SPECIALIST teams will be set up across the region to fight the spread of deadly diseases and guard against biological terror attacks.

The experts, who will be drawn from hospital staff, will be given the job of preventing and controlling illnesses ranging from tuberculosis to the Sars virus.

They will also be responsible for identifying symptoms related to outbreaks of food poisoning, chemical leaks, or potential hazards such as power stations, electricity pylons and mobile phones.

The teams will act as an early warning system to alert the public to terror attacks and improve the response of the emergency services.

Teams are likely to be set up to cover the same areas as police forces, which means separate bodies for Northumberland, Durham, Cleveland and North Yorkshire.

They will fall under the umbrella of the new Health Protection Agency (HPA), following fears of confusion over who is responsible for emergency planning.

Sir William Stewart, the HPA's chairman, said: "The global threats to health have moved on and so must we. It's time to step up our health defences.

"The speed and ease of global travel means there is much greater potential for the rapid transmission of infectious diseases. The Sars experience demonstrated that a new bug can spread around the world in days.

"Alongside this, our climate is changing, bringing the potential of more insect-borne disease, resistance to antibiotics is a growing concern, and there is increasing public concern about the long-term effects of chemicals on health.

"The added threat of the deliberate release of harmful agents means we have to ensure our health services are as fully prepared as possible to pick up and respond to any incident."

The HPA's plan highlights the need to develop standard laboratory tests for biological agents, to make sure a chemical attack is spotted quickly.

It also calls for the NHS and councils to set up systems to investigate "suspicious clusters" of diseases, which could be linked to chemical exposure.