ANN ARBOR—In response to recent threats of bioterrorism and the additional confirmed cases of anthrax in Florida and New York, the virtual lab resources of two University of Michigan programs are being mobilized to aid in an on-line educational conference for health care providers across Minnesota.

The on-line briefing will use the collaborative technology of the Great Lakes Regional Center for Aids Research (CFAR) and the Alliance for Community Technology, and may provide a model for other infectious disease-related public health activity across the Great Lakes region

Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Minnesota Department of Health, the on-line briefing is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 16) at 1 p.m. EDT and will address the threat of bioterrorism, diagnosis and medical management of suspected cases, and the infrastructure in place to quickly respond to any suspected attack in the state of Minnesota.

The briefing will combine slide-presentations broadcast via PlaceWare, a web-based mechanism for on-line presentations, and audio via a conventional phone conference. PlaceWare Auditorium software allows users to broadcast presentations to anyone with an Internet connection and a standard web browser, and is a critical component of CFAR’s virtual laboratory or “collaboratory.”

Coordinated by Stephanie Teasley, U-M School of Information senior associate research scientist, and funded by the National Institutes of Health, CFAR’s virtual laboratory has allowed researchers based at four Midwestern universities; Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern and Wisconsin, to collaborate, share data, hold lab meetings—all online—from their respective universities’ labs.

At the briefing Timothy Schacker, M.D., Division of Infectious Disease at the University of Minnesota, and Richard Danila, Ph.D., Minnesota Department of Health Epidemiology branch, will address the medical management of bioterrorism. The educational objectives include how to recognize and confirm the diagnosis of anthrax, smallpox, plague and tularemia, understanding the initial medical treatment of each of theses diseases, how to triage suspected cases of each condition, and to learn reporting infrastructure at the Department of Health in the event of a large scale attack on the state of Minnesota.