Bioterrorism Epidemiology Section

The Bioterrorism Epidemiology Section (BES) is part of a multidisciplinary CDPH initiative to strengthen public health infrastructure to detect, identify, investigate, and control illnesses due to biological or chemical terrorist attacks.  BES focuses on enhancing state and local health surveillance and epidemiologic response for diseases due to infectious agents that may be used in bioterrorism. BES staff work with other staff in the Department and staff in local health departments to develop procedures to identify and respond to disease outbreaks that could present major public health threats or emergencies.  This work includes improving current surveillance systems, developing epidemiological questionnaires, databases, outbreak management systems, protocols and response plans, and developing training programs and evaluation procedures, including exercises and drills.  In the event of an outbreak or incident that could be due to bioterrorism, the staff will be actively involved in the Department’s emergency response and coordination with local health departments to investigate and determine the source of the outbreak.  The program receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct its work.  More about BES.