Editorial: Biosecurity and the role of statisticians

摘要

Bioterrorism is now recognized as a real threat to our society. After the 2001 US anthrax attacks, many Governments have made it a priority to strengthen public health preparedness to minimize morbidity and mortality in the event of a bioterrorist attack. Significant resources are being committed to that effort. The US Government alone is planning to invest over US $5 billion for vaccines and drugs to enhance biosecurity. These investments to shore up public health preparedness will pay off in defending against both intentional and naturally occurring outbreaks of infectious diseases. A co-ordinated approach is required to address the threats of bioterrorism effectively. A multi-disciplinary team of experts is required including national security and law enforcement officials to assess the threats, public health planners and policy makers to develop effective response strategies, clinicians and primary care providers to help to identify symptoms of the earliest cases, medical care providers and hospitals to plan for mass casualty care, legal experts to address critical questions in the event of an emergency, the mass media to communicate information to the public effectively and calmly, policy makers at an international level to develop global efforts to improve biosecurity and biomedical researchers to help to develop new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for the critical pathogens. In this editorial, I offer that statisticians need to be part of this multidisciplinary team. Statisticians have critical contributions to make to improve biosecurity, although perhaps requiring a different paradigm from that of traditional statistical work.