Disease Information App

An interactive browser-based application that provides structured information about diseases using Perplexity’s Sonar API

Disease Information App

An interactive browser-based application that provides structured information about diseases using Perplexity’s Sonar API. This app generates a standalone HTML interface that allows users to ask questions about various diseases and receive organized responses with citations.

🌟 Features

• User-Friendly Interface: Clean, responsive design that works across devices
• AI-Powered Responses: Leverages Perplexity’s Sonar API for accurate medical information
• Structured Knowledge Cards: Organizes information into Overview, Causes, and Treatments
• Citation Tracking: Lists sources of information with clickable links
• Client-Side Caching: Prevents duplicate API calls for previously asked questions
• Standalone Deployment: Generate a single HTML file that can be used without a server
• Comprehensive Error Handling: User-friendly error messages and robust error management

📋 Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• Jupyter Notebook or JupyterLab (for development/generation)
• Required packages:
  • requests
  • pandas
  • python-dotenv
  • IPython

🚀 Setup & Installation

1. Clone this repository or download the notebook
2. Install the required packages:

# Install from requirements file (recommended)
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Or install manually
pip install requests pandas python-dotenv ipython

3. Set up your Perplexity API key:
   • Create a .env file in the same directory as the notebook
   • Add your API key: PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

🔧 Usage

Running the Notebook

1. Open the notebook in Jupyter:

jupyter notebook Disease_Information_App.ipynb

2. Run all cells to generate and launch the browser-based application
3. The app will automatically open in your default web browser

Using the Generated HTML

You can also directly use the generated disease_qa.html file:

1. Open it in any modern web browser
2. Enter a question about a disease (e.g., “What is diabetes?”, “Tell me about Alzheimer’s disease”)
3. Click “Ask” to get structured information about the disease

Deploying the App

For personal or educational use, simply share the generated HTML file.

For production use, consider:

1. Setting up a proper backend to secure your API key
2. Hosting the file on a web server
3. Adding analytics and user management as needed

🔍 How It Works

This application:

1. Uses a carefully crafted prompt to instruct the AI to output structured JSON
2. Processes this JSON to extract Overview, Causes, Treatments, and Citations
3. Presents the information in a clean knowledge card format
4. Implements client-side API calls with proper error handling
5. Provides a responsive design suitable for both desktop and mobile

⚙️ Technical Details

API Structure

The app expects the AI to return a JSON object with this structure:

{
  "overview": "A brief description of the disease.",
  "causes": "The causes of the disease.",
  "treatments": "Possible treatments for the disease.",
  "citations": ["https://example.com/citation1", "https://example.com/citation2"]
}

Files Generated

• disease_qa.html - The standalone application
• disease_app.log - Detailed application logs (when running the notebook)

Customization Options

You can modify:

• The HTML/CSS styling in the create_html_ui function
• The AI model used (default is “sonar-pro”)
• The structure of the prompt for different information fields
• Output file location and naming

🛠️ Extending the App

Potential extensions:

• Add a Flask/Django backend to secure the API key
• Implement user accounts and saved questions
• Add visualization of disease statistics
• Create a comparison view for multiple diseases
• Add natural language question reformatting
• Implement feedback mechanisms for answer quality

⚠️ Important Notes

• API Key Security: The current implementation embeds your API key in the HTML file. This is suitable for personal use but not for public deployment.
• Not Medical Advice: This app provides general information and should not be used for medical decisions. Always consult healthcare professionals for medical advice.
• API Usage: Be aware of Perplexity API rate limits and pricing for your account.

📜 License

MIT License

🙏 Acknowledgements

• This project uses the Perplexity AI Sonar API
• Inspired by interactive knowledge bases and medical information platforms