Biomedical researchers in government, academia and industry have made tremendous progress working collaboratively towards developing countermeasures for bioterrorism, according to a report issued today on research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health.

The NIAID Biodefense Research Agenda for CDC Category A Agents--Progress Report (http://www.niaid.nih.gov/biodefense/research/category_A_Progress_Report.pdf) describes myriad steps the Institute has taken since February 2002 to catalyze the development of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for the most threatening bioterror agents. It was in February 2002 that NIAID convened the first Blue Ribbon Panel on Bioterrorism and its Implications for Biomedical Research, which provided NIAID with objective expertise on the Institute's biodefense future research plans and helped identify the highest priority areas.

"NIAID has greatly expanded its network of industry and academic partners in biodefense, and together they have made tremendous strides in a very short time towards developing countermeasures to protect all Americans from bioterrorism," says Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

"The increased breadth and depth of biodefense research not only is helping us become better prepared to protect citizens against a deliberately introduced pathogen, it also is helping us tackle the continuous tide of naturally occurring emerging infections such as SARS and West Nile virus," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.

The 37-page report covers progress on meeting the Blue Ribbon Panel's research recommendations and progress in research on so-called Category A pathogens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Category A agents are those that cause diseases considered to pose the greatest risk to nat
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Contact: Linda Joy
linda.joy@nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
29-Sep-2003

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