CDC develops bio-threat test kits. (Tech Talk).

The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed test kits for several bio-threat agents that can be used on DNA detection systems made by Cepheid, of Sunnyvale, Calif., according to the company's CEO, Thomas Gutshall.

The CDC is providing the test reagents to the Laboratory Response Network (LRN), comprised of over 80 state and local public health and military laboratories, Gutshall said. The LRN, established by the CDC in 1999, provides nationwide screening and reference testing to respond to a bio-terrorism event.

The CDC is developing validated detection assays for bio-threat agents and provides these approved testing reagents to the LRN, enabling public health laboratories to identify anthrax bacteria and other potential agents of bio-terrorism. Only LRN member laboratories can confirm the presence of bio-threat agents using CDC protocols.

"The availability of these assays will strengthen our ability to make a rapid identification of a bio-threat agent," said Stephen Morse, associate director for science at the CDC's Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program.

One accurate method for identifying a biological agent--such as anthrax--is real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a chemical reaction capable of detecting trace levels of the target organism's DNA, Gutshall said.