Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T06:19:08.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ebola Outbreak Response: The Role of Information Resources and the National Library of Medicine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2014

Cynthia B. Love ,
Stacey J. Arnesen  and
Steven J. Phillips
Cynthia B. Love*
Affiliation:
Disaster Information Management Research Center, Specialized Information Services Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland
Stacey J. Arnesen
Affiliation:
Disaster Information Management Research Center, Specialized Information Services Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland
Steven J. Phillips
Affiliation:
and the National Library of Medicine, Specialized Information Services, Bethesda, Maryland.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Cynthia B. Love, Disaster Information Management Research Center, Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, 6707 Democracy Boulevard, Suite 510, Bethesda, MD 20892-5467 (e-mail: cindy_love@nlm.nih.gov).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The US National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers Internet-based, no-cost resources useful for responding to the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak. Resources for health professionals, planners, responders, and researchers include PubMed, Disaster Lit, the Web page “Ebola Outbreak 2014: Information Resources,” and the Virus Variation database of sequences for Ebolavirus. In cooperation with participating publishers, NLM offers free access to full-text articles from over 650 biomedical journals and 4000 online reference books through the Emergency Access Initiative. At the start of a prolonged disaster event or disease outbreak, the documents and information of most immediate use may not be in the peer-reviewed biomedical journal literature. To maintain current awareness may require using any of the following: news outlets; social media; preliminary online data, maps, and situation reports; and documents published by nongovernmental organizations, international associations, and government agencies. Similar to the pattern of interest shown in the news and social media, use of NLM Ebola-related resources is also increasing since the start of the outbreak was first reported in March 2014 (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-4)

Keywords

disease outbreakscrowdsourcingsocial mediamass mediaInternet
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 2015 , pp. 82 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Frieden, TR, Damon, I, Bell, BP, et al. Ebola 2014 - New challenges, new global response and responsibility. N Engl J Med [published online August 20, 2014]. 2014;371(13):1177-1180. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1409903.Google Scholar
2. NowTrending.HHS.gov [beta] Web site. http://nowtrending.hhs.gov/. Accessed September 22, 2014.Google Scholar
3. Google Trends for topic ‘Ebola’ Web site. https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=ebola&date=today%203-m&gprop=news&cmpt=q. Accessed September 22, 2014.Google Scholar
4.US Department of Health and Human Services. Disaster Information Management Research Center. Ebola Outbreak 2014: Information Resources Web site. http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/ebola_2014.html. Accessed October 2, 2014.Google Scholar
5.Turoff, M, Hiltz, SR. Information seeking behavior and viewpoints of emergency preparedness and management professionals concerned with health and medicine: Final report. March 6, 2008. http://web.njit.edu/~turoff/Papers/FinalReportNLMTuroffHiltzMarch11.htm. Accessed September 22, 2014.Google Scholar
6.Birnbaum, M, et al. Tsunami 2004. A Comprehensive Analysis. New Delhi Regional Office for Southeast Asia (SEARO), World Health Organization; 2013. http://www.searo.who.int/entity/emergencies/documents/tsunami_2009/en/index.html. Accessed September 22, 2014.Google Scholar
7. Virus Variation: Ebolavirus Resource [database online]. Bethesda, MD: National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/viruses/variation/ebola/. Accessed September 22, 2014.Google Scholar
8.US National Library of Medicine. Emergency Access Initiative. Active Event: Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. August 12, 2014 – October 17, 2014. http://eai.nlm.nih.gov/. Accessed October 2, 2014.Google Scholar