Emerging Natural Threats and the Deliberate use of Biological Agents

摘要

The development of vaccines, public health-based disease control measures, and the understanding of germ theory in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as the development of effective antibiotics in the twentieth century, lulled many health professionals, politicians, and the public at large into the false belief that infectious diseases have been conquered. As a result we let our guard down and dropped important training programs and projects as being unnecessary. Despite those premature assessments of victory, the past 2 decades have provided a rude awakening. Such issues as new and re-emerging diseases, antibiotic-resistant strains of microbes, and heightened concerns about biological warfare and terrorism have guaranteed that infectious diseases will continue to attract serious attention, particularly in light of their potential to cause extensive morbidity and mortality in humans. Concerns regarding the potential for the terrorist use of biological weapons, in particular, have revitalized long inadequate funding streams into the public health and laboratory infrastructures in the United States. Fortunately, many of the defensive measures that we put into place for bioterrorism, such as improving surveillance systems, building public health laboratory infrastructure, ensuring appropriate laboratory containment and transport regulations, and raising the index of suspicion of health care providers, also have benefits for preventing emerging infectious diseases and discouraging their use by bioterrorists.