Appendices 

David O. Freedman, Katherine J. Johnson

SELECTED ELECTRONIC RESOURCES IN TRAVEL MEDICINE

A variety of electronic resources is available for practitioners who provide pre- and post-travel medical care for international travelers (Table B-01). Checking more than 1 authoritative website on a specific issue is always recommended. Authoritative recommendations may contain some element of opinion, and some sites are updated more frequently than others. Fortunately, most sites now put an indicator at the bottom of each page stating when the last update was done or electronically notify interested users when changes are made.

ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION AND DISCUSSION FORUMS

Electronic distribution lists (such as Listserv) use e-mail with or without a browser-based interface. Some lists are set up to provide information only. Others promote active discussion among members, whereby anyone who has joined a particular group can e-mail a posting to a central server, which is then disseminated to all members who have subscribed to the same list. On a moderated list, each posting is reviewed and accepted by a moderator or editor, while unmoderated lists disseminate each posting instantly to all other subscribers. TravelMed is an example of an unmoderated list, which focuses on issues related to the practice of travel medicine (see www.istm.org/WebForms/Members/MemberActivities/listserve.aspx for further information). CDC’s website provides an information-only e-mail notification system called GovDelivery on a variety of health topics, including updates to the CDC Travelers’ Health website. For more information or to subscribe, see www.cdc.gov/emailupdates/index.html.

Another common form of electronic notification is RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Many websites provide RSS feeds that instantly inform users when updates are made. To receive feeds, users must have an RSS reader on their computer or mobile device. Readers are commonly available as embedded features of most web browsers and e-mail applications or can be downloaded from commercial organizations. Users can customize notification settings to send multiple feeds directly to their e-mail account, or they can view feeds through their web browser, desktop, or mobile device.

Many of the resources below provide RSS feeds. CDC Travelers’ Health generates feeds on 2 topics: travel notices and updates to the Yellow Book. For more information, see wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/contentRss.aspx.  Table B-02 highlights a subset of primary resources that provide RSS feeds that may be useful to travel medicine practitioners. Check the resources in Table B-01 for more information or updates through e-mail lists and other social media.

Note: Tables B-01 and B-02 provide a representative but by no means exclusive sampling of resources that may be useful to the travel medicine practitioner. Brief descriptions of selected websites have been included to highlight resources that may be of particular interest. Please be advised that website URLs and content may change at any time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Freedman DO. Sources of travel medicine information. In: Keystone JS, Kozarsky PE, Freedman DO, Nothdurft HD, Connor BA, editors. Travel Medicine. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Mosby; 2008. p. 29–34.
2. Keystone JS, Kozarsky PE, Freedman DO. Internet and computer-based resources for travel medicine practitioners. Clin Infect Dis. 2001 Mar 1;32(5):757–65.