Mitigation of bioterrorist threats in the 21st century.
There is a raising level of awareness and concern that agriculture and food supplies might serve as targets for bioterrorists. To minimize such threats a number of new initiates are urgently needed: 1. Greater levels of financial commitment from federal, state, and international organizations for research on highly infectious diseases and for emergency response infrastructure; 2. Wellorchestrated emergency response plans based on inter-agency, inter-departmental and stakeholder working groups; 3. Teams prepared for risk assessment and risk communication; 4. Modern systems of animal identification and accurate trace-back for animal movement; 5. Increased biosecurity in intensive production operations; 6. Accurate intelligence as to what pathogens pose the highest risks for economic and social impact; 7. Establishment of new international animal and plant disease research networks and partnerships; 8. Strengthen international disease surveillance networks for early detection and intervention; 9. New generations of rapid diagnostic tests for pathogen detection that are practical for field and diagnostic laboratories; 10. Increased level of commitment to pathogen genomics research for molecular epidemiology and vaccine development; 11. New chemical and immunological intervention strategies to prevent or control disease outbreaks; 12. Increased level of training on exotic and emerging animal diseases in basic veterinary education and through continuing education for veterinarians, state and federal field personnel and laboratory diagnosticians.
Logan-Henfrey
L
L
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-5138, USA. LLogan@tahc.state.tx.us
D000383:Agriculture; D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D023482:Bioterrorism / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000639:trends; D003132:Commerce; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D010935:Plant Diseases; D018570:Risk Assessment