Experts raised the warning flag on the public health concerns, saying that the attention being given to terrorist threats must also be given to obesity and other "lifestyle diseases" that are killing millions of people.

Speaking at the Oxford Health Alliance Summit held Monday in Sydney, experts said that while international terrorism is indeed a threat, it is less dangerous compared to the results and the risks posed by such conditions as diabetes, obesity, heart complications, and smoking-related illnesses

Two deadly and highly infectious viruses that could be used as bioterrorism threats can now be cured by a drug developed by Weill Cornell Medical College scientists.

Infection with the deadly Hendra and Nipah viruses often leads to a fatal case of encephalitis and there has not been any effective treatment. Although scientists say they aren't sure how the viruses are transmitted, they say it is either by close contact with an infected host or by breathing in the microscopic pathogens

There are mounting concerns over the future potential for H5N1 influenza to cause a pandemic. Those concerns coupled with worries over terrorists launching an attack using that virus or other biological agents have caused the government to fund some research at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Madison.

The National Institute's of Health's Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced Thursday it has awarded the Medical College a five-year, $8.1 million grant to develop a rapid, miniaturized, automated diagnostic device to test for the presence of avian flu and most potential bioterrorism agents

In a bid to raise funds for autism, President Bush on Tuesday signed a bill to increase federal funding by 50 percent for the disorder, which afflicts 1.5 million people in the United States.

Additionally, other bills which aim to shift AIDS money to rural areas and the South and create a government unit to oversee the response to a bird flu pandemic or bio terrorism attack were also signed

Even five years after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. public health system remains unprepared to tackle terrorist attacks.

The annual study by Trust for America's Health, released Tuesday, found that the first line of defense against pandemic flu or bio-terror attack remains inadequate five years after the 9/11 and anthrax attacks of 2001