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FDA Approves First Blood Test for Anthrax

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More than two years after anthrax killed five people in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first blood test for the bacteria, the Boston-based company that developed the process said on Monday.

More than two years after anthrax killed five people in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first blood test for the bacteria, the Boston-based company that developed the process said on Monday. Immunetics Inc., a diagnostics technology firm, developed the test at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after anthrax-laced letters provoked a scare just weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The test can be used by any laboratory or hospital without the need for special equipment or training. “The approval represents a significant step forward in the public health community’s ability to diagnose anthrax,” Immunetics chief executive Andrew Levin said in a statement. “The test was shown to detect 100 percent of the anthrax patients tested in clinical trials, with less than a 1 percent chance of false positive results.” The test can detect both inhalational and cutaneous cases of anthrax. The bacteria is considered the top biological weapon threat and can be transmitted through inhalation of the spores, into a cut in the skin or by ingesting contaminated meat. It can be easily cured with the use of antibiotics, but in cases of the inhaled form it is often too late to treat the patient by the time symptoms appear. Firms across the country have worked on tracking the bacteria since it infected 13 people in October 2001, killing five Americans. Last month, California-based Universal Detection Technology introduced an anthrax detector that is to be tested by the U.S. government for use in facilities such as post offices. The government has also begun stockpiling millions of doses of an experimental anthrax vaccine developed by California-based biotechnology VaxGen Inc. and British chemical firm Avecia(Source: Reuters Health, June 2004)


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Dates

Posted On: 8 June, 2004
Modified On: 5 December, 2013


Created by: myVMC