New website for information on bird flu

Affiliated Physicians' Avian Flu Education Site (Graphic: Business Wire)
9/12/2006 9:00:00 AM EST

BIOWIRE

Affiliated Physicians, a corporate medical practice group that provides medical services to corporations and government agencies, launches an online education site (www.APFluWatch.com) today for its clients, their employees and the public to research and better understand the avian flu, its symptoms and how it is transmitted.

As of August 2006, 234 cases of Avian flu were reported worldwide, resulting in 136 deaths, a 56 percent fatality rate. "One of our main goals at Affiliated Physicians is to restore, preserve and enhance the health of our clients by providing a full range of preventative and diagnostic health services," said Ari Cukier, vice president of program development at Affiliated Physicians. "Because of that goal, we feel it is critical that we increase awareness among our clients of the threat posed by a potential avian flu pandemic."

With its new online learning Web site, Affiliated Physicians is working not just to educate people about the avian flu but to help its clients develop specific medical response contingency plans in order to mitigate the impact of the threat on employees.

The tool, which features quizzes for learners to test their knowledge, provides users with background information and a series of prudent steps that should be taken prior to the threat materializing, during alerts and periods of high risk and during an actual, confirmed outbreak of the avian flu.

"Affiliated Physicians' choice to leverage online education to reach its customers and their employees is very forward thinking and is evidence of the proactive approach they take to preventative health maintenance," said Charlie Gillette, president and CEO of Knowledge Anywhere, the company that developed the course. "By making the site available to the general public, they are making it possible for each of us to learn more and put a plan in place as individuals and communities."

In the same vein of being proactive, Affiliated Physicians is offering a medical interview to each of its corporate employees in addition to a prescription for Tamiflu, a product made by Roche that is thought to be effective in combating a pandemic virus.

Affiliated Physicians has created a robust program to assist companies and their employees in preparation for a possible flu pandemic. The program, designed to augment companies' existing business continuity plans, includes: Education (onsite and remote), onsite vaccination programs, anti-viral dissemination programs, and corporate medical consultation.

The site can be accessed at: www.APFluWatch.com.

About Avian Flu

The avian flu virus (H5N1) is a specific strain of the influenza virus that has been found in worldwide populations of birds and has recently been known to also infect some humans.

Experts believe that this strain has a very good chance of mutating to a form that is easily transmittable from human-to-human. Because this strain is deadly and a mutated strain is likely to be very different from flu strains of the past, people have almost no immunity to it which could result in a worldwide pandemic.

About Affiliated Physicians

Based in New York City, Affiliated Physicians is a Corporate Medical Practice providing high quality corporate medical services to corporations and government agencies in the New York/Metropolitan area and Nationwide since 1982. Additionally, AP has over 400 contracted medical facilities nationally.

Pleasant and efficient handling of patients and meeting the special and varied needs of the corporations and agencies it serves has earned AP the reputation for providing quality, courteous and personalized medical care.

For more information about Affiliated Physicians, please visit www.affiliatedphysicians.net.

About Knowledge Anywhere, Inc.

Knowledge Anywhere provides technology-based learning and performance support solutions to corporations around the globe. Founded in 1998, the company deploys products and services to train large numbers of employees, customers and partners in an efficient and engaging manner that both maximizes the training dollar and the experience for the individual learner. Knowledge Anywhere's talented team of developers, designers, engineers and project managers work diligently with each client to customize their solution and see each project through.

Knowledge Anywhere's valued customers represent a variety of industries including the medical, telecommunication, technology, manufacturing, distribution and finance.

Its customers include Compuware, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Lawson Products, Captaris, Starbucks, and E. & J. Gallo. Customers turn to Knowledge Anywhere when looking for products and services to help implement solutions ranging from Web-based learning solutions to applications running on handheld devices, to context sensitive help systems on state-of-the-art instruments.

For more information about Knowledge Anywhere, please visit www.knowledgeanywhere.com.

CONTACT:

Communique PR Jennifer Gehrt, 206-282-0696 Jennifer@communiquepr.com