Los Angeles, Calif. (PRWEB) May 5, 2009 — The first recorded outbreak of influenza occurred in 1580, according to GIDEON (www.gideononline.com), the online infectious disease database used by medical professionals worldwide. As of 2003, an additional 31 pandemics had been documented, including 21 million deaths estimated from an H1N1 pandemic during 1918 to 1919. From 1958 to 2005, 50 cases of swine influenza virus infection (mostly H1N1) were reported in humans (http://gideononline.com/swineflu).

GIDEON reports that up until 2006, a total of 46 cases of human infection by swine influenza (more…)

Today, in the Sacramento Bee, an article about tainted pistachios quoted GIDEON and added a graph:

Reported cases of salmonella in the United States rose in the late 1980s and early 1990s but have gone down since, according to Gideon Informatics Inc., a firm that tracks infectious disease trends. Lately salmonella cases have been holding steady at around 15 to 16 per 100,000 Americans annually, the company’s data shows.

Outbreaks of infectious diseases from nuts are rare. GIDEON, a database which follows the status of all infectious diseases in all countries, has recorded sixteen such episodes. GIDEON currently contains details concerning 777 outbreaks of salmonellosis – of which nuts were implicated in only 1.2%.

Food-related outbreaks associated with nuts, in chronological order:

• 1986 – An outbreak (9 cases, 2 fatal) of botulism in Taiwan was caused by contaminated commercially preserved peanuts.
• 1991 – An outbreak (4 cases) of cholera in Maryland was associated with commercial frozen fresh coconut milk imported from Thailand.
• 1992 – An outbreak of shigellosis in Thailand was associated with consumption of a coconut milk dessert.
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U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Kuwait Medical Association, Sarawak Medical and Maine Medical Center Are Among the Many Global Health Organizations that Selected GIDEON Online in 2008.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 25, 2009 — GIDEON (www.gideononline.com) today announced that it has added more than 20 global health organizations to its roster of clients in 2008, including the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Kuwait Medical Association, University of Malaysia Sarawak Medical Faculty, and Maine Medical Center. From public health organizations to hospitals to universities, GIDEON helps medical professionals worldwide improve the diagnosis and treatment of infectious disease by providing comprehensive and accurate information.

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Despite the recent fatal case of avian flu in Beijing, overall avian flu cases in humans worldwide have decreased 55%, from 88 to 40, from 2007 to 2008, according to GIDEON Online (www.gideononline.com), the largest online database of infectious disease information for medical professionals. Human deaths from avian flu worldwide declined from 59 to 30 (49%), from 2007 to 2008.

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Steve Stallman recently interviewed Uri Blackman, GIDEON’s CEO, in SCribe magazine, which was mentioned in the Technology Council of Southern California blog. The interview provides some background on the company and the benefit of GIDEON to its users:

What is the main value proposition you offer?
Originally, we focused on compiling the entire world’s data for Infectious Diseases in one easy to use location combined with medical decision support. Now we have taken this to the next level by adding other medical domains on our platform. We help identify the diseases, their global footprints, and provide specific information on treatments. Medical professionals now have one clear source to get the most up to date information, which can change by the minute. This often makes them aware of things they never thought of and helps them make the best decision possible.

LOS ANGELES, CA–(June 12, 2008) – More than one million cases of foodborne salmonella are reported each year, accounting for 9.7 percent of all foodborne illnesses and 30.6 percent of all food-related deaths, according to GIDEON Online, an online database of infectious disease information for medical professionals.

Specifically, foodborne salmonella resulted in 15,600 hospitalizations and 550 deaths, over the last year.

For more information on salmonella, Dr. Stephen Berger, MD, infectious disease expert, is available for interviews. Dr. Berger, cofounder and Medical Advisor for GIDEON, has published more than 180 articles and books, including “Introduction to Infectious Diseases” and “The Healthy Tourist.” He is currently affiliated with the Tel Aviv Medical Center as Director of both Geographic Medicine and of Clinical Microbiology.

For more media information, contact:
Lisa Hendrickson
LCH Communications
516-643-1642
lisa@lchcommunications.com

Dr. Steve Berger, GIDEON’s Chief Medical Advisor, is quoted in the article “Is Your Keyboard Making You Sick?” in the US News and World Report:

“The bottom line is it’s actually nothing to worry about,” says Steve Berger, director of microbiology and tropical medicine at the Tel Aviv Medical Center. “We’re living in a sea of bacteria. The germs that you’re dealing with are normal bacteria, and nobody’s going to catch anthrax or Ebola or anything from a keyboard.”

In an article about Viropharma’s Camvia’s treatment paradigm, there is a quote from Steve, GIDEON’s Chief Medical Advisor, who used GIDEON to provide information on warnings for Ganciclovir:

Dr Stephen Berger, Director of Geographic Medicine and of Clinical Microbiology at Tel Aviv Medical Center, said the current standard of care, oral ganciclovir is quite toxic, and has 41 toxicities and 14 drug to drug interactions. In addition to myelosuppression, other side-effects include hair-loss and anemia.

346 INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND 7,316 OUTBREAKS INCLUDED IN NEW VERSION OF GIDEON ONLINE

– Features the most current information and decision support tools to assist medical professionals in diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases and bioterrorism agents–

LOS ANGELES, Calif., March 19, 2008 – GIDEON Informatics (www.gideononline.com) today announced a new version of its Web-based solution, with data on 346 infectious diseases, 7,316 outbreaks, 219 signs and symptoms and 80,000 medical notes. Providing comprehensive and accurate information on infectious diseases, GIDEON helps medical professionals worldwide improve the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
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New press release:

Ex Libris continues to expand the MetaLib Knowledge Base with valuable GIDEON research resources

The world-leading GIDEON medical database can now be searched via MetaLib

Jerusalem, Israel, and Los Angeles, CA – July 26, 2007 — Ex Libris™ Group and GIDEON Informatics have today announced that following a successful beta-testing period carried out by MetaLib® customers and Ex Libris staff, the renowned GIDEON (Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Online Network) database has been added to the MetaLib Central Knowledge Base (CKB). Researchers will now be able to use the MetaLib interface to search the GIDEON database for medical resources that aid in diagnosing and referencing a wide range of ailments. By making relevant information more accessible, MetaLib helps reduce information overload—thus increasing the efficiency with which medical problems can be managed and resolved.

Ex Libris remains focused on continually enhancing the MetaLib Central Knowledge Base. Earlier this year, TechXtra and PerX, two major engineering and technology resources, were added to the MetaLib CKB, greatly expanding the range of cross-searchable engineering, mathematics, and computing resources in the MetaLib gateway and metasearch system.

“We are very excited to partner with Ex Libris, an information market leader, and provide an integrated search solution for our mutual customers,” commented Uri Blackman, CEO of GIDEON Informatics, Inc.

Tal Ayalon, MetaLib Knowledge Base team leader, noted, “We are proud to add GIDEON to our rapidly growing MetaLib Central Knowledge Base. The inclusion of GIDEON, one of the most prominent health and medicine databases in the world, reflects the Ex Libris commitment to optimize the research process by making the finest possible resources available to researchers around the world.”

About GIDEON Informatics:

GIDEON Informatics develops and markets point-of-care medical-decision support applications that help reduce diagnostic errors. GIDEON, the company’s flagship product, is a comprehensive, easy-to-use, interactive Web-based infectious-disease knowledge management tool. It helps medical personnel at hundreds of institutions worldwide diagnose and treat infectious diseases and identify microorganisms, including bioterrorism agents. GIDEON Informatics is a privately held corporation headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

For additional information on GIDEON Informatics, see www.gideononline.com.

About MetaLib:

The Ex Libris MetaLib gateway and metasearch system enables users to access their institution’s e-collections, obtain relevant services, and work in a personalized environment. Using the easily customized MetaLib user interface or the user interface of another application tightly integrated with MetaLib, library patrons can conduct a metasearch across heterogeneous resources or link to the resources’ native interface.

The flexible MetaLib infrastructure accommodates both single institutions and consortia. Web-based administration tools enable librarians to quickly activate the full range of information resources that they offer their users. Integrated with the MetaLib system is the award-winning SFX® OpenURL-compliant link resolver, which provides users with context-sensitive linking to services that their institution has defined and customized on the basis of its e-collections and policies.

For additional information on MetaLib, see www.exlibrisgroup.com/metalib.htm.

About Ex Libris Group:

Ex Libris Group is a leading worldwide developer and provider of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers, with installations around the globe. Ex Libris Group’s flagship ALEPH® 500 and Voyager® integrated library solutions are in use at over 3,000 sites worldwide. Other products from the Ex Libris suite, deployed at more than 1,300 sites, focus on the digital library and offer state-of-the-art, user-centric solutions for managing electronic resources and digital assets and providing informed access to them.

For additional information on Ex Libris Group, see www.exlibrisgroup.com.

We have found a wonderful distribution partner, EBSCO publishing (EP). This means that new institutional subscribers will sign up for GIDEON directly with EP. Based on their preference, current institutional subscribers can renew with GIDEON or EP. New and renewal individual subscriptions will still be handled by GIDEON.

Check out www.epnet.com/gideon for more information.

The press release: GIDEON and EBSCO Publishing partner to offer wider access to GIDEON (PDF).

A quote from the most recent review of GIDEON in JAMA (2005):
“…an intellectual tour de force for helping physicians quickly and successfully respond to the diagnostic and therapeutic problems of seeing patients with infectious illnesses that either are intrinsically complex or may have originated in unfamiliar, foreign settings. In times when exotic travel brings exotic diseases into our offices, GIDEON provides world-class consultation. It continues to be the best designed expert program I have seen for medical practice.”

GIDEON in previous incarnations has been reviewed in JAMA in the past:

2002: “GIDEON is the epitome of its genre. If you are a clinician having any contact with infectious diseases, working in a microbiology laboratory … the Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network is worth examining. This important program deserves widespread attention.”

1997: “Anyone who has never used a good artificial intelligence program would do well to start at the top with GIDEON”