Group Promotes Web as Anti-Bioterrorism Tool

The eHealth Initiative, a group of more than 50 companies trying to increase the use of technology in health care, will release guidelines today detailing how the government can use the Internet to fight bioterrorism.

The government could more effectively respond to a widespread attack if it established a Web-based communications system linking hospitals, medical centers, public health and law enforcement agencies, pharmaceutical companies and primary care doctors’ offices, the group said.

The eHealth Initiative, which includes companies such as IBM Corp. and GE Medical Systems, wants physicians or emergency rooms to have access to a database that would include specific signs of infection, details on how to treat symptoms and information on locating specific drugs for treatment. It would also help doctors immediately notify authorities, the federal government and any health-related company, such as health clinics.

The anthrax infections seen in recent weeks haven’t provided a real test of the health-care system’s ability to respond to bioterrorism because the infections have involved a limited number of people in a few locations, the group’s leaders said.

The database, which would build on hospitals and federal agencies’ existing technology, would consist of information about cases of anthrax or other diseases, drugs a patient has been prescribed, symptoms and lab results.