Detecting bioterror attacks gets creative
Nov 4, 2002 | 11:20 am
#1
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Detecting bioterror attacks gets creative
Detecting bioterror attacks gets creative
Counting coughs and tracking OJ sales part of unique defense
Public health officials have developed an odd interest lately in the mundane and arcane.
Epidemiologists are tracking orange juice sales at the local Safeway and poring over school attendance data. They're mapping every case of the sniffles they can find and watching surveillance videos to count how many times people sneeze.
The idea is that a sudden spike in everyday aches, pains, sniffles and coughs could signal the earliest stages of a health commissioner's worst nightmare -- a massive biological attack. So in the last few years, an increasing number of health departments have started collecting electronic data from hospital emergency rooms, pharmacies and other sources in an effort to gauge the overall level of illness in the population.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/11/04...rror.alert.ap/
Counting coughs and tracking OJ sales part of unique defense
Public health officials have developed an odd interest lately in the mundane and arcane.
Epidemiologists are tracking orange juice sales at the local Safeway and poring over school attendance data. They're mapping every case of the sniffles they can find and watching surveillance videos to count how many times people sneeze.
The idea is that a sudden spike in everyday aches, pains, sniffles and coughs could signal the earliest stages of a health commissioner's worst nightmare -- a massive biological attack. So in the last few years, an increasing number of health departments have started collecting electronic data from hospital emergency rooms, pharmacies and other sources in an effort to gauge the overall level of illness in the population.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/11/04...rror.alert.ap/
Nov 4, 2002 | 11:46 am
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by doc:
Epidemiologists are tracking orange juice sales at the local Safeway and poring over school attendance data. They're mapping every case of the sniffles they can find and watching surveillance videos to count how many times people sneeze.
So in the last few years, an increasing number of health departments have started collecting electronic data from hospital emergency rooms, pharmacies and other sources in an effort to gauge the overall level of illness in the population.
</font>
Epidemiologists are tracking orange juice sales at the local Safeway and poring over school attendance data. They're mapping every case of the sniffles they can find and watching surveillance videos to count how many times people sneeze.
So in the last few years, an increasing number of health departments have started collecting electronic data from hospital emergency rooms, pharmacies and other sources in an effort to gauge the overall level of illness in the population.
</font>
Jul 6, 2003 | 11:30 am
#3
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Posts: 46,817
Report Calls U.S. Agencies Understaffed for Bioterror
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/national/06BIOT.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/national/06BIOT.html