Greetings.

The following story is being forwarded to these two lists because of the
direct relevance to issues you deal with.  You can believe me when I say
you cannot get this story any place else but the IDN
(http://www.idn.org) unless of course you read our local newspaper
(which I only read by chance today).

Best regards,

Christopher
_________________________________________________________________

UGA may become home to Center for Global Diseases

By Joan Stroer
Staff Writer
Athens Banner Herald/Daily News

Athens, Georgia, 5 November 1998-- An institute for the study of global
disease - researching re-emerging pathogens like tuberculosis and
malaria that continue to wipe out millions of people a year - could be
in the future for the University of Georgia.

   The university is considering founding a Center for the Study of
Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, building on lab research on the
Athens campus and complementing the parasite monitoring done by the
Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and Emory University's vaccine
center.

   "It's very timely in terms of what society is facing; it's real,"
said Keith Prasse, dean of the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. "A
center will give (the research) an important boost and more visibility."

   The proposed institute would bring together six UGA faculty members
already studying killer pathogens like cyclospora, which spreads to
humans through Guatemalan raspberries; cryptosporidium, which infected
400,000 Milwaukeeans in recent years; and the deadly hanta virus of the
American West, said Rick Tarleton, a UGA professor of cellular biology.

   The author of the proposal, 42-year-old Tarleton, and other
scientists envision dozens of researchers eventually working at one
campus site and attracting long-term grants and the backing of the
Georgia Research Alliance, a cooperative effort of the state's research
institutions.

   Ideally, the university research would move from the lab into the
field where the parasites of humans, livestock, pets and plants are
found, Tarleton said.

   Infectious disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide and
increased travel has led to a greater risk of the spread of parasitic
infection from tropical regions.

   "Getting money to do international work is the most difficult part of
the process," said Tarleton, who studies the parasite trypanosoma cruzi,
a major cause of heart disease and death in Latin American youth. "With
the new problems, there is new interest and new funding in this area
from the" National Institute of Health.

   "The idea's been pitched to the Georgia Research Alliance; they're
interested in it. (Right now,) we're not asking for a huge layout, just
for space."

   Today, the university council's executive committee considers
forwarding the proposal to the full university council, the governing
body for faculty. The project requires the approval of the council and
the state Board of Regents.

   The disease center also would build graduate instruction at the
university, Prasse said. A new undergraduate course in emerging
infectious diseases would be designed and coordinated by the new UGA
research team.

   The push for the center involves researchers in the Franklin College
of Arts and Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and
Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. The university's parasitology
program, which already operates exchange programs with universities in
Ghana, Kenya, Argentina and Brazil, is a key component.