1 - Overview
from Part I - Introduction to Biosurveillance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2013
Summary
While the public health philosophy of the 20th Century – emphasizing prevention – is ideal for addressing natural disease outbreaks, it is not sufficient to confront 21st Century threats where adversaries may use biological weapons agents as part of a long-term campaign of aggression and terror. Health care providers and public health officers are among our first lines of defense. Therefore, we are building on the progress of the past three years to further improve the preparedness of our public health and medical systems to address current and future BW [biological warfare] threats and to respond with greater speed and flexibility to multiple or repetitive attacks.
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21Bioterrorism is not a new threat in the twenty-first century – thousands of years ago, the plague and other contagious diseases were used in warfare – but today the potential for catastrophic outcomes is greater than it has ever been. To address this threat, the medical and public health communities are putting various measures in place, including systems designed to proactively monitor populations for possible disease outbreaks. The goal is to improve the likelihood that a disease outbreak, whether artificial or natural, is detected as early as possible so that the medical and public health communities can respond as quickly as possible.
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- Introduction to Statistical Methods for BiosurveillanceWith an Emphasis on Syndromic Surveillance, pp. 3 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013
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