Media Watch

Marilynn Larkin

The following reviews highlight projects that are using technology to rapidly detect and counter bioterrorism threats and prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON)

http://www.GIDEONonline.com
GIDEON is a diagnostic and disease-information programme available on CD and a frequently updated internet version. The burgeoning availability of high-speed internet connections, particularly in large institutions, makes it increasingly likely that clinicians will find the online tool useful.

GIDEON consists of four basic modules. The diagnosis module ( figure , below) can be used to diagnose specific cases or to simulate a particular clinical problem. The epidemiology module provides information on disease transmission, diagnosis, treatment, and status in specific countries, or worldwide. The therapy module covers drugs and vaccines, including side-effects, testing standards, and brand names. The microbiology module permits identification of a bacterium or yeast, and comparison among two or more species. Graphs and images are included in the online version.

The programme is robust. Data are culled from Medline searches, meeting reports, WHO publications, etc, and are updated weekly. It is also easy to navigate, and allows users to enter personal notes. An online PowerPoint presentation provides a good overview of the programme. Users can also register for a 15-day free trial. Individual subscribers pay US$895 yearly; institutional licenses start at $2995.

World Community Grid

http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.html
IBM, in collaboration with representatives of major science, education, and philanthropic organisations, recently launched the World Community Grid, a humanitarian effort that applies the unused computing power of individual and business computers to help address pressing health problems. Grid computing is a form a high-throughput screening, by which millions of molecules are screened as potential drug targets. The method has been used for smallpox and anthrax research in collaboration with, among others, the University of Oxford, the University of Western Ontario, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center, and Essex University.

The World Community Grid's first project, sponsored by the Institute of Systems Biology (Seattle, WA, USA), is the Human Proteome Folding project (http://www.systemsbiology.net/Default.aspx?pagename=humanproteome ). The project aims to provide data that predict the shape of a large number of human proteins; the data can help in the identification of the biological functions of individual proteins in the human body, which eventually could lead to the development of cures for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and malaria. To participate, users download the software, which runs during a computer's idle time, from the World Community Grid website.

Additional projects will be selected by the organisation's advisory board, which will evaluate proposals from research, public, and not-for-profit organisations seeking to conduct humanitarian research using grid computing technology. The advisory board includes members of such organisations as the US National Institutes of Health, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Markle Foundation, the Mayo Clinic, Oxford University, the WHO, and the UN Development Programme. The board is expected to oversee five to six projects a year.

Global Public Health Intelligence Network II

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/media/nr-rp/2004/2004_gphin-rmisp_e.html
The latest version of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN II) has been launched jointly by the government of Canada and the Washington, DC-based Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a public charity that aims to reduce global threats from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The enhanced early-warning system gathers information and provides preliminary reports of public-health significance in real-time, in Arabic, English, French, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish. Information on significant threats are sent to GPHIN users via e-mail.

A transcript of the briefing that launched GPHINII is posted at http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2004/Turner_Brfg_041117.doc.htm

Biological smoke detector

http://www.llnl.gov/str/October04/pdfs/10_04.1.pdf
Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a “biological smoke detector”—the Autonomous Pathogen Detection System (APDS)—to help protect against bioaerosol attacks. The instrument ( figure , right) is now ready for deployment, according to the development team, who received a Livermore 2004 R&D award.

Figure 2. © LLNL

APDS is capable of detecting and identifying bacteria, viruses, and toxins, according to John Dzenitis, coauthor of a paper that demonstrates the accuracy of the device when challenged by aerosolised Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, Bacillus globigii, and botulinum toxoid (Anal Chem 2005; 77: 284–9).

The system, which has been in development for a decade, currently is configured to test simultaneously for 11 agents, and can be expanded to 100 agents in its present configuration. APDS also identifies particles within 1 hour, which—according to the developers—is faster than comparable systems, which can take 4–20 hours.