 4 Literature searches/sources Travel health practitioners should also contact their local health departments and travel health societies and networks for links to local travel health guidelines and resources. It should also be noted that site addresses change from time to time. World Health Organization, International travel and health Developing international health guidance Health information for international travel National and international organisations