The BioCaster Portal ('BioCaster') at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) presents structured information about disease outbreaks, links to Internet news and related knowledge resources to people interested in public health and safety. Access to BioCaster is provided from Tokyo, Japan. This is only possible thanks to freely available information from newsfeed service providers on the Internet.

By using BioCaster you agree to the following terms of use which may be updated without notice from time to time.

1. Disclaimer

Access to, and use of, the BioCaster Portal constitutes acceptance of the following general terms and conditions.

Neither NII nor any other party involved in creating, producing or delivering the website shall be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect or punitive damages arising out of Users' access to, or use of, the website. The BioCaster Portal does not guarantee the accuracy of information provided by external sources and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such data.

The information provided on this site is intended to be of a general nature and does not address the specific circumstances of any individual or entity. The information provided is not necessarily expected to be comprehensive, complete or up-to-date.

Though NII makes its best efforts to control its site, material on this website is derived automatically from text mining software and may inadvertently include inaccuracies or other errors. We are grateful if users could notify us of any errors or inaccuracies they may find so that we can try to improve our service. Please note that users browse and use the website at their own risk. NII does not warrant that the functional aspects of the website will be uninterrupted or error free or that this website, or the server that makes it available, are free of viruses or other harmful components. NII may change material on the site without prior notice.

The BioCaster Portal may contain links and references to third-party websites. These are provided for the convenience and interest of users and on the part of NII this implies neither responsibility for, nor approval of, information contained in these websites. NII makes no warranty, either express or implied, as to the accuracy, availability or content of information, text, graphics which are not under the 'nii.ac.jp' domain. Furthermore, the linking to external web sites does not imply on the part of NII any endorsement or guarantee of the organizations or information found on those web sites. NII has not tested any software located on other sites and does not make any representation as to the quality, safety, reliability or suitability of such software. Any comments regarding the linked web sites should be directed to the particular organization for whom the particular web site is being operated.

By accessing the BioCaster Portal, certain information about users, such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, navigation through the site, software used and time spent, as well as other similar information, may be stored on NII servers. These will not specifically identify users and the information will be used internally for website traffic analysis only. If users provide unique identifying information, such as name, address and other information on forms stored on this site, this information will be used for statistical purposes only and will not be published or made available for general access.