The federal government is looking for tools to communicate more quickly with doctors and other frontline clinicians in the event of a biological attack. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Friday it will test a system that uses PDAs to send emergency information about biological agents. It will use the privately run eProcates network to send test messages to up to 700,000 clinicians, including 250,000 physicians, to evaluate how and when they download urgent information and whether they find it useful.

The pilot is the first approved under a Health and Human Services initiative begun last year to look at private-sector health efforts to see if they can improve bioterrorism preparedness or public health overall. The program is run by the Council on Private Sector Initiatives to Improve the Security, Safety, and Quality of Health Care.

The test message will contain a memo about the highest-level threat of biological agents, including anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia, and viral fevers such as Ebola. It will include Web links for additional information on diagnosis and treatment of people exposed to biological agents; the information can be saved on a PDA for future reference.