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NJIT Receives Grant To Help Fight Bioterrorism

NJIT will receive more than a quarter million dollars to help fight bioterrorism under a major grant awarded to New Jersey by the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Sept. 15.

The NJIT award was issued by the N.J. Department of Health and Senior Services as part of a $1 million, one-year grant, which could be renewed each year for up to five years. Tom Terry, associate vice president for information resource development, was instrumental in NJIT's receiving the award.

The CDC announced grant awards to a number of state and city public health agencies. The money will be used to strengthen the nation's overall public health system to better respond to man-made threats, such as the deliberate release of chemicals or disease-causing organisms, as well as newly emerging infectious diseases, such as antibiotic-resistant organisms or the next influenza pandemic.

The department will use the CDC grant in three areas: expanding surveillance programs to search more actively for diseases and spot disease trends; creating a 24-hour-a-day rapid communication system linking all levels of government, the health care community and emergency response personnel; and expanding laboratory capacity to test for biological agents likely to be used in a terrorist attack.

Much of the grant will be used to create an Internet-based Health Alert Network. NJIT will develop the computer system that will connect the state health department and 115 local health departments in an around-the-clock system that can function dependably in an emergency. Local health departments, in turn, will be linked to community health and emergency response agencies through a rapid telefax system that can be used to communicate information and coordinate an emergency response.

Further information on the grant can be obtained at the Department of Health and Senior Services web site: http://www.state.nj.us/health/news/p90915a.htm .

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