|
Bioterror plan for hospitals
THE New South Wales Government has expanded its public hospital records surveillance system to combat a potential bioterrorist threat. Premier Morris Iemma today announced the Public Health Real Time Emergency Department Surveillance System (PHREDSS), currently operating in 23 hospitals in the Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong areas, had been expanded to include nine additional emergency departments. PHREDSS links hospital records for analysis by public health officials of trends in symptoms and disease.Mr Iemma said it had so far been successful in detecting a rise in party drug use, a community-wide gastrointestinal outbreak between March and September last year and influenza patterns during the winter season. "This system provides early warning of epidemic activity that could signal the introduction into NSW of SARS or biological agents such as smallpox or other diseases that might result from a bioterrorism incident," he said. PHREDSS could detect trends up to seven days faster than existing GP and pathology lab-based systems, Mr Iemma said. The $1.3 million expansion will extend PHREDSS to hospitals in the Blue Mountains and Central Coast regions, as well as Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital. Posted by: God Save The World 2005-08-07 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=126085 |