Communicable disease links.

Looking at this page at the end of March 2005 I realise it's very out of date. Sorry about that! Much of it is still useful, but please don't tell me about dead links - I'm sure there are lots of them.

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Table of Contents

This page contains links to web sites and pages. The information is divided into the following categories:

General links, and Specific disease surveillance/information sites.

General links:

bulletCCDC sites
bulletBioterrorism links
bulletNational and international communicable disease surveillance sites
bulletAntibiotic resistance and hospital acquired (nosocomial infection)
bulletVaccination and immunisation
bulletVirology
bulletAntibiotic resistance
bulletVaccination and immunisation
bulletVirology
bulletList servers
bulletSchools - information on exclusion  etc.
bulletInformation about pathogens
bulletSchools - information on exclusion  etc.
bulletSexual health sites
bulletGlobal communicable disease sites
bulletChemical incidents, non-communicable hazards, and emergency planning
bulletEpi-Info
bulletTravel information
bulletMedical and related journals relating to communicable diseases
bulletEnvironmental health, and health and safety
bulletMiscellaneous
bulletGANFYD medical wiki - not specifically communicable disease related links but there's quite a lot of CD-related content there.
and

Specific disease surveillance/information sites:

bulletAnthrax
bulletBSE
bulletOther food-related conditions/bugs
bulletHantavirus
bulletInfluenza surveillance and control
bulletLegionellosis
bulletLyme disease
bulletMalaria
bulletMeningococcal disease
bulletRabies
bulletRSV
bulletTuberculosis
bulletViral Haemorrhagic Fevers
bulletViral hepatitis
bulletWeil's disease
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General links.

CCDC sites

These have been banned by the HPA - no independent websites by HPA employees about their work; everything must go on the official HPA website.

National and international communicable disease surveillance sites.

bulletThe Health Protection Agency's Home Page - the UK's site. See also the UK's Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR): http://www.coppettswood.demon.co.uk/camrhome.htm.
bulletScottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH)
bulletEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
bulletWHO disease outbreak site.
bulletNational Disease Surveillance Centre of Ireland. EPI-INSIGHT is a monthly report on infectious disease in Ireland. "The purpose is to improve the health of the Irish population by providing the best information on infectious disease. It aims to publish timely data for use locally, regionally and nationally. The publication is targeted at those with an interest in the diagnosis, surveillance, control and prevention of infectious disease, everywhere. It will also be available to download from the NDSC website."
bulletInstitut De Veille Sanitaire (IDVS) - the French site, and a splendid example of a site that gets useful and up-to-date information swiftly and efficiently onto the world-wide web. This site is multi-lingual. It includes general health data, as well as communicble disease data. The Institut De Veille Sanitaire has succeeded the Réseau National de Santé Publique (RNSP).
bulletRobert Koch-Institut, Germany's central communicable disease surveillance centre. Theit Epidemiologisches Bulletin (weekly, only in German) is available at http://www.rki.de/INFEKT/EPIBULL/EPI.HTM.
bulletThe most comprehensive epidemiological information in Italy is managed by the Istituto Superiore di Sanita. It publishes the Bollettino Epidemiologico Nazionale (BEN), Italy's national public health bulletin. BEN is designed to disseminate, clearly and promptly, the results of national surveillance systems coordinated by the ISS and epidemiological studies done by local and regional health units throughout the country. It will cover both infectious and non-infectious disease topics of local and national interest.
bulletNetherlands. The (monthly) Dutch National Bulletin on Communicable Diseases is available (in Dutch with English abstracts) on: http://www.isis.rivm.nl/inf_bul/home_bul.html.
bulletSpain's bulletins are available at http://cne.isciii.es/bes/bes.htm.
bulletCenters for Disease Control and Prevention Home site , and its National Centre for Infectious Diseases page - The US' site. It has a page on emergency planning for emerging diseases. You can download EpiInfo from the CDC here.
bulletHealth Canada, and also CHICA (Community and Hospital Infection Control Association) - Canada, which is a "national, multi- disciplinary, voluntary association of professionals. CHICA - Canada is committed to improving the health of Canadians by promoting excellence in the practice of infection prevention and control by employing evidence based practice and application of epidemiological principles. This is accomplished through education, communication, standards, research and consumer awareness. Please feel free to communicate. Check our links, publications, committees and upcoming events. http://www.chica.org/". [Includes useful guidance - VRE in nursing homes and residential settings; infection control...]
bulletNational Centre for Disease Control/Communicable Diseases Network Australia New Zealand/Australian Department of Health and Family Services
bulletSenegal's Bulletin Epidemiologique is issued by Service national des grandes endemies. Contact: epidemio@telecomplus.sn.
bulletThe WHO website has a links page that is worth visiting: http://www-nt.who.int/whosis/statistics/national_sites/national_sites.cfm. It has sites for dozens of countries -- but most of them are not epidemiological bulletins.
bulletFor links to other sites, including USA state health departments, CDC has a links page: http://www.cdc.gov/other.htm. Another is http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/international/, with an index of many national bulletins, including those in ex-Soviet countries. Unfortunately, this has mostly not been updated since 1997 or early 1998.
bulletThe Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists has a great website. This site is US based, but the criteria for membership are not US only, and UK public health/communicable disease contol workers could also join.
bulletJapan's Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Disease, Japan. In Japanese & English. Includes monthly IASR - Infectious Agents Surveillance Reports, plus Isolation & Detection Reports of Viruses and Bacteria, by Month, with wonderful graphs of weekly & monthly trends over the last 10 years for 21 infectious diseases.
bulletFor immunisation about different countries vaccination schedules (and apparently the UK information is not - or was not, when I wrote this - quite correct - don't know about elsewhere) see the WHO site http://www.who.int/gpv-surv/intro.html. Or go to Travel information on this web site
bullet"The CSTE has a website - address: www.cste.org. This might serve as a model for a UK communicable disease site.
bulletAssociation of Medical Microbiologists (UK).

WHO web sites relevant to infectious disease surveillance and control:

bulletAntimicrobial resistance information bank
bulletBuruli ulcer
bulletEradication/elimination programmes
bulletFilariasis
bulletGeographical information systems
bulletHealth topics
bulletInfectious diseases
bulletInfluenza network (FluNet)
bulletIntegrated management of childhood illnesses
bulletInternational travel and health
bulletIntestinal parasites
bulletLeprosy
bulletMalaria
bulletNewsletter (Action against infection)
bulletOutbreaks
bulletPoliomyelitis
bulletRabies network (RABNET)
bulletReport on infectious diseases
bulletSalmonella surveillance network
bulletSurveillance and response
bulletTropical disease research
bulletTuberculosis: http://www.who.int/gtb/ and  http://www.stoptb.org/ 
bulletVaccines
bulletWeekly Epidemiological Record
bulletWHO pesticide evaluation scheme (WHOPES)
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Antibiotic resistance

bulletWHO Antimicrobial resistance information bank
bulletTison and Tice's page have a lot on this. They are collecting antibiograms: contact them on Alan Tice (alantice@idlinks.com), David Tison (DTison@multicare.com). Paul Axelsen of the University of Pennsylvania was asked to review this antibiogram exchange, and his comments follow: "The difficulties of comparing antibiotic susceptibility patterns at different institutions are legion, and scientific inquiry into this area requires more information about testing methods, criteria, and the population represented than is generally available. Nevertheless, this site does provide a useful and informal way for people to view so-called "standardized" antibiograms from diverse sources. With sufficient interest, and more contributions, perhaps the publishers of this site will make it possible to query the accumulated information as a database and obtain corresponding information from different laboratories on the same page.
bulletEuropean Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS). "To obtain more comparable and reliable data, the European Commission has funded EARSS. This system, in which all EU Member States participate, is coordinated by the RIVM (National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, the Netherlands). EARSS is an international network of national surveillance systems, which aims to aggregate comparable and reliable antimicrobial resistance data for public health purposes in Europe. Taking into account laboratory methods as well as epidemiological principles, EARSS will act as an early warning system, analyse regional differences, assess risk factors, and provide electronic feedback."
bulletThe UK's Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre has a fact sheet on antibiotic resistance:  http://www.phls.co.uk/advice/WFHantib.htm.
bulletCDR Weekly (Vol 10, No 2, 14/1/2000 - available via the PHLS web site) included the following: .

"A template intended to help microbiologists, prescribing advisers, and general practitioners in their discussions with colleagues on the development of antibiotic guidance for their primary care groups has been posted on the PHLS website <http://www.phls.co.uk/advice/Antibiotic%20guidance.pdf>. The template aims to advise on the commonest infections seen in general practice, and is based on several documents on antibiotic prescribing developed by general practitioners in consultation with prescribing advisers and microbiologists. Its design enables the antibiotics and advice to be changed to suit local circumstances – for example, to reflect laboratory resistance data.

"The template’s content and format have been agreed by the Department of Health Clinical Prescribing Subgroup of the Interdepartmental Steering Group on Resistance to Antibiotics and other Antimicrobial Agents. The guidance is based on advice on PRODIGY, the computer support system for general practice <http://www.schin.ncl.ac.uk/prodigy/guidance>, the Cochrane Library (ISSN 1464-780X <http://www.update-software.com/cochrane.htm>), articles in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, the Standing Medical Advisory Committee’s report Path of Least Resistance, and other guidance for the United Kingdom available from peer reviewed journals – for example, on sexually transmitted infections <http://www.sextransinf.com>. The template’s content is called ‘guidance’ rather than ‘guidelines’, as systematic reviews of evidence are not available for all topics. The guidance is not comprehensive (impossible in a four page document). Further details may be obtained from the websites and references quoted.
bullet"The path of least resistance",  the report of the Standing Medical Advisory Committee Sub-Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, which received a lot of well-deserved publicity recently - a synopsis can be viewed, or the full report can be downloaded, from http://www.doh.gov.uk/smac1.htm.
bulletDavid Paul Fidler reported on 1 Mar 2000 that on 28 Feb 2000, the Center of International Development at Harvard University sponsored an International Workshop on Antibiotic Resistance: Global Policies and Options. The Workshop Agenda and jump links to the texts of some of the papers presented can be found by following the link.
bulletWorld Health Organisation (WHO) fact sheet on antimicrobial resistance: http://www.who.int/inf-fs/en/fact194.html (or the WHO page on their response to resistance: http://www.who.int/emc/amr.html).
bulletUS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fact sheet on antibiotic resistance: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/antibioticresistance/.
bulletThe Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics' Patient Information (presumably a US pressure group) page seems to provide accurate information, (opinion based on my brief inspection of it): http://www.healthsci.tufts.edu/apua/patient.htm.
bulletHospital infections paper from UK govt.
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Vaccination and immunisation.

bulletUK vaccination and immunisation co-ordinators mailing list.
bulletDepartment of Health's (formerly Health Promotion England's) excellent immunisation web site, including "MMR: the facts".
bulletGreat Ormond Street Hospital website - written by David Elliman and Helen Bedford.
bulletThe Health Scotland Immunisation Website (formerly Health Education Board for Scotland), where there is an excellent MMR discussion pack, available in several different languages.
bulletThe "Green Book". (More properly: Immunisation against infectious disease.1996 HMSO. This is the "bible" for immunisation policy in the UK. Unfortunately a new edition is well overdue - one has been promised "within the next 6 months" since about 1997!
bullet"Vaccine Update" is now available on line at  http://www.pasa.nhs.uk/pharma/ (formerly only available to NHS-web users, now generally available).
bulletThe PHLS "pink book" on the use of immunoglobulin can be downloaded at www.phls.co.uk/advice/ImmunoglobulinHandbook.pdf.
bulletJCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation)
bulletStatement of fees & allowances for GPs (the "Red Book"). (Note that NHS version, http://www.nhs.uk/redbook, is no longer available, since the introduction of a new contract; but for some issues - including e.g. vaccination - the new contract refers back to the original red book, which is still available at the link given, http://www.redbook.i12.com/Index.htm.
bulletWHO vaccination site, and information on different countries vaccination uptake, vaccine preventable disease rates, and vaccination schedules is available from http://www.who.int/countries/en/.
bulletThe Brighton Collaboration is an international voluntary collaboration to facilitate the development, evaluation, and dissemination of high quality information about the safety of human vaccines.
bullethttp://www.vaccinesafety.edu/cur-cont.htm - good site from John Hopkins University
bulletFor immunisation about different countries vaccination schedules (and apparently the UK information is not - or was not, when I wrote this - quite correct - don't know about elsewhere) see the WHO site http://www.who.int/gpv-surv/intro.html. You could also try http://www.who.int/vaccines-surveillance/alpha.htm.
bullet"Vaccines for life" site from Sanofi Pasteur MSD (formerly Aventis Pasteur MSD).
bulletThe US CDC publishes a  lot of useful information on vaccination, including its "Vaccine Information Statements", which are available from  : www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/VIS/ or www.immunize.org/vis/.
bullet"Information on why and when to receive vaccinations against infectious diseases is being offered on the Web site of the National Network for Immunization Information, a nonprofit group that is sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. The Web site's portal for parents, located at www.immunizationinfo.org/parents/index.cfm, offers suggestions for vaccinations for adults, as well as downloadable schedules for childhood vaccinations, a guide to evaluating health information found on other Web sites, and a state-by-state list of required shots. The Web site also includes material for health care professionals who work with vaccines and legislative testimony that supports immunizing children." This web site has some excellent resources, including links to http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/pict001.htm, a gallery of pictures of people with vaccine-preventable diseases. The MMR FAQ seemed excellent, too.
bulletAnother good web site, for professionals and the public, is the American Academy of Pediatrics site
bulletThe US "Immunization Action Coalition".
bullethttp://www.ciap.cpha.ca/resource/Parents/pg1.htm
bullethttp://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/anti-immune.htm
bullethttp://www.health.gov.au/pubhlth/immunise/information.htm
bullethttp://childrensvaccine.org/ (lots of useful documents within)
bullethttp://www.quackwatch.com/index.html
bulletMMR links include:
bullet"MMR the facts"
bulletThe Health Scotland Immunisation's excellent MMR discussion pack, available in several different languages, can be downloaded from its MMR Information Centre.
bulletNeal A. Halsey, MD, Susan L. Hyman, MD, and the Conference Writing Panel. Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine and Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Report From the New Challenges in Childhood Immunizations Conference Convened in Oak Brook, Illinois, June 12-13, 2000. PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 5 May 2001, p. e84. http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/107/5/e84
bulletCommittee on Children With Disabilities. Technical Report: The Pediatrician's Role in the Diagnosis and Management of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Children. PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 5 May 2001, p. e85 http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/107/5/e85.
bulletElliman and Bedford article "MMR vaccine - worries are not justified". Arch Dis Child 2001;85:271-274 ( October ).
bulletThe Health Education Board for Scotland MMR site, from which you can download their MMR discussion pack .
bullet British Science Museum MMR pages.
bulletBBC summary of MMR "controversy".
bulletUS National Immunisation Programme site about the alleged MMR/autism link.
bulletBrian Deer, an investigative journalist, has been very interested in MMR vaccination, and also in the pertussis vaccine scare. His MMR home page links to a lot of fascinating information.
bulletDr Michael Fitzpatrick wrote an excellent article in the Saturdays Times "Why I still believe in MMR" (February 2002). www.thetimes.co.uk. He writes very movingly about his son's condition .He combines it with a skilful analysis of the latest hype around the vaccine. As a working GP in Hackney he is in favour of MMR. He has written other articles on the subject of MMR (and other issues) that you may find interesting, original and occasionally provocative. I found his views on the popular concepts of immune system at www.spiked-online.com thought provoking: "Myths of immunity", "Immune to the evidence", and "MMR:injection of fear". His most recent contribution is 'MMR: the truth?' (14 March 2003) - a response to a series of articles published the same week in the Daily Mail.
bulletThe Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care pamphlets "Immunization: myths and realities; responding to arguments against immunisation" and "Understanding childhood immunizations" can be downloaded in PDF format (or ordered) from the following web-site: http://www.health.gov.au/pubhlth/immunise/publications.htm.
bulletInformation - Immunisation (Western Australia)
bulletEuropean Vaccine Manufacturers produce vaccine information.
bulletNational Immunization Program (US)
bulletThe Vaccine Page. Includes "Vaccine links for practitioners" (which was referred to at the Eurosurveillance Weekly web site).
bulletCanadian National Report on Immunization, 1996
bulletAustralian Skeptics Home Page and www.quackwatch.com are both dedicated to debunking myths, including those from the anti-vaccine lobby.
bulletANIMAL VIRUS INFORMATION SYSTEM
bulletEuropean Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Association's European Vaccine Manufacturers page, which includes information on vaccines.
bulletThe DNA Vaccine Web
bulletVaccines, vaccination, Thailand, index
bulletAnti-immunisation
bulletSites specifically related to Edward Jenner and Smallpox (there are many of them) include: Jenner/Gillray URLs http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_promise.html (which has a copy of  Gillray's picture "The Cow-Pock or the wonderful effects of the new inoculation"; http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/nathist/jenner2.html; http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/bioethic/jenner.htm; http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15oct97/smallpox.htm; http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15oct97/smallpox.htm; http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/tech/medicine/EdwardJennerAndVaccination/Chap1.html.
bullet

LIST OF ANTI-VACCINE WEBSITES

(Some antivaccination lobbyists  - including many of the spokespersons for antivaccination issues that regularly appear in the UK media - seem to be quite content, knowing that they are not accountable in the way that medical professionals, civil servants and even journalists are, to state as fact things which are far from the truth, but which they would like people to believe, on the principle that they just know that all vaccination is evil, and anything that will put anybody off any vaccination is therefore justifiable. Of course, they like to include as many true facts as possible, to give credence to the misinformation. Visitors to the following websites should therefore be cautious in interpreting what they find there. They should also remember that a great deal of profit has been made by people who provide e.g. "alternatives" to MMR vaccine.)

bulletwww.ctanet.fr/vaccination-information - Ligue nationale pour la liberté des vaccination / French National League for Liberty inVaccination
bulletJABS (Justice, Awareness & Basic Support). JABS seem to manage to get a representative onto every news report on vaccination. They are skilled media operators, managing to put across information without often being challenged. They have the liberty, not being professionals who might have to justify what they say, to say what they would like to believe, or what they would like others to believe, based on their gut feeling that all vaccination
bulletwww.multimania.com/revahb/sommaire.htm - French; created in 1997
bulletwww.immunisation.co.uk, which seems to include a variety of information and links, some to reputable websites, others to more questionable ones. It used to redirect you to http://www.van.org.uk/index.htm - which is now the so-called "Vaccine Information Service", which sets out to "inform" people about alleged hazards of vaccination, where they can obtain single-component vaccines, and so forth. It now appears rather out of date, however...
bullethttp://www.whale.to/vaccines.html - antivaccine site
bullethttp://thinktwice.com/global.htm – Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute (describes itself as offering the "world’s largest selection of uncensored information on childhood shots and other immunizations"). Their warning/disclaimer says they are not health practitioners and neither recommend nor discourage vaccines. All website information is taken from other (primary) sources to which the website refers for further details.
bulletwww.909shot.com - National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) – "founded in 1982, its aim is to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education; describes itself as a national, non-profit educational organization, & the oldest & largest organization advocating reformation of the mass vaccination system & responsible for launching the vaccine safety movement in America in the early 1980’s".
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Virology

bulletAll the Virology on the WWW. David M. Sander writes: "This comprehensive page lists all the WWW sites that contain information about Virology, Epidemiology and Public Health, General Virology, Specific Viruses, Microbiology, AIDS, Emerging Viruses, Vaccines, Gene Therapy, Biological Warfare, Taxonomy, Virology and Microbiology News, Academic Departments, Virology Institutes, Genomic data, research labs and other Health Related Sites in addition to web sites regarding Science Jobs, Scientific Meetings, Government Agencies, Journals, Scientific Societies, Patent and Legal Resources, Scientific Companies, and much, much more. All the Virology on the WWW also contains On-line Virology Course Notes, a Virology Bookshop, and a catalog of viral images - The Big Picture Book of Viruses. This site is maintained and updated often. Any submissions, additions or corrections that you might have would be very much appreciated, and can be made using the following form: <http://www.tulane.edu/~dmsander/garryfavwebadd.html>. With your assistance, this Web Site will continue to be the best resource of its kind on the web. For those of you who maintain your own web pages, please send me your address or use our site submission form and I will gladly add it to the list.
bulletFor more information on the West Nile virus: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/arbor/arboinfo.htm; http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r990924.htm. USGS National Wildlife Health Center: http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/nwhchome.html, http://www.usgs.gov.
bulletThere is also "An excellent and heavily referenced review of West Nile virus" by  Zdenek Hubalek, who had reported a few West Nile virus infections in the Czech Republic earlier this year (1999) in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
bulletBBC web site on history of smallpox.
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List servers

bulletUK Consultants in Communicable Disease Control mailing list. for CsCDC, trainees, infection control nurses, environmental health officers, and anybody sharing the interests of CsCDC.
bulletVaccination and immunisation - UK practitioners' email list.
bulletMailbase' Com-Dis list - see http://www.mailbase.ac.uk for more information.
bulletList for UK CsCDC
bulletUK's Infection Control Nurses Association web site ought to be mentioned here somewhere.
bullet 
APIC Infection Prevention and Control and Applied Epidemiology - you can become a member of their email list via this site.
APICweb has a "What's New in Infection Control" page. It offers information on new developments in the fields of infection control and applied epidemiology, infectious diseases, biomedical publications, regulatory agency announcements, etc., that will be of interest to the infection control professional (ICP).
bulletProMED 
bulletDaily Virology News. "Retroscreen Virology and All the Virology on the WWW are launching a new FREE OF CHARGE service for those interested in virology. We have arranged for a virology-related email newsfeed from over 300 international news sources including the New York Times and BBC online..."

Register at the Retroscreen Website or at All the Virology on the WWW to receive these email updates.
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Information about pathogens

See also the virology and specific disease sections.

Canada's Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Office of Biosafety Material Safety Data Sheets - these look to be an excellent resource: detailed information on a wide range of pathogens, in alphabetical order.

CHICA  - Canada (Community and Hospital Infection Control Association) "is a national, multi- disciplinary, voluntary association of professionals. CHICA - Canada is committed to improving the health of Canadians by promoting excellence in the practice of infection prevention and control by employing evidence based practice and application of epidemiological principles. This is accomplished through education, communication, standards, research and consumer awareness. Please feel free to communicate. Check our links, publications, committees and upcoming events." [Includes useful guidance - VRE in nursing homes and residential settings; infection control...]

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Schools - information on exclusion  etc.

bullethttp://www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk/   includes the schools poster re exclusion of children with communicable diseases. Supposedly also includes a paper/literature review about the evidence-base (such as it is) for this.
bulletSurrey policies for schools.
bulletwww.microbe.org  - microbiology for children with Sam Sleuth detecting the microbes... Includes stuff on handwashing.
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Sexual health sites:

bulletWest Surrey Health Promotion Service' Sexual health site for young people (or here).
bulletMedical Society for the Study of Venereal Diseases: "Promoting Sexual Health and High-quality HIV/STD Care through Professional and Public Education"
bullethttp://OnHealth.com/ch1/index.asp - good site for lay people (but American)
bullethttp://pslgroup.com/DOCGUIDE.HTM  (for doctors. Evidence of strong drug company input. "... but its greatest strength is its list of links to newsgroups, support groups related to STDs, and a host of other related
sites.")
bullethttp://plannedparenthood.org/MAIN.HTM   - US site re contraception, sexual health, etc. Good content (but American).
bullethttp://www.grin.net/~sycamore/std/index.html - from Boston - excellent stuff, aimed at young people, but good for others too.
bullethttp://www.sexhealth.org/infocenter/
bulletSociety of Health Advisers in Sexually Transmitted Diseases
bulletMedical Society for the Study of Venereal Diseases "Promoting Sexual Health and High-quality HIV/STD Care through Professional and Public Education"
bulletSexually transmitted infections journal
bulletCommunicable disease and public health (journal)
bulletUK leaflet on HIV testing in pregnancy.
bulletAIDS Education Global Information System - self-proclaimed largest website on AIDS & HIV, updated hourly.
bulletThe body - comprehensive HIV resource, with free "ask the expert" service
bulletHIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS) www.hivatis.org - current US treatment guidelines
bulletPaedatric European Network for Treatment of AIDS (PENTA) www.ctu.mrc.ac.uk/penta
bulletMedscape HIV/AIDS page
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Global communicable disease sites.

bulletWHO sites:
bulletAntimicrobial resistance information bank
bulletBuruli ulcer
bulletEradication/ elimination programmes
bulletFilariasis
bulletGeographical information systems
bulletHealth topics
bulletInfectious diseases
bulletIntegrated management of childhood illnesses
bulletInternational travel and health
bulletIntestinal parasites
bulletLeprosy
bulletMalaria
bulletNewsletter (Action against infection)
bulletOutbreaks News
bulletPoliomyelitis
bulletRabies network (RABNET)
bulletReport on infectious diseases
bulletSalmonella surveillance network
bulletSurveillance and response
bulletTropical disease research
bulletTuberculosis: http://www.who.int/gtb/, http://www.stoptb.org
bulletVaccines
bulletWeekly epidemiological record
bulletWHO pesticide evaluation scheme (WHOPES).
bulletOUTBREAK, which started life as the Ebola Page, has a mission to bring information on agents of serious disease, such as Ebola virus, to the general public. It tries to make this information both scientifically accurate and easily understandable. Given the developing situation in the Middle East, we feel now may be a good time to add some information on a number of other agents to the site. These are agents which have been used, or may be used, in chemical and biological warfare, or in terrorist attacks. You will remember the episode in 1995 when a Japanese cult released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway. On the new pages you will find information on sarin, VX gas, anthrax, botulinum toxin and other chemical and biological agents you may have been hearing about. They give short summary details on the agent, symptoms, prevention and treatment. We hope you will find these useful as background to what you may be hearing on the international news.
bulletA GIS Front End to ProMED!
David C. Roberts (droberts@mitretek.org) writes:
"In response to an increased concern about infectious diseases and the effects of human activities on human health, Mitretek Systems has created a web application that allows the user to view biological events reported through the ProMED newsfeed through a geographic information systems (GIS) interface. Events are displayed by location on a map. By clicking on a displayed dot on the map, an information function allows the user to retrieve ProMED posts linked to the corresponding location on the map. The application can be accessed at http://sonoran.mitretek.org/gismsr/bioevents/. The current version of the application is limited to documents from ProMED, and covers only diseases and other biological events with  specific locations occurring in the United States. The current data set goes back to September 1998 but includes a few older postings as well. If only the state is identified, the capital of the state is shown as the location.

It is hoped that this application will prove to be of value to members of the public health and national security communities in identifying and tracking disease processes over space and time. Other applications of this technology are envisioned that would provide near-real-time tracking of events.

Mitretek Systems is a nonprofit company that works in the public interest through the application of science and technology. Feedback or inquiries are welcome."

ProMED moderator JW adds:
"As you will learn when you visit the site, it doesnt work on all browser versions. The demo didnt work on my browser, so if it doesnt on yours either, here are some tips to help you get started.

First, you have to find a taskbar on the left with an index of diseases and their colored dots, and a toolbar at the top. Next, maximize the screen, otherwise you dont see the box on the bottom that appears when you click on a dot, which contains the hot link to the ProMED post. (There are some links to other sources, e.g. Plaguescape, as well). Then I suggest that you use the magnifying glass marked + from the top toolbar to draw a box round the 48 contiguous states & enlarge it to fill the screen. Next, untick all the boxes in the left-hand taskbar to clear all the dots. Then click the Hantavirus box on the left & 2 brown dots appear on the map, one on the CA/NV border & the other in AZ. Click on the dot in AZ and a box appears at the bottom of the screen with some relevant info & a hot link to our post on "Hantavirus from old bones," in which a certain Mod.CHC tells about finding dried rodent bones in the Arizona desert. Theres also a pull-down query menu.

Mod.CHC wites: "I was able to query 'Ballina' and got all the listings on the Australian bat lyssavirus. Which is pretty remarkabls since the map only shows the USA!"

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Chemical incidents, non-communicable hazards, and emergency planning

bulletMy other Environment related site links.
bullet Department of Health emergency planning links
bulletThe Emergency Planning Society   "is the UK's foremost professional body for all those with an involvement with any form of crisis, emergency or disaster planning and management. We draw our members - there are about 850 - from a wide range of backgrounds, including local government, industry, the utilities, the emergency services, volunteers, educational establishments, the legal profession and independent consultants. The Society produces independent advice and guidance for its members and for others through a series of sub groups. Their areas of interest include Business Continuity, oil pollution, evacuation and welfare, Year 2000, nuclear and other hazardous sites and Civil Protection in Europe. Much of that information is now available from this site."
bulletThe Chemical Incident Response Service which we use in Surrey (and which covers a large part of the UK) is part of the medical toxicology unit at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust. The site includes Acrobat versions of their excellent checklists.
bulletBirmingham's Chemical Hazard Management Research Centre.They have recently published guidance on IPPC for HAs.
bulletThe NHS'excellent "planning for major incidents" NHS web site (or here if you have access to the NHSWeb).
bulletLOCATORplus includes useful links.
bulletToxbase (toxicology data)
bulletCANUTEC's Home Page (re non-communicable hazards)
bullet