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| Pathogen Detectors in Great Demand in U.S. |
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WED, OCT 17, 2001
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A few U.S. manufacturers of pathogen detectors have seen their sales and company stock prices jump in recent days in the wake of the anthrax mail incidents in Washington and New York, local media reported Tuesday.
Most detectors are useful for checking samples gathered for evidence of a pathogen. Some of the machines can detect pathogens in about 20 minutes by immersing the DNA of suspicious substances in a chemical bath designed to identify a specific agent.
RAPID, a $60,000 pathogen detector produced by Salt Lake City-based Idaho Technology is such a device. It resembles a portable record player and has been purchased by the U.S. Customs Service, the Department of Agriculture and all military service branches, as well as a dozen foreign governments.
Idaho Technology this month has already taken orders for hundreds of machines and discussed purchases with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, private companies and other federal agencies.
Another manufacturer, Sunnyvale, California-based Cepheid, has also seen the demand for its scanners increasing. Cepheid's customers include the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
Sensors can help detect contraband inside luggage or in traces on a traveler's documents or clothes, but biological agents, like the anthrax spores that have killed one person and sickened others in U.S. in past weeks, are much tougher to detect.
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