New Measures for Prompt Warning of Bioterrorism or Disease Outbreaks Depend on Rigorous Analysis

While health authorities have been taking steps to provide quicker warning of disease outbreaks or bioterrorism incidents, the information gathered can be ambiguous and must be rigorously analyzed, according to a leading Maryland state health official.

"You need an informed observer looking at the data and saying, 'What does this mean,' " Dr. Diane L. Matuszak of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told a 3 April Capitol Hill seminar organized by AAAS's Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy and by a bipartisan study group called Security for a New Century.

Matuszak, director of the Maryland health department's Community and Public Health Administration, discussed her state’s traditional surveillance for communicable diseases and some new measures undertaken to enhance the odds of quickly spotting an emerging health threat, whether natural or as a result of terrorism.

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