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Bioterrorism Epidemiology Section (BES)

Background:

The Bioterrorism Surveillance and Epidemiologic Response Team (BSERT) was established in 1999 through a cooperative agreement with the CDC to enhance state and local surveillance and epidemiologic capacity to detect and respond to bioterrorism and other infectious disease outbreaks and threats.  Additional funding was received in 2002 from the CDC in response to the 2001 terrorism events and the Bioterrorism Epidemiology Section was created. 

BES has developed a statewide public health epidemiologic response plan for bioterrorism incidents and has provided coordination and training in local and state public health epidemiologic preparedness activities.  BES holds bimonthly conference calls of the Bioterrorism Surveillance and Epidemiology Working Group consisting of colleagues in local health departments, tribal epidemiology organizations, and neighboring states.  BES has conducted two functional exercises and has participated in numerous exercises and drills with partner agencies. 

Program Goals:

Improve the ability to detect a bioterrorism event by:

  • Maintaining a 24/7 system for notification and communication of events that may be related to bioterrorism.
  • Assessing timeliness and completeness of infectious disease reporting and identifying effective measures to improve surveillance.
  • Identification and evaluation of new methods and data sources for infectious disease surveillance.
  • Providing technical assistance in development of electronic confidential morbidity reporting and electronic laboratory surveillance systems.

Improve the ability to respond to a bioterrorism event by:

  • Maintaining staff trained and experienced in epidemiology and outbreak investigations.
  • Providing technical support to local health department epidemiologists in bioterrorism epidemiology and surveillance preparedness.
  • Developing and updating plans to coordinate epidemiology and surveillance activities in an infectious disease emergency.
  • Coordinating and communicating with partners within and outside the Department in planning and participation in tabletops, exercises and drill.