The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 14, 2004, Image 3
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