Site Puts World at Your Fingertips

MedicinePlanet.com

Overview: This San Francisco-based Internet company attempts to cover the world, so to speak, when it comes to information about travel-related medicine. If you’re looking for a clinic in West L.A. or Wauwatosa, Wis., worried about an outbreak of a dreaded disease in some distant land, or shopping for a sturdy backpack for a hike in the Sierras, this site has a lot to offer.

What Works: Even if you’re not planning a trip, this site has plenty of interest. There is solid information on such topics as airline regulations for disabled passengers and health tips for cruise-ship voyagers. There are news briefs and travel alerts from around the world. Many of the medical-related articles are written by top experts; for example, a thorough description of frostbite and its treatments by a Stanford University physician. You can have your travel-related questions answered by physicians via e-mail. Another service allows you to receive “personalized” health information based on your destination and individual medical profile (you answer questions on an electronic form). One novel feature is a fee-based service (due to launch in early 2001, the company says) called Mobile Medical Network. The service will allow someone equipped with a personal digital assistant or wireless phone to obtain instant medical information and translation. This could be handy if, for example, you need to get a prescription filled in a foreign city or need immediate first-aid advice while hiking.

What Doesn’t: Not a great deal to dislike here. Some people may be bothered by the poorly edited content--misspelled words, awkward grammar and the like. And others may dislike the incessant small ads plugging the Visa credit card. Beyond such quibbles, it would be nice to see the site broaden its information on diseases and treatments, and its special sections devoted to travel medicine issues pertaining to women, children, seniors and other groups.