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DRUG cheats beware. Just in time for the Sydney Olympics, Australian
researchers have developed a blood test for the illicit sports drug
erythropoietin (EPO), which can boost performance in endurance events such as
running and cycling. Researchers are now racing to validate the test so that it
can be used at the games.

EPO increases the body鈥檚 production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to
muscle. A synthetic version of the hormone was originally developed to treat
severe anaemia. Some sportsmen and women use it illegally as it can increase
performance by 10 per cent or more. But there are risks. Too many red blood
cells can cause heart failure, and since EPO hit the sports scene in the 1980s,
26 cyclists and several elite athletes have died unexpectedly, raising
suspicions of EPO use.

Testing for EPO directly is difficult because the synthetic version is almost
indistinguishable from its natural form. What鈥檚 more, while EPO鈥檚 effect is
long-lasting, the hormone itself rapidly disappears from the body. In a bid to
crack down on the cheats, the International Cycling Union doesn鈥檛 allow male
cyclists to race if their haematocrit鈥攖he proportion of red cells in their
blood鈥攊s more than 50 per cent. The threshold for women is 47 per cent.
For non-athletes, haematocrits are usually in the low to mid-forties.

But many in the sports world believe this action has done little to stop EPO
use. 鈥淎ll it鈥檚 done is give everyone a target to aim for,鈥� says Robin Parisotto
of the Australian Institute of Sport near Canberra, who led the team that
developed the new test.

The test gets around these problems by measuring five different substances in
the blood, including two markers for newly manufactured red blood cells. The
proportions of the various substances in the body reflect whether an athlete has
taken EPO. In a trial of 27 Australian athletes who will not be competing in
Sydney, the test reliably distinguished between those who had recently been
given EPO by the researchers and those who had not, producing one false positive
in 189 tests. The test also picked up more than two-thirds of the athletes who
had been given EPO three weeks before.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a great test. I was impressed with the data,鈥� says Jim Stray-Gundersen
of the Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education in Oslo.
Stray-Gundersen is now helping Parisotto and his colleagues to replicate the
study in Norwegian and Chinese athletes. The levels of the five biomarkers will
also be standardised against 鈥渘ormal鈥� levels found in 1200 athletes from 12
other countries, and athletes trained under different conditions.

On 1 August, they will present their findings to the International Olympic
Committee, which has the final say on whether EPO testing is used in Sydney. But
the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games is clearly hoping for the
go-ahead. 鈥淲e are doing everything we can to be ready. We know exactly how we
would do it, with the equipment, with the people,鈥� says Nikki Vance, SOCOG鈥檚
programme manager for doping control.