CDC grants to bolster emergency response systems
By Heather Hayes
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a total of $27 million to seven universities and a public health research firm to help first responders cope with a pandemic or other health emergency.
The CDC awarded a $16.9 million, one-year contract to American Type Culture Collection in Manassas, Va., to develop the CDC Influenza Reagent Resource (CDC-IRR), a secure Web-based system to improve access to influenza viruses, test kits and testing substances for approved laboratories.
The nonprofit firm focuses on acquiring and authenticating standard reference micro-organisms, cell lines and other materials for research in the life sciences.
The system will provide public health officials better access to testing resources through a secure Internet Web portal. Should a pandemic occur, labs will be essential for a quick response by detecting and confirming initial cases and monitoring the pandemic’s progression.
“We expect the CDC-IRR will speed the development of better diagnostic tests, antiviral drugs and vaccines,” said Dr. Nancy Cox, director of the Influenza Division at the CDC, said.
The CDC also announced in early October awards of $10.9 million to schools of public health to create Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers (PERRCs).
The centers “will connect public health with scientists involved in business, engineering, legal and social sciences to incorporate multiple perspectives into preparedness and response research which can be used to strengthen our nation’s response capability,” according to Dr. Richard Besser, director of CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response.
The awards went to the Harvard School of Public Health, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Washington.
They will use the money to create sustainable preparedness systems and generate metrics to measure the effectiveness and emergency response systems.
