Service is free and available on World Wide Web

Johns Hopkins today announced the introduction of the Palm OS version of its digital Guide to Antibiotics and Infectious Disease the ABX Guide -- designed to give physicians free and up-to-the-minute information on antibiotics and their proper use. The ABX Guide offers information on more than 190 drugs and more than 140 diseases treated by both specialists and primary care physicians.

The same rigorously reviewed database and clinical support system, found on the Web (http://hopkins-abxguide.org) since August 2000 is now available on any handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) system using the Palm operating system. The initial version was launched last month for Microsoft Pocket-PC.

The ABX Guide has more than 12,000 registered users and recorded 1.6 million hits in April, an increase of 600% since March, the month of the initial launch. Sixty percent of the hits were from physicians, with the remainder coming from nurses, pharmacists, medical and nursing students and others.

Capitalizing on the popularity of handheld PDAs, and developed in part to address concerns over antibiotic drug resistance and inappropriate drug prescribing, the ABX Guide is the first in a planned series of easily navigated, up-to-date digital specialty handbooks from Hopkins medical experts.

Instead of relying on quickly outdated and limited paper versions of drug references, ABX Guide users carry expert-written, condensed modules that present the most essential information on the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. Experts hand-picked by Hopkins review and update materials monthly, making the ABX Guide extraordinarily sensitive to changes in the field. Expert comments are attributed, along with supporting citations in the literature. Emergency alerts, such as FDA recalls, can be "pushed" to all users in an instan
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Contact: Kate O'Rourke
korourke@jhmi.edu
410-955-8665
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
30-Apr-2001