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New anti-terror software created in Pittsburgh to track suspicious spikes in sales of over-the-counter medicine could be in place at local pharmacies by spring, researchers said Monday.

The software, developed by BioMedical Security Institute at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, would track and analyze purchases of medicines, such as cold syrup, to determine if people might be fighting off symptoms caused by bioterror agents.

The software is the latest version of the Real-Time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance System, which has garnered national attention since its creation three years ago. U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum were in town yesterday to announce that an early version of the RODS software that picks up suspicious health trends at hospitals is being offered free to public health authorities throughout the nation.

"We encourage all of the regions around the country to take them up on this offer," said Santorum, a Penn Hills Republican. "The best way to be prepared is with knowledge and to be able to react on a timely basis."

Andrew W. Moore, co-director of the institute, said sales of over-the-counter medicines are a better indicator of a possible bioterrorism attack than sales of prescription medicines.

'With anthrax, for example, it's indistinguishable from the flu, and people may just tend to self-medicate with an over-the-counter product," he said. "If you have a group of neighborhoods where large numbers of people are fighting coughs at the same time, that would be significant."

So far, the hospital surveillance system receives real-time data from 27 emergency departments in Pennsylvania. It tracks patients who show up with symptoms such as diarrhea, skin rash and respiratory illness. The system earlier this year detected an outbreak of salmonella, said Dr. Michael Wagner, co-director of the institute.

The system was used at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. President Bush touted it during a February visit to Pittsburgh.

In remarks during a news conference at Pitt yesterday, Wagner compared the availability of this software to the availability of the polio vaccine developed at Pitt. He said Dr. Jonas Salk distributed the vaccine's formula freely to conquer the killer disease.

The institute, formed in 2000, received a $755,000 grant in December from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study bioterrorism preparedness and response. Wagner said RODS has cost less than $1 million to develop. Wagner said the universities would absorb the costs of distributing the hospital surveillance system, which he described as being "relatively inexpensive," but gave no amount.

Moore said plans are also under way to track calls to the Pittsburgh Poison Center. A spike in questions could provide clues about public health conditions, Moore said.

The pharmaceutical tracking system is not yet complete. Moore said officials want to make sure most, if not all, local pharmacies are on board before launching it.

"If you only have two or three pharmacies, you wouldn't be able to identify a pattern," he said.

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