Medill News Service article - Published: Nov. 7, 2001

Chicago brings bioterror info to Web

By Patrick Cooper
Medill News Service

The Chicago Department of Health this week has debuted on its Web site a section devoted to bioterrorism -- the threat closing post offices, keeping emergency crews busy, and unnerving the public.

The section is aimed at bringing organized and reliable information to the often fear-fueled discussions surrounding current bioterrorism threats.

On its front page, the section reinforces the bottom line in big, bold letters: "There has been no confirmed instance of anthrax contamination or disease in Chicago."

Since hitting the Web on Monday, it has been available via a prominent link on the city's Web site, www.cityofchicago.org.

"It's just common sense," department spokesman Tim Hadac said Wednesday. "This is the type of information that people both want and need. It was a no-brainer to put it up there."

The detailed section breaks down information into different sections for city residents and clinicians, as well as listing emergency contacts and describing Chicago plans to fight bioterror.

Visitors' questions can also be answered in links to other Web sites that give more in-depth information on related topics, such as biomedical research and chemical defense measures.

For paper copies of reports and Chicago disease information, visitors are encouraged to call the department, but requests via the Web will soon be possible.

In New York and Washington, D.C., city governments have created large sections on their Web sites devoted to their anthrax cases and threats. In the Midwest, where no one has been diagnosed with the disease, Chicago has given its residents the most information to see online.

Among Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Columbus, no city has posted more than a few pages about bioterrorism on their official Web sites.

St. Louis has created a small site, but the city's health department has also started a "Health Alert Network" to reach citizens by e-mail in case of a biological emergency.

Development of new features for the Chicago site is quite ongoing, according to Hadac. While the department has always had regular contact with area physicians about communicative diseases, city officials are working to allow instant, online interaction between all the players in the health system: doctors, nurses and government workers.

"We don't want it to be just a static representation of information," Hadac said. "We're looking at it as a good two-way communication tool."

Possibly as soon as next week, the department could have the ability to post health alerts immediately to the Web, Hadac said.

Modeled after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's bioterrorism Web site (www.bt.cdc.gov), Chicago's bioterror section puts substance over style, using an efficient design to quickly give visitors the information they want.

Instead of forcing them to slowly download large pictures and artwork, the section is mostly text, clearly broken down in bullet points and question and answer formats.

In the future, as the threat of bioterrorism continues, Hadac assured that the site would kept up to date with the latest information.