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Government, Professional, and Academic Organizations
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- WHO's infectious diseases node includes PDF renderings of a periodic newsletter, Action Against Infection; links to fact sheets and other information sources on a range of tropical and communicable diseases that represent major world health threats; hypertext versions of two WHO reports on infectious diseases, Overcoming Antimicrobial Resistance (2000) and Removing Obstacles to Healthy Development (1999); and other resources.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Principal U.S. government agency responsible for "for protecting the health and safety of people." Branches with particular relevance to infectious disease include:
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
- NIH branch charged with research on AIDS, immunology, disease, and vaccines. The Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases site includes information on the institute's research activities in antimicrobial resistance, pathogen genomics, viral infections, and other areas.
- American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
- Web home of the world's "oldest and largest single life science membership organization," with gateways to a number of worthwhile journals, online books, and other Web features (see below).
- Infectious Diseases Society of America
- Organization geared particularly to medical professionals.
- Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance
- Site includes a wide variety of links on surveillance of resistant infections, optimal antibiotic use, and international issues regarding antibiotic resistance.
- Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA)
- Excellent Tufts University-based destination with a strong collection of links on antibiotic-resistance research and surveillance. Includes Reservoirs of Antibiotic Resistance (ROAR) Network, a project to create an interactive database organized around hot zones of antibiotic resistance.
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Articles, Journals, and Publications
General Background
- Infectious History
- Review by Joshua Lederberg, in Science's Pathways of Discovery Series, in which the author traces the broad history of humanity's interaction with microbes, and suggests that ultimate survival may require that humans embrace a more microbial point of view.
- Is Global Warming Harmful to Health? (August 2000)
Evolution and the Origins of Disease (November 1998)
The Challenge of Antibiotic Resistance (March 1998)
- Engaging introductory articles (published in Scientific American) covering broad themes concerning the relevance of climate and natural selection to studies of pathogens.
Selected Online Journals
Abstracts for most journals are freely available; unless otherwise indicated, full text usually requires a paid subscription.
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Interesting peer-reviewed journal from the Centers for Disease Control that publishes papers analyzing disease trends and emerging ailments. Freely available online.
- ASM Journals Online
- Gateway to the broad range of journals published by the American Society for Microbiology.
- The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Clinical Infectious Diseases
- Publications of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
- The Infectious Disease Review Online
- British journal makes PDF versions selected articles freely available for download.
- Microbial Ecology
- Springer-Verlag offering on the interactions between microbes and everything else.
- Microbial Pathogenesis
- Academic Press title on "molecular and cellular mechanisms in infectious disease."
- Journal of General Virology
- Publication of the Reading-based Society for General Microbiology, with an emphasis on "fundamental studies" in virology. Full text of selected papers that are published online ahead of print is made available at JGV Direct.
Online Books, Proceedings, and Reports
- Selected titles from the National Academy Press
- NAP makes a wide variety of its titles available for free online viewing through its Open Books program. Among some titles particularly relevant to infectious diseases, disease evolution, and emerging infections:
- Emerging Infectious Diseases from the Global to the Local Perspective: Workshop Summary, Jonathan R. Davis and Joshua Lederberg, Eds. (2001)
- Under the Weather: Climate, Ecosystems, and Infectious Disease, Committee on Climate, Ecosystems, Infectious Diseases, and Human Health (2001)
- Public Health Systems and Emerging Infections: Assessing the Capabilities of the Public and Private Sectors, Workshop Summary, Jonathan R. Davis and Joshua Lederberg, Eds. (2000)
- Managed Care Systems and Emerging Infections: Challenges and Opportunities for Strengthening Surveillance, Research, and Prevention, Workshop Summary, Jonathan R. Davis, Ed. (2000)
- From Monsoons to Microbes: Understanding the Ocean's Role in Human Health, Committee on the Ocean's Role in Human Health (1999)
- Antimicrobial Resistance: Issues and Options, Polly F. Harrison and Joshua Lederberg, Eds. (1998)
- Orphans and Incentives: Developing Technology to Address Emerging Infections, Polly F. Harrison and Joshua Lederberg, Eds. (1997)
- Emerging Infections: Microbial Threats to Health in the United States, Joshua Lederberg, Robert E. Shope, and Stanley C. Oaks, Jr., Editors, Eds. (1992)
- American Academy of Microbiology Critical Issues Colloquia
- The ASM-sponsored Academy makes PDF versions of its colloquia proceedings -- which have covered areas including emerging infections, climate and diseases, and antimicrobial resistance -- available for download.
- Electronic publications of the NCID
- NCID makes a variety of publications available online, including HTML and PDF versions of its 1998 document "Preventing Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Strategy for the 21st Century."
- Medical Microbiology
- Online edition of textbook by Samuel Baron, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
- Epidemiology for the Uninitiated
- Online edition of textbook by D. Coggon, Geoffery Rose, and D. J. P. Barker, available through the Web site of the British Medical Journal.
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Microbial Genomes
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Viruses
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Webcasts, Images, Video Clips, and Online Exhibits
- 2000 and Beyond: Confronting the Microbe Menace (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
- Archived streaming-video presentations of the 1999 entry in HHMI's annual "Holiday Lectures" series, which consisted of four talks by Donald E. Ganem and B. Brett Finlay
- Public Health Image Library (CDC)
- Lots of great shots -- mostly in the public domain -- of pathogenic microbes, viruses, insect vectors, disease symptoms, and much else.
- Microbiology Video Library (CDC)
- Nice set of clips assembled by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Leicester.
- BioInteractive (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
- Terrific HHMI public-outreach site has a "virtual museum" with an online exhibit, "When Worlds Collide," on the interaction between humans and pathogens, as well as a "Virtual Bacterial ID Lab" that lets visitors "sequence" and analyze bacterial DNA, and a set of animations showing the workings of some well-known microbial demons.
- Epidemic! The World of Infectious Disease (American Museum of Natural History)
- Handsome online rendering of a 1999 AMNH exhibition.
- Digital Learning Center for Microbial Ecology
- Public-outreach project of the Michigan State University Center for Microbial Ecology. Includes the well-known Microbe Zoo.
- Significant Events of the Last 125 Years (ASM)
- Impressively comprehensive, well-executed timeline tracing out the history of microbiology, from Pasteur through publication of the Haemophilus influenzae genome. Highly recommended.
- Outbreak!
- Interactive teaching tool, from the National Biotechnology Information Facility, to expose students to the techniques of microbial identification and investigation.
- MicrobeWorld.org
- Handsomely designed public-outreach site of ASM that offers a "Gateway to the World of Microbes."
- MicrobeLibrary.org
- Fantastic resource for educators from the ASM, including an image bank, a collection of curriculum resources, educational reviews, and more.
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Miscellaneous Resources
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he comparison between the teeming microbial world and the unruly arena of the World Wide Web is almost too tempting to ignore. On this page, we offer a tiny sampling of the interface between the two: links to sites that deal with infectious diseases generally and in particular with topics such as antibiotic resistance, emerging infections, and microbial genomes. Many of the sites feature copious collections of other microbiological links, and thus offer convenient jumping-off points for your own exploration.
