Logical Images says that the New York Department of Health has invested $200,000 in Visual Dx, its computerized database of photographs of smallpox and other diseases in various stages and on different skin types. Visual Dx is an image-based software system that allows doctors, nurses and other first responders to identify bioterrorism-related illnesses and other common or unusual afflictions. The system allows clinicians to enter a list of symptoms, medical history and exposure that returns nearly 600 possible diseases, drug reactions or infections with more than 10,000 pictures. The system was piloted in 2004, but now the program is expanding into 25 emergency rooms and clinics throughout the city's five boroughs. More than 14,000 healthcare providers also have access to the database through the city's Internet-based Health Alert Network.
- see this article from Forbes