It has been published for three days. I am so tired of hearing of this. Why should I worry and stay home to wear gas mask until the alertive over?? I can't be worry every moment. I will be in Boston tomorrow. *sigh*
BOSTON -- Doctors and public-health officials hope to have an early warning system to detect signs of bioterrorism in place before thousands of Democrats descend on Boston for their national nominating convention during the last week in July.
"The Democratic National Convention was definitely an impetus," said Dr. Anita Barry, director of communicable disease control at the Boston Public Health Commission. "We just want to be on the alert for anything that might happen at the convention (July 26-29), not that I have information that anything is going to happen."
In Boston, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said federal, state and local law enforcement agencies already were aware of the terror threat that was announced earlier this week in Washington. He said the threat is not specific to Boston.
For about two years, Boston public health officials have been tracking how many patients turn up every day in the emergency departments of the city's nine full-service hospitals, which see a total of 1,300 to 1,400 patients a day. The updated network will help determine whether patients arrive complaining of respiratory ailments, rashes, gastrointestinal woes or other symptoms.
The city put together the alert network with part of a $2.3 million federal bioterrorism preparedness grant received through the state Department of Public Health.
About 100 other health departments across the nation -- including those in New York, Chicago and Miami -- have some variation of such a syndromic surveillance system in place, Dr. Tracee Treadwell, chief for the Epidemiology, Surveillance and Response Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Boston Globe.
"The sooner that we're able to identify that something is occurring in a population, the quicker we can mount an effective public health response or intervention," Treadwell said. "It may be due to Norwalk virus, a day-care center, bad mayonnaise in the potato salad -- or it may be bioterrorism. This gives us the first early clue."
When the emergency-room data arrives at the Boston Public Health Commission, computer software called EARS (Early Aberration Reporting System) will search for potentially worrisome trends by comparing reported symptoms to what is seen on a typical day in Boston. It will do that by grouping patients' medical complaints into one of eight medical syndromes, including gastrointestinal, respiratory and hemorrhagic illnesses.
The disease trackers can direct the software to look for clusters based on the home address or residents, by age, by gender or by other parameters.
When a suspicious blip is discovered, disease investigators will then review detailed medical records at hospitals, cull death certificates and contact poison-control offices.
Also, public health officials said they have put in place new technology, such as a backup network of Nextel cellular telephones in the state's hospitals, in case the land-based phone system fails.
Outgoing Massachusetts State Police Col. Thomas J. Foley said the State Police recently purchased equipment to protect officers against chemical, biological and radioactive agents, and are expecting more to arrive shortly.
Deputy Chief Thomas McCarthy of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has asked passengers to report people who seem unusually nervous, overdressed for the weather or seen walking away from a package.
Suburban police departments have been told to keep an eye out for suspicious characters.
BOSTON -- Doctors and public-health officials hope to have an early warning system to detect signs of bioterrorism in place before thousands of Democrats descend on Boston for their national nominating convention during the last week in July.
"The Democratic National Convention was definitely an impetus," said Dr. Anita Barry, director of communicable disease control at the Boston Public Health Commission. "We just want to be on the alert for anything that might happen at the convention (July 26-29), not that I have information that anything is going to happen."
In Boston, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said federal, state and local law enforcement agencies already were aware of the terror threat that was announced earlier this week in Washington. He said the threat is not specific to Boston.
For about two years, Boston public health officials have been tracking how many patients turn up every day in the emergency departments of the city's nine full-service hospitals, which see a total of 1,300 to 1,400 patients a day. The updated network will help determine whether patients arrive complaining of respiratory ailments, rashes, gastrointestinal woes or other symptoms.
The city put together the alert network with part of a $2.3 million federal bioterrorism preparedness grant received through the state Department of Public Health.
About 100 other health departments across the nation -- including those in New York, Chicago and Miami -- have some variation of such a syndromic surveillance system in place, Dr. Tracee Treadwell, chief for the Epidemiology, Surveillance and Response Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Boston Globe.
"The sooner that we're able to identify that something is occurring in a population, the quicker we can mount an effective public health response or intervention," Treadwell said. "It may be due to Norwalk virus, a day-care center, bad mayonnaise in the potato salad -- or it may be bioterrorism. This gives us the first early clue."
When the emergency-room data arrives at the Boston Public Health Commission, computer software called EARS (Early Aberration Reporting System) will search for potentially worrisome trends by comparing reported symptoms to what is seen on a typical day in Boston. It will do that by grouping patients' medical complaints into one of eight medical syndromes, including gastrointestinal, respiratory and hemorrhagic illnesses.
The disease trackers can direct the software to look for clusters based on the home address or residents, by age, by gender or by other parameters.
When a suspicious blip is discovered, disease investigators will then review detailed medical records at hospitals, cull death certificates and contact poison-control offices.
Also, public health officials said they have put in place new technology, such as a backup network of Nextel cellular telephones in the state's hospitals, in case the land-based phone system fails.
Outgoing Massachusetts State Police Col. Thomas J. Foley said the State Police recently purchased equipment to protect officers against chemical, biological and radioactive agents, and are expecting more to arrive shortly.
Deputy Chief Thomas McCarthy of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has asked passengers to report people who seem unusually nervous, overdressed for the weather or seen walking away from a package.
Suburban police departments have been told to keep an eye out for suspicious characters.