Whether deciding to close local schools or to change treatment and testing guidelines at a national level, public health decisions for influenza pandemics are dependent on laboratory results. By developing assays, holding training sessions, developing and utilizing laboratory capacity models, building intra-state communication systems, and introducing other initiatives, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) are helping to build and maintain a "warm base" for effective laboratory response.
This report focuses on first responder training for hazmat and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) incidents. Even in an environment of limited funding, there are solutions that can be explored to coordinate response, train team members, and prepare emergency responders for the next hazmat or CBRN event.
In 2011, the world witnessed the devastating effects after Mother Nature triggered an accidental "nuclear attack" on Japan. That incident offers a glimpse of what could happen following a deliberate nuclear attack on U.S. soil. On 2 May 2012, Vayl Oxford led a distinguished panel of experts in New York to discuss a very real threat that faces the nation. View results from the latest DomPrep survey and the final report that spurred this discussion as well as ongoing dialogue among attendees.
Many businessmen, and homeowners, would quickly buy and read a comprehensive report on how to prevent burglaries. Many burglars would buy and read the same book, but for different reasons. Those who carry out important scientific research face a similar dilemma: They want to help educate their peers, but do not want their findings to become available to those - terrorists, for example - who would use the information in ways that would harm others.
Not quite 80 years ago, Britain's de facto prime minister made some shocking comments about military policy before Parliament, and his countrymen. Since then, many "inexpensive" attacks have required "expensive" military defense. Today, the dangers facing the entire world are even greater and the cost, to all nations, of not facing the facts could be truly cataclysmic for many decades to come.
Each day, events occur that engage personnel from multiple disciplines who are each tasked with the common goal of protecting the nation from all hazards threats. Even though laboratorians, police officers, firefighters, and hazmat technicians wear different uniforms, they all share the common goal of protecting the public and thus have similar concerns. Listen to APHL's discussion on the collaborating efforts between first responders and laboratorians.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, more than one-third of adults across the United States are part of the "obesity epidemic." The most important "nutritional" problem facing American consumers, though, might not be calories but contamination. This is particularly true of the billions of pounds of food generously distributed each year through and by the nation's food banks and various charitable organizations.
The huge budget problems now facing the nation are on a collision course with the rapidly escalating possibility of new CBRN incidents and events that could devastate entire communities. A distinguished former Department of Defense program official puts the dilemma into context and provides several useful guidelines to follow.
In the 21st century, combatting terrorism could be as simple as seeing something and saying something. Suspicious activity may signify terrorist activity, but that can only be determined if the right information gets into the right hands. Listen to W. Ross Ashley's audio roundtable discussion on the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSI), which presents a key business process for protecting the nation against future terrorist threats.
Ready to Wear - When There Is No Time to Spare! That is, or should be, the slogan of the far-sighted and foresighted PPE clothing and equipment manufacturers who recognize that there is absolutely no time that can be wasted when a CBRN incident occurs and that first responders must see to their own safety before they can protect the lives of others.
