Inaccurate information about lyme disease on the internet.
OBJECTIVE
Patients and families searching the Internet about Lyme disease may find conflicting information. Our purpose was to review the accuracy of information on Lyme disease easily available on the Internet.


METHODS
We used 15 search engines to find general information about Lyme disease. We found 251 Lyme disease websites, which we reviewed. Of these 251 websites, 19 gave general Lyme disease information and were analyzed. We evaluated the accuracy of information concerning 8 Lyme disease topics.


RESULTS
Ten of the 19 websites gave accurate information and 9 of the 19 websites provided inaccurate information. There were 8 websites with the word "Lyme" in the domain name, and 7 of the 8 sites gave inaccurate information. There were 2 ".gov" websites, and both gave accurate information.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients and families searching the Internet for medical information about Lyme disease may encounter inaccurate information.
Cooper
James D
JD
University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA.
Feder
Henry M
HM
D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy