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Virus alert: Physicians go online to share data about bioterrorism

Web sites are cropping up all over that can tell doctors what they need to know about biological and chemical threats.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Jan. 28, 2002.

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After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Ronald K. Reynolds, MD, an emergency physician in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and his colleagues obtained most of their information about biological agents from CNN and its Web site.

"Although CNN was a very good and reliable information source, we realized as physicians that it should not be our primary source of information on those agents," Dr. Reynolds said. "We should be hearing from physicians and specialists within the field."

So Dr. Reynolds, co-founder and CEO of AnywhereWC LLC, a Web conferencing business in Myrtle Beach, contacted the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he had received advanced training in technology, about creating an Internet-based educational program on bioterrorism. In December, they began broadcasting lectures by physicians who are bioterrorism experts.

The webcasts are among a growing phalanx of online resources designed to inform physicians practicing under the shadow of bioterrorism how to diagnose, treat and prepare for biological threats.

The sponsors of these offerings -- physicians, medical societies, government agencies, academic institutions and commercial entities -- are using the Internet to rapidly disseminate information that physicians can use and refer patients to. Most of the offerings are free.

The American Medical Association, for example, has set up Web pages to keep physicians up to date with developments involving bioterrorism and help them answer patients' questions. It also has co-sponsored a satellite presentation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that has been broadcast on the Internet. Physicians who missed that and other CDC presentations can access them free at the Web site of the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Chapel Hill. [...]