Two University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have
been awarded grants from the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases to develop treatments and tests for some
rapidly emerging trouble spots in the area of gastrointestinal
diseases. Under these cooperative agreement (U01) grants, one
scientist plans to develop a single test to identify more than
20 different food and waterborne pathogens, while the second
will create a single treatment, which could protect people from
becoming infected with more than 20 potential pathogens. These
pathogens have become well known to the general public in recent
years, most notably from cases of E. coli and because of large-
scale public infections. For example, in 1993 more than 400,000
residents were sickened by Cryptosporidium parvum, a parasite,
which infiltrated the water supply in Milwaukee. More than 100
people died as a direct result of being infected with the
parasite. “Detecting an outbreak of E. coli in the food supply
or cryptosporidium in