Contents:
Bioterrorism Surveillance and Epidemiology Team (California Department of Health Services)
The "Bioterrorism team is part of a multidisciplinary CDHS initiative to strengthen public health infrastructure to detect, identify, investigate, and control illnesses due to biological or chemical terrorist attacks. The team will focus on enhancing state and local health surveillance and epidemiologic response capacity for diseases due to biological agents. If a suspected bioterrorism event occurs, the BT team will also provide epidemiologic assistance and coordination to the local health departments."
» California Bioterrorism Surveillance and Epidemiologic Response Plan, January 2002 (PDF)
Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (University of Minnesota)
CIDRAP focuses on food safety, biosecurity, and bioterrorism, emphasizing public health preparedness. They do this by "mining and rapidly disseminating comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-the-minute biomedical knowledge with emphasis on practical Internet-based information designed for immediate use in applied settings," as well as by conducting research, and by providing consultation and educational services.
Centers for Public Health Preparedness
The CDC-funded Centers for Public Health Preparedness (CPHP) are a national network of academic institutions working in collaboration with state and local public health departments and other community partners to develop, deliver, and evaluate life-long learning opportunities to the public health workforce, in order to handle the next public health crisis.
Center for Infectious Diseases and Emergency Readiness (CIDER), UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Other academic and specialty centers include:
Federation of American Scientists
"The Federation of American Scientists has created an internet resource for biosecurity policy, bioterrorism information, and biodefense research. The organizations listed here represent various perspectives on what actions individual scientists, research institutions, science journals, the public, and government can do to minimize the threat of bioterrorism while maximizing the benefits of life science research."
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Biodefense Web Site (National Institutes of Health)
"The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases." Their site includes summaries of NIAID research, including vaccine research, as well as information on the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
Radiation Emergency Medical Management (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
Provides guidance for health care providers, primarily physicians, about clinical diagnosis and treatment during mass casualty radiological/nuclear events. The just-in-time, evidence-based information is written with background information and is in context, to make these issues understandable to those without formal radiation expertise. It is downloadable in advance, so that it can be available during an event if the Internet is not accessible. It features timelines of what activities should go on and when, as well as clinical tools and guidelines and references.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Find information here on anthrax, smallpox, radiological emergencies, and other biological and chemical agents, including agents, laboratory analysis, response and cleanup, and treatment. Includes information on preparation and response to natural disasters and severe weather as well.
Emerging Infectious Diseases journal
Includes many articles and issues on anthrax and other bioterrorism-related topics.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Counterterrorism Page
Includes information on public health initiatives and preparedness, anthrax vaccine, food supply safety, and more.
» The Bioterrorism Act of 2002: complete text of the Act, plus information on FDA's responsibilities.
World Health Organization. Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response. Preparedness for Deliberate Epidemics
Contains information and documents on national and international preparedness, and global alert and response.
The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network "provides an operational framework to link the expertise and skills needed to keep the international community constantly alert to the threat of outbreaks and ready to respond."
Public Health Response to Biological and Chemical Weapons: WHO Guidance (2004)
Guidelines for the Surveillance and Control of Anthrax in Humans and Animals (1998)
Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response (MMWR, April 21, 2000)
Consists of the recommendations of the CDC Strategic Planning Workgroup "to reduce U.S. vulnerability to biological and chemical terrorism: preparedness planning, detection and surveillance, laboratory analysis, emergency response, and communication systems. Success of the plan hinges on strengthening the relationships between medical and public health professionals and on building new partnerships with emergency management, the military, and law enforcement professionals." Also available in PDF format, which includes a CME examination.
Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response: Use of Information Technologies and Decision Support Systems (June, 2002; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
This report "synthesize(s) the evidence on information technologies and decision support systems that may serve the information needs of clinicians and public health officials in the event of bioterrorism. Current national efforts of particular promise include those to develop and evaluate systems that integrate the collection, analysis, and presentation of data from detectors, clinicians, laboratories, and hospitals to public health decision makers."
Bioterrorism: Preparedness Varied across State and Local Jurisdictions (U.S. General Accounting Office, April 2003)
"In this report GAO provides information on state and local preparedness and state and local concerns regarding the federal role in funding and improving preparedness."
Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management (CHEMM)
"CHEMM is an online resource that is a comprehensive, user-friendly, web-based tool which can be downloaded in advance, in case of internet unavailability. The tool enables first responders, first receivers, other healthcare providers, and planners to plan for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of mass-casualty incidents involving chemicals. CHEMM was produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Office of Planning and Emergency Operations, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine, Division of Specialized Information Services, and many medical, emergency response, toxicology, and other types of experts."
The NLM also created a short video for users, Welcome to CHEMM, giving an overview of how to use CHEMM and highlighting some of its most important features.
National Academy Press publications
Several recent relevant publications have been produced, including:
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (U.S. Department of Justice)
Many guides can be found here for emergency responders. Documents include An Introduction to Biological Agent Detection Equipment for Emergency First Responders, Guide for the Selection of Chemical and Biological Decontamination Equipment for Emergency First Responders, and more.
Responding to Bioterrorism: Assessing California's Preparedness (March 2002; PDF)
This report, from the California Research Bureau (California State Library), "provides an overview of California's preparedness for bioterrorism including the Standardized Emergency Management System and the California Terrorism Response Plan (CTRP) and describes the roles and responsibilities of the network of state, federal, and local agencies responders involved in CTRP implementation."
Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness
This database includes links to free full-text information including expert guidelines, factsheets, websites, research reports, articles, and other tools aimed at the public health community. All resources may be searched by keyword or browsed by audience type, subject or CDC focus area.
Responding to the Threat of Smallpox Bioterrorism: An Ounce of Prevention Is Best Approach (April 2002)
An analysis of the federal government's strategy for responding to a deliberate smallpox attack. From the Cato Institute.
Training Technology against Terror: Using Advanced Technology to Prepare America’s Emergency Medical Personnel and First Responders for a Weapon of Mass Destruction Attack (September 2002)
"U.S. emergency response personnel still lack training to deal with a weapons of mass destruction attack and only a coordinated interagency approach making skillful use of new information technology can ensure that effective, up-to-date training is available to the millions of personnel who need it in a timely way." From the Federation of American Scientists.
Biological Weapons and Warfare
A guide to government, NGO, and other biological weapons-related sites. From All the Virology on the WWW (Tulane University).
Bioterrorism (Infectious Diseases Society of America)
Includes resources by agent (medical summary and clinical pathways), as well as emergency notification procedures, laboratory protocols, and numerous web resources.
» Public Health Internet Resources
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