DIPL 6277 NA Global Health, Bioterrorism, and International Security

The threat of bioterrorism, long ignored and denied, has heightened over the past few years. The terrorist attacks of September 11 and the subsequent assaults with anthrax through the postal system underscored both strengths and weakness in the U.S. public health system and sounded a warning to global health. Globally, two candidate agents are of special concern: smallpox and anthrax. The magnitude of the problems and the gravity of the scenarios associated with release of these organisms have been vividly portrayed by two epidemics of smallpox in Europe during the 1970s and by an accidental release f aerosolized anthrax from a Russian bioweapons facility in 1979. This course will address the protection of the global public health from biological agents that cause disease and/or death. Students will learn current issues in disaster mitigation, how biological agents can be transmitted in the environment, measurement techniques, decontamination methods, the proper use of personal protective equipment and response strategies for bioterrorism emergencies and related catastrophic event. Students will analyze and synthesize the information to effectively analyze risk and communicate that risk to the populations they serve and critique policies to protect specific populations