Health—From A to Z

Leave it to the cutting edge health care professionals at the internationally renowned Mayo Clinic to design a web site that, if it doesn't answer every question you might have about health, nutrition, disease and the human body, can direct you where to go to find out. The site is aptly named the Mayo Clinic Health Oasis — http://www.mayohealth.org/index.htm — and, in typically understated fashion, claims to offer “Reliable Information for a Healthier Life.”

In truth it offers so much more. A quick search for the term “hantavirus” led to one of the myriad research articles in their archive—which in turn led me to a government article explaining in detail all precautions to take when facing possible hantavirus contamination. A search for the term “Peanuts” led to the archived article “Peanut Allergy—Nothing to Sneeze At,” which included a helpful list of tips for those allergic to peanuts, and a sometimes surprising list of foods that contain peanut by-products.

All this in addition to web page categories including, among others, Allergy & Asthma, Children, Cancer, Nutrition and Medicine—each offering such original articles as “When Low-Fat isn’t Low-Cal,” and “Chest Pains—Not Always Your Heart.”

With this web site, the Mayo Clinic remains, as always, light years ahead of its time.