Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:03:47.229Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epidemiologic Surveillance for Investigating Chemical or Biological Warfare and for Improving Human Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Stephen S. Morse
Stephen S. Morse*
Affiliation:
Rockefeller University, USA
Get access

Extract

Peter Barss makes a compelling case both for the value of epidemiology in investigating suspected use of chemical, biological, or toxin warfare (CBTW), and for consistency in epidemiologic procedures. Since John Snow in the nineteenth century, “armed only with [his] five senses and [his] notebook,” carried out his pioneering epidemiologic investigations to determine the source of the cholera epidemic then raging in London, the value of epidemiology for analyzing incidents of unexpected illness or death, in whatever context they occur, has been demonstrated many times over. Despite this, as Barss convincingly shows, the routine practice of field epidemiology is still often not fully or properly utilized in investigating alleged CBTW.

Type
Roundtable Commentaries
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1992 , pp. 28 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Henderson, D.A.(1992). “Surveillance Systems and Intergovernmental Cooperation.” In Morse, S.S., ed. Emerging Viruses. New York: Oxford University Press, in press.Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (1988). The Future of Public Health. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Morse, S.S.(1990). “Regulating Viral Traffic.” Issues in Science and Technology 7:81–84.Google Scholar
Morse, S.S.(1991). “Emerging Viruses: Defining the Rules for Viral Traffic.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 34:387–409.Google Scholar
Morse, S.S.and Schluederberg, A.(1990). “Emerging Viruses: The Evolution of Viruses and Viral Diseases.” Journal of Infectious Diseases 162:1–7.Google Scholar
National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (1987). The U.S. Capacity to Address Tropical Infectious Disease Problems. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, B.H.(1991). “Principles and Proposals for a Biological Verification Protocol.” In Geissler, E.and Haynes, R.H., (eds.), Prevention of a Biological and Toxin Arms Race and the Responsibility of Scientists. Berlin: Academie-Verlag.Google Scholar
Wheelis, M.L(1991). “The Role of Epidemiology in Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention.” In Geissler, E.and Haynes, R.H., eds., Prevention of a Biological and Toxin Arms Race and the Responsibility of Scientists. Berlin: Academie-Verlag.Google Scholar