Las Vegas seen as natural fit for epidemic study

By STEVE KANIGHERAssociated Press Saturday, May 1, 2024

Loading...

A multimillion-dollar research project involving the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, could help better protect U.S. troops. But it is also expected to shore up the Las Vegas area against epidemics and bioterrorism.

UNLV Associate Professor Chris Cochran is helping lead the effort and hopes it will help hospitals and public health officials quickly identify sources and pathways of influenza, E. coli and other contagious pathogens that can quickly spread through a population.

Suppose Clark County health officials learned that a group of tourists with the flu in Las Vegas arrived by plane the previous day from Anytown, USA. Because symptoms don't usually appear until two or three days after infection, it's likely the tourists contracted the virus back home. Health officials could issue flu alerts to authorities in Anytown, and to the airlines that brought the visitors to Nevada, to help prevent a more widespread outbreak.

Or say the tourists had been in town a week before their flu symptoms appeared. If health officials knew where they stayed, hotels could be contacted to contain the virus, and protect other guests and workers.

Southern Nevada health professionals would be able to obtain this kind of information if Cochran, a member of UNLV's School of Public Health, and Defense Department contractor QinetiQ North America succeed in developing computer software sought by the U.S. Army.

The research in southern Nevada is officially known as "Bio-surveillance in a Highly Mobile Population."

The three-year project is expected to last at least two more years under the guidance of QinetiQ (pronounced "kinetic"), a subsidiary of a London-based company with offices in Las Vegas. So far, $3.6 million in military spending has been appropriated for the project.

The Pentagon is involved because it has a stake in knowing the source of illness among its troops. It wants to know whether the source was a particular ship, military base, battlefield location or somewhere else that needs to be addressed. The military also wants to guard against unwittingly spreading a disease when soldiers return home.

The 1918 "Spanish flu" pandemic was first observed in the U.S. at the Army's Fort Riley, Kan. In 1976, when swine flu was first identified, it was at another Army post, Fort Dix, N.J.

Nick CerJanic, a QinetiQ director in Las Vegas, said the project aims to allow for timely and targeted intervention during an outbreak or bioterror attack.

"The financial impact, and much more importantly the human toll of a life-threatening virus or an aerosol anthrax attack, increases exponentially with time," he said.

To simulate the limited war zone entrances to and exits from Iraq and Afghanistan, Cochran and QinetiQ are working on computer models that aim to track tourists who wind up in Las Vegas hospitals. Las Vegas is seen as a good site for study because tens of millions of tourists pass through annually, and there are only a handful of ways to get in and out of town.

So far, the researchers are focused on tourists who exhibit flulike illnesses while in town.

"The reason we're using influenza-like illnesses is that we are going to see far more cases of that than we are rare diseases," Cochran said.

Since last fall, Cochran has been receiving patients ZIP code and ailment data from University Medical Center in Las Vegas, with patient codes assigned by the hospital to mask patients' individual identities from researchers.

Jim Poulos, UMC director of application development and support, said the ability to identify spikes can help health organizations prepare supplies and staff for an increase in patients.

Cochran hopes other southern Nevada hospitals and resorts will participate to broaden the data sample and help pinpoint the source of an outbreak.

Cochran said he recognized the priority that hotels put on guest confidentiality, and said he knows properties don't want to be identified as the site of infection.

But he said it would benefit hotels to participate, "because the quicker they know something is going on, the faster they can make corrections."

Researchers also are trying to compile social modeling data to estimate the number of people a typical tourist comes in contact with while in town — in an elevator, at a card table, walking the Strip, at a show, in a bar.

Likewise, Cochran and QinetiQ would like to collect passenger information from airlines to help tell whether an outbreak could be linked to a particular flight. The whole point is to trace the path of the virus.

"Tourism professionals in Las Vegas already invest significant resources to ensure the health and safety of our visitors," CerJanic says. "Both UNLV and QinetiQ North America expect to leverage the results of this project to benefit the vital industry of Las Vegas to better protect their guests and workers."

UMC shares certain early-warning information on contagious diseases with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta through the CDC's BioSense program, a national health surveillance network.

This network identifies the existence of outbreaks in specific communities, but not the source of the virus or the paths it took to reach a particular city, as Cochran is seeking to accomplish.

"What we want to be able to do is to drill further into the data so we can find where the people came from," Cochran said. "The more information we can gather on tourists the better."

___

Information from: Las Vegas Sun, http://www.lasvegassun.com

Join the Discussion
Rate Article: Average 0 out of 5
register or log in to comment on this article!

0 Comments

Add Comment

Text Only 2000 character limit

Page 1 of 1

Research Exchange

Automated Forensic DNA Methods: Relieving the Pain of Validation

Apr 21

Automation can increase a forensics lab's sample processing capacity, but it can also add to the complexity of system verification and validation.

Successful Sample Identification

Apr 1

2D Barcodes ensure that a multitude of samples can be tracked in a variety of storage conditions.

Multi-Parametric Cellular Analysis

Mar 23

Flow cytometers perform a variety of multi parametric applications and have been used for an expanding set of cell analysis applications over the past forty years.

Maintaining a Healthy Cell Culture Environment

Mar 23

Investing in best practices and products at the beginning of any experiment is the most time- and cost-effective way to approach cell culture.

Step up to the MIQE

Mar 30

Over the years, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has evolved into a readily automated, high throughput quantitative technology. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) has become the industry standard for the detection and quantification of nucleic acids for multiple application, including quantification of RNA levels. But a lack of consensus among researchers on how to best perform and interpret qPCR experiments presents a major hurdle for advancement of the technology. This problem is exacerbated by insufficient experimental detail in published work, which impedes the ability of others to accurately evaluate or replicate reported results.

Fast Optimization of a Multiplex Influenza Identification Panel Using a Thermal Gradient

Mar 30

The year 2009 was marked by the emergence of a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus that infects humans. There is a need to identify the different strains of influenza virus for purposes of monitoring the H1N1 strain pandemic and for other epidemiological and scientific purposes.

Advantages of Monolithic Laser Combiner Technology in Confocal Microscopy Systems

Jan 6

Fluorescence microscopy techniques require a reliable light source at the desired wavelength or wavelengths, with minimal downtime for maintenance and alignment. Lasers are a popular light source, although the alignment and upkeep of laser combiners is a time-consuming prospect for many users.

Size-Exclusion Chromatography for Purification of Biomolecules

Dec 2 2009

Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) is a popular method to separate biomolecules based on their size. Primarily, it is applied to the separation of biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids, i.e. water-soluble polymers.

Using the Tecan Genesis Workstation to Automate a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) Immunoassay

Mar 11

The poster describe the process involved in automating a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) immunoassay developed to measure relative concentrations of serum antibodies against Tetanus (TT), Sperm Whale Myoglobin (SWM) and Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin (KLH) in KLH-immunized volunteers.

Ensuring Quality in Assays Performed with Automated Liquid Handlers

Feb 2

The focus of this presentation is to highlight the need of ensuring quality in important assays performed with automated liquid handlers. Nearly all assays performed within a laboratory are volume-dependent. In turn, all concentrations of biological and chemical components in these assays, as well as the associated dilution protocols, are volume-dependent. Because analyte concentration is volume-dependent, an assay’s results might be falsely interpreted if liquid handler variability and inaccuracies are unknown or if the system(s) go unchecked for a long period.

Inkjet System for Protein Crystallography

Feb 1

X-ray crystallography is used routinely by scientists to obtain the three dimensional structure of a biological molecule of interest.Such information can be used to determine how a pharmaceutical interacts with a protein target and what changes might improve functionality. However, the crystallization of macromolecules still remains a serious hindrance in structural determination despite impressive advances in screening methods and technologies.

Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant

Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant

Nov 9 2009

Action selection is modulated by external stimuli either directly or via memory retrieval. In a constantly changing environment, animals have evolved attention-like processes to effectively filter the incoming sensory stream. These attention-like processes, in turn, are modulated by memory. The neurobiological nature of how attention, action selection and memory are inter-connected is unknown. We describe here new phenotypes of the memory mutant radish in the fruit fly Drosophila.

A situation-specific theory of Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity (MAPA).

Apr 28

This paper presents a situation specific theory-the Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity (MAPA) theory-that explains how women's attitudes toward physical activity influence their participation in physical activity. Using the integrative approach of Im, the theory...

Ultrasound-guided core biopsy for investigation of cervical lymph node: chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and metastatic squamous cell carcinoma.

Apr 28

We describe a case in which ultrasound-guided fine needle core biopsy of a cervical lymph node enabled diagnosis of dual disease. Histological examination of the core biopsy confirmed unsuspected chronic lymphocytic leukaemia with an isolated focus of metastatic squamous cell...

Prokariotic Cell Collection in Denmark

Nov 6 2009

I would like to know about a prokariotic cell collection in Denmark. Is there a cell bank in this country? I need a Lactobacillus strain for a fermentation assay and this information about the bank is very helpful for me.

Request for Entries

Oct 16 2009

Ask the Experts is your chance to get the answers to questions on applications, materials, methods, processes, and technologies. Email you question to bst_web@advantagemedia.com, and the editors of Bioscience Technology will find an appropriate expert to answer it. Watch this space in the future to see the questions your colleagues are posting.

STAY INFORMED: SUBSCRIBE TO

Magazine and E-mail Newsletters

Loading...
E-mail:   

MULTIMEDIA

Video:

Neuroscience Diseases of The Brain and How The Mind Emerges

Neuroscience Diseases of The Brain and How The Mind Emerges

Nov 8 2009

Dennis Choi, director of Emory Universitys Neuroscience Center, is renowned for his groundbreaking research on brain and spinal cord injury.

Podcasts:

Allen Institute for Brain Research

Allen Institute for Brain Research

Oct 14 2009

Discussed in this interview are both the mouse brain project and the human cortex project with an emphasis on the importance of these projects to neuroscience research.

Information: