Texas Network Alerts Officials To Disease Or Terrorism Events

Completion of phase one of the Texas Health Alert Network (Texas HAN), which automatically alerts health officials to possible infectious disease outbreaks or bioterrorism attacks has been announced by the Texas Association of Local Health Officials (TALHO).

Texas HAN speeds information flow to enable health officials to track and respond quickly to infectious disease outbreaks, as well as potential chemical, radiological and biological attacks. The system was developed by Avnet Enterprise Solutions, an IT infrastructure architect.

“By using telecommunication technology, health officials can substantially lessen health risks,” said Michael Mastrangelo, project director for Texas HAN. “Along with building the core network infrastructure, Avnet Enterprise Solutions connected 64 public health entities throughout the state of Texas. With this telecommunications network in place, it will be much easier and faster to detect and monitor an outbreak, whether it’s naturally occurring or from bioterrorism.”

“Our goal is to connect the entire state of Texas,” said Lee Lane, executive director, TALHO. “That includes other public health offices, schools, hospitals, clinics, libraries, institutions of higher education as well as fire, police and emergency entities.”