Iowa State has given the nation’s efforts against bioterrorism

another tool.

An online database of the 14 most dangerous animal-to-human

disease agents was created by scientists at the U.S. Department

of Energy’s Ames Laboratory.

This database is known as the Identification and Documentation

of Currently Available Veterinary Science Resources.

Scientists and researchers at the lab have been working on the

database project for two years, said Gary Osweiler, Ames Lab

associate scientist. The lab is a government-owned research

facility housed at Iowa State. It uses expertise from the ISU

Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

The database includes background information on the diseases,

a listing of experts on each of the agents and a list of diagnostic

laboratory facilities testing for those diseases, Osweiler said.

“Right now there is no single place available 24 hours a day,

seven days a week to get this information,” said Osweiler, who is

also director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. “The

diseases on the Web site are ones that could have serious, acute

effects.”

David Baldwin, program director for the project and scientist at

Ames Laboratory, said the Web site will help in the investigation

and control bioterrorism attacks against livestock, should one

happen. For security reasons, the database is available only to

government officials and experts.

“The Web site allows federal officials to get knowledge about who

and where the experts are,” Baldwin said. “It’s not something you

would want made public, because if you tell terrorists where the

experts are, they become potential targets.”

Osweiler said experts from 15 labs across the country provide

information for the Web site. As the project continues, Osweiler

said he hopes all 50 existing labs will provide information to the

database.

Federal agencies such as the FBI, Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, United States Department of Agriculture and the

Food and Drug Administration have said they would like to see the

Web site become even larger.

“The FDA has shown great interest in the project and expanding

the scope of it, which we are willing to do with further funding,” said

Baldwin. “At this point we still need more complete information

and need to gather more funding to continue this project into the

future and keep it up to date so it’s as useful as possible.”