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Terms and conditions

Please read these terms and conditions carefully before using this site. Using this site indicates that you accept these terms.

About this site: Welcome to www.chlamydiae.com. This is the website of Chlamydiales Communications Ltd, a private limited company registered in England and Wales to act as the legal controlling entity. The URL reflects the site mission, which is, for all the chlamydiae, to provide a quality communication and information source. The site has been written to conform with the code of conduct of the Health on the Net Foundation. The views on health information sites expressed, among others, in the papers of Silberg et al., 1997; Wyatt, 1997 and Gagliardi & Jadad, 2002 have also been taken into account. The web site was launched in June 2002 and its first edition was completed in 2004. The site is currently being simplified (to avoid the need for registration) and updated. The second edition is expected to be completed early in 2009. 

Aims: The professional site is designed for persons professionally concerned with chlamydial infections and the Chlamydiales, either as carers or researchers. The companion public information site is designed to answer basic questions from the general public about chlamydial genital tract infections.

Key aims of the professional site are to provide: 

a) an evidence-based overview and electronic portal to the literature on chlamydiae and the Chlamydiales;

b) occasional news on chlamydiae and chlamydial meetings. 

This site still remains unique in the depth and breadth of its coverage of the Chlamydiales.

Authorship: The site is mainly written by the webmaster, Michael Ward, B.Sc and PhD in Microbiology, was a chlamydial researcher for more than 20 years and was Professor of Medical Microbiology in the University of Southampton, England. He was also an advisor on chlamydial and gonococcal infections to the World Health Organisation Human Reproduction Program. He is now retired and holds the title of Emeritus Professor. Clinical sections on human chlamydial infections were kindly reviewed by Dr R Basu Roy (Past president, Medical Society for the study of venereal diseases, UK), Dr A Stary (President of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections), and, for C. pneumoniae, by Dr Yuk-ki Wong (Consultant in cardiology, Wessex Cardiothoracic Centre). The section on chlamydial evolution was written by Jim Moulder and the section on veterinary infections by Dr Peter Griffiths (Veterinary Laboratory Authority, Weybridge, UK) Authors are identified by initials within square brackets, see: contributors.

Complementarity: The www.chlamydiae.com site is intended to support and not supersede the normal physician – patient relationship.

Viewing: The site is best viewed  on Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox at 1024 x 768 pixels.

Access: Free of charge. Persons not concerned with chlamydial research or the management of chlamydial infections are very welcome, but may find parts of the site heavy going. Some explanations and medical dictionary hyperlinks, marked with have been added for non-professional readers. 

Changes: We may change these terms at any time, in which case the amended terms will be posted on this web site (“site”) and will apply from the date we post them. The format and content of the site is changed frequently. You should refresh your browser to ensure that you access the most up to date version.

Registration: All pages on the site are freely available without registration.

Privacy and Confidentiality: We fully respect the confidentiality and privacy of our visitors. See privacy.

Errors: Reasonable care has been taken to minimise any errors on this site but perfection is impossible to achieve and scientific understanding is constantly changing. Please advise the webmaster of any errors by using the comments / error / suggestions email facility on the navigation bar at the bottom of each page.

Editorial comment:  The most interesting reviews are those where the reader gets a clear perception of the reviewer's evaluation of the field. There is therefore editorial comment throughout the site. This comment expresses the personal view of the webmaster alone and is clearly distinguished as such by [blue typing like this within square boxes like these]. Editorials are also occasionally written and are clearly indicated as such.

Updates: The month and year of last update is indicated on each document as it is updated. Major revision and updating is taking place during 2008 and it is expected the whole site will have been revised by March 2009. This is major but spare time work, so apologies if it appears to be slow.

The content of this website can be accessed, printed and downloaded in an unaltered form (altered including being stretched, compressed, coloured or altered in any way so as to distort content from its original proportions or format) with copyright acknowledged, on a temporary basis for personal study that is not for a direct or indirect commercial use. Any content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of the webmaster, including but not limited to:

• transmission by any method
• storage in any medium, system or programme
• display in any form
• performance
• hire, lease, rental or loan

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this website should be addressed by email to the
The webmaster makes reasonable effort to acknowledge copyright owners where they can be identified. Please inform the webmaster if any copyright owners are not properly identified and acknowledged so that the necessary corrections can be made.

Other individuals and organisations wishing to make chlamydiae.com content accessible through their websites are encouraged to create hypertext links to the required content on this website.

Contributions to the chlamydiae.com web site Where you submit any contribution to the chlamydiae.com site you agree, by submitting your contribution, that you grant Chlamydiales Communications Ltd a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, right and license to publish the contribution on the chlamydiae.com site.

Literature References / Attribution/ Justifiability: Statements of fact in the professional site are hyperlinked from the text to sources (usually primary papers) in the reference list. In the reference list, full authors are generally given unless there are more than six authors. Most journal names are given in full, although the webmaster is on a learning curve on what some of the journal abbreviations stand for! The titles of the references are hyperlinked where available to the abstract provided on the PubMed site of the National Library of Medicine in Washington DC, a superb resource provided by the United States for which researchers world wide are indebted. From the PubMed abstract, links to the full article may be found. These may be either open access (public domain) or restricted access (requiring an individual or institutional subscription, or payment). This site links to full articles only where these are fully accessible in the public domain. Usually these articles will be in the form of pdf files, denoted by the symbol _. Electronic jounal access arrangements are constantly changing so, should a formerly open document become restricted, please advise so that the link can be reviewed. This site particularly thanks publishers and organisations who make full articles available on the web within six months or less of publication [even before publication in the case of some journals]. This indicates the confidence of these leading publications in their paper-based circulation and their understanding of both the advantages provided by electronic media and of their relationship to the research community which writes and reads their articles. The date when a page on the site was last updated is indicated at the foot of each article.

Grading system: For articles in the professional section that have been written by the webmaster, a star grading system has been used to mark papers and web resources which are, in the webmaster's opinion, of special interest. The greater the number of stars the greater the perceived merit :-)  While no doubt controversial, these gradings are intended to provide non chlamydial specialists with some idea of the importance of a paper or contribution to the field. In grading, consideration has been given to scientific merit and to the importance of the results relative to knowledge in the field at the time of publication. This is a subjective process and should not be taken too seriously! Inevitably in such a large site some inconsistencies in grading will have crept in. Also papers may be given different gradings in different contexts.

Commercial sponsorship / funding / advertising: The professional site provides a global focus for professionals diagnosing and treating chlamydial infections. It thereby attracts a unique, specialised audience. This a non profit site, funded by the webmaster through Chlamydiales Communications Ltd for the benefit of the public and, in particular, for health professionals and researchers interested in the Chlamydiales.  Initial start up funding was kindly provided by GenProbe Inc but the site is currently not sponsored. Nevertheless it is recognised sponsorship may be helpful in maintaining, improving and updating this site. Sponsorship offers companies the opportunity to develop a visible partnership with the global chlamydial health care community. Companies interested in sponsoring this site are invited to contact the webmaster. There is no advertising on the site and the editorial policy of the site is independent of contributors or sponsors.

Disclaimer The contents of this web site have been prepared responsibly and carefully but Chlamydiales Communications Ltd disclaims all warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the information contained in any of the materials on this website or on other linked websites or on any subsequent links. This includes but is not by way of limitation:

1. any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose 

2. any liability for damage to computer hardware, data, information, materials and business resulting from the information or the lack of information available 

3. any errors, omissions or inaccuracies in the information  

4. any decision made or action taken or not taken in reliance upon the information.

Chlamydiales Communications Ltd shall not be liable for any losses or damages (including without limitation consequential loss or damage) whatsoever from the use of, or reliance on, the website and information therein. It is the ultimate responsibility of users to ensure that their computers are protected from any malicious programme code. Links to other websites do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Chlamydiales Communications Ltd or the webmaster of any products, services, policies or opinions of the organisation or individual.

The professional section of this site is not intended to be a health information site for the general public.

Applicable Law These terms and the use of www.chlamydiae.com are governed by and are to be interpreted in accordance with English law. In the event of any dispute arising in relation to these terms and the use of our site the English courts will have jurisdiction over the dispute. These terms and this site are provided in the English language only.

Conflicts of interest: None.

Michael Ward, January, 2008.

References

Gagliardi, A. & Jadad, A. R. (2002). Examination of instruments used to rate quality of health information on the internet: chronicle of a voyage with an unclear destination. British Medical Journal 324, 669 - 573.

Multiple authors (2002). BMJ issue on the internet and medical information. British Medical Journal 324, no 7337 March 9th. Contents Page for full articles on line. 

Silberg WM, Lundberg GD, Musacchio RA. (1997). Assessing, controlling, and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet: Caveant lector et viewor - Let the reader and viewer beware. JAMA. 277, 1244 - 1245.

Wyatt, J. C. (1997) Commentary: measuring quality and impact of the World Wide Web. British Medical Journal 314, 1879 - 1881.