Cold Chains Are Hot! - Sponsored Whitepaper

The headlines strike fear in us all. With tensions heightened after September 11th, incidents like the Anthrax virus contamination of the mail put this threat in the national spotlight. The uninitiated learned to their horror that this was not merely a disease contracted by animals, or found in remote and under-developed locales; the modern manufactured version was deadly. The resultant lack of adequate response by the government highlighted the fact that the antibiotics required to treat the disease were in short supply. A chilling thought – the United States of America was not in a position to defend its citizens from a potential killer!

But bio-terrorism is just a new front in an ongoing battle between humans and micro- organisms trying to coexist on this planet. Natural disasters, hurricanes, floods and resultant contamination of water sources create a fertile breeding ground for typhoid, cholera and other potential killers. The horrors of the thousands swept away in the Tsunami of December 2004 filled global television screens for weeks. As the death tolls increased daily, there was an even greater fear – contamination of food, water and the eruption of cholera, typhoid and other epidemics. Infection can be deadly if not treated immediately, the key is to have rapid access to antibiotics and other biological life-science products.

While events like natural disasters grab headlines, there are other fronts in this battle that are less obvious, but nevertheless, demand constant vigilance. Virtually eliminated in the United States by a combination of modern sewage and water treatment, Cholera is still prevalent in many parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia. Travelers have brought contaminated seafood back into the United States causing food borne outbreaks. There are other virally contracted diseases like Polio that are still rampant in many parts of the world. Despite a goal of eradicating Polio globally by the year 2003, Polio is once again ravaging parts of Africa and other third world nations. As a result of inadequate health services, reduction or suspension of immunization activities, Polio once again threatens to arise as a potential epidemic.