1 Iss.1 Suppl. The evolution of the 'information age' in medicine is mirrored in the exponential growth of medical webpages, increasing number of online databases, and expanding services and publications available on the Internet. The handful of computers linked by the predecessor of the Internet in 1969 has grown to more than 5 million websites today, of which at least 100,000 have health-related content. More than 150 million people currently communicate over the Internet.
Medical information is among the most retrieved information on the web.
Health information providers on the web mostly include private companies offering medical products or medical information, individual patients and health professionals, patient self support groups and professional associations, non-governmental organisations, universities, research institutes and governmental agencies. The Internet is likely to have a significant impact on the efficiency and quality of future health care, consumer empowerment, public health, medical education and a number of other areas. Telemedicine for the most part is applied to diagnostic and curative medicine, while cybermedicine is applied to preventive medicine and public health. Despite these differences, cybermedicine and telemedicine are related disciplines and there are overlapping areas, as increasingly telemedical applications will use the Internet as a platform to deliver and exchange clinical data, as soon as security concerns are resolved. The role of consumers Today, a large number of patients and consumers already use the Internet to retrieve health related information, to interact with health providers and even to order pharmaceutical products.