SciTech
The Battalion
Page 3 • Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Beating bioterrorists
Ixperimental program part of new early warning system to combat bioterrorism
ly Judith Graham and Ronald Kotulak
KRT CAMPUS
G overnment analysts have begun scan
ning the United States daily for the first
signs of a bioterror attack by monitor-
ng enormous databases that include over-the-
ounter drug sales and common ailments reported
n hospital emergency rooms.
The experimental high-tech program is part of
new effort to develop early warning systems for
mminent public health crises and is analogous to
[hose that scan the skies for a missile attack.
Although supporters of the effort, including
op Bush administration officials, believe
tepped-up surveillance is crucial, critics say the
oncept is largely untested and likely to impose
ew burdens on an already overstretched public
iealth system.
BioSense, run by the Centers for Disease
ontrol and Prevention, quietly began operating
late last year. It is designed to pick up signals of
otential health emergencies as close to the onset
,s possible.
Instead of relying on confirmed medical diag-
oses, the program focuses on symptoms such as
ever, rash, diarrhea or nausea, searching for
nusual patterns or clusters.
Eventually, the system will scan a wide variety
f information sources for signs of possible dis-
ase outbreaks, from school absenteeism rates to
harp spikes in doctors' visits.
The program joins BioWatch, a network of air
iensors in 31 cities that are sniffing for toxic sub-
tances, and a new CDC program to electronical-
y track illness outbreaks across the country.
Meanwhile, scientists are in a race to supple-
lent large, stationary monitors with the first gen-
ration of handheld sensors that can quickly iden-
|ify anthrax and other bacteria or viruses that
night be used in a bioterror attack.
Researchers in Chicago and England are work
ing to make such devices available in one to two
/ears. They will be a hybrid of electronics and
iology, housing electronic chips studded with
ntibodies to microorganisms that cause disease.
Uniting these developments is a push to use
utting-edge technology to more rapidly identify
respond to threats to public health, whether
from bioterrorism or emerging infectious diseases
such as SARS, said Dr. John Loonsk, associate
director for informatics at the CDC.
Visionaries talk of a national "public health
information network," a vast invisible web of
real-time health data, like weather data. But
whether this is feasible has yet to be determined.
Thousands of clinics, hospitals, doctors'
offices, pharmacies, labs, public agencies and
responders would have to be hooked up to the
network, a task the CDC readily acknowledges
is monumental.
The proposed 2005 federal budget allocates
$130 million to BioSense and calls for doubling
the size of BioWatch.
Chicago is monitoring ambulance dispatches,
complaints recorded in hospital emergency rooms
and symptoms patients display at physicians'
offices across the city, said Dr. Pamela Diaz,
director of emergency preparedness for. the
Chicago Health Department.
For all the appeal of high-tech solutions, alert
doctors who pick up the phone when they see
something unusual may be even more valuable,
she suggested.
Less controversial is the National Electronic
Disease Surveillance System, another high-tech
CDC initiative. More than a dozen states are partic
ipating, including Illinois, which rolled out the first
part of its electronic disease system last month.
Illinois' system focuses on diagnosed health
conditions that are reported to local and state pub
lic health agencies, from measles and mumps to
meningitis and AIDS.
It works by replacing paper forms that medical
providers routinely send to public health depart
ments with electronic forms transmitted over
secure Internet connections.
Sophisticated analytical tools are built in,
making it possible to examine disease trends by
county, city or ZIP code.
Meanwhile, scientists are working on hand
held devices that can be used to check for specif
ic viruses or bacteria that could be spread through
bioterrorism. The key to the new devices is the
use of antibodies, proteins in the body that hunt
down and identify specific bacteria or poisons.
"Because these use the same recognition sys-
c*
■AXIOMS
SCREEN PRINTING 6c
EMBROIDERY^
3—C
Yi
m
PARENTS'
^EEKElVt)
Thursday - Sunday
April 15th - April 18th
9a.m. - 8p.m.
\(mi^
8
664
112 Holleman Drive • College Station, TX]
Angelou
MSC Diversity Presents
“An Evening with Maya
Friday, April 23rd
Rudder Auditorium
4:30 p.m.
Free Admission ' 1
*Please note: seating is
on a first come,
first serve basis.
Doors open at 4:00 p.m.
Memorial Student Center * Texas A&M University
For more information, or information regarding
ADA accessibility, please contact MSC Diversity at 845-1515
,
ill >
m
COURTLSY OF • KRT CAMPUS
Jenna Zhang, a chemistry graduate student at
helped adapt to detect single-cell bacteria.
linois Institute of Technology, holds a computer chip that she
terns as living sensors, we can tell in real time
whether there has been an attack," said Carl
Mayers of the Defense, Science and Technology
Laboratory in Salisbury, England. He reported his
findings recently at the meeting of the Society for
General Microbiology in Bath, England.
Initially intended to defend against biological
warfare agents, the devices are expected to also
find wide application in identifying germs that
make people sick.
"Many more people around the world die of
undiagnosed and untreated diseases than die of
terrorist attacks," said chemist William Penrose, a
member of the Illinois Institute of Technology
team developing a handheld detector.
"Tuberculosis, for example, is the leading cause
of death around the world, next to malaria. An
inexpensive, handheld scanner that could be used
to seek out tuberculosis patients in remote loca
tions could be used to identify infected people
early, in time to start drug treatment or, at the very
least, to prevent the disease from spreading."
The new handheld instruments will probably
cost less than $2,000, both Penrose and Mayers said.
"This portable device can instantly detect a
variety of dangerous agents in the field through
an instrument no larger than a typical hand-held
computer," said IIT chemist Joseph Stetter, leader
of the research team.
The IIT device uses a postage stamp-sized
electronic chip. Antibodies against a variety of
different germs are studded on the surface. Germs
and toxic chemicals stick to specific antibodies
and are quickly identified.
Antibodies — grown in animals or bacteria —
are placed on small gold plates and exposed to
samples suspected of containing harmful agents.
A laser beam flashes over the plate. Any germs
caught by the antibodies reflect the laser light in
a specific pattern, quickly revealing their identity.
till
I
Mvher
Community living!
Individual Leases
Fully Furnished
FREE cable & HBO
FREE Ethernet
FREE Video Library
Full Size Washer & Dryer
On A&M Bus Route
CAll TOKAY!
e.
979-764-8999
m Colpfe Pr. Collep Static. TX 77W
CHECK OS
Roommate Matching
24-hr Maintenance, Mgmt, &
Courtesy Manager
24-hr Computer Lab & Fitness
Center
Utility Package Available
Prices starting at $350
er month per person!!
*0 Move IN!
<*$l #♦
limited time only