Collaboration Between Public Health and Law Enforcement: New Paradigms and Partnerships for Bioterrorism Planning and Response

摘要

The biological attacks with powders containing Bacillus anthracis sent through the mail during Septemberand October 2001 led to unprecedented public health and law enforcement investigations, which involvedthousands of investigators from federal, state, and local agencies. Following recognition of the first casesof anthrax in Florida in early October 2001, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion (CDC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were mobilized to assist investigators from stateand local public health and law enforcement agencies. Although public health and criminal investigationshave been conducted in concert in the past, the response to the anthrax attacks required close collabora-tion because of the immediate and ongoing threat to public safety. We describe the collaborations betweenCDC and FBI during the investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks and highlight the challenges and suc-cesses of public health and law enforcement collaborations in general