Understanding biological emergencies : from bioterrorism to pandemics / Paula Stamps Duston.

Setting The Context -- Should We Be Worried? -- Using Nature to Build A Weapon -- Science, Society and Safety -- What Can We Learn From the Past? -- Scientists, Culture, and Ideology -- From the Lab to the Battlefield-and Beyond -- Select Agents: Yesterday and Today -- Keeping Track of Risky Pathogens -- Most Common: Anthrax -- The Most Feared: Smallpox -- Threats From Other Select Agents -- Bioterrorism Comes to the U.S. -- Anthrax Spores in the US Postal System -- What We have -- and What We Need -- New Policies Reflect Changing Risk Assessment -- From Policy to Implementation: The Biological Emergency Response System -- How Are We Doing? Dimensions of this Wicked Problem -- Solving the Puzzle: A Comprehensive Biosecurity System.

This book investigates the links between the main sources of biological emergencies and presents a comprehensive policy framework that seeks to achieve the ultimate goal of biological security. The work offers a new interdisciplinary approach to analyse the linkages between the three main sources of biological emergencies: intentional attacks, natural zoonotic transmission, and lab accidents. In doing so, the text describes the history of using nature to create a weapon, focusing on dispersal methods. The most important Select Agents for monitoring are described, with a special focus on anthrax and smallpox. The case studies presented include the use of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Iraq and the 2001 anthrax attack in the US. The policies that created the emergency preparedness system are analysed, and the current system is described in terms of their effectiveness in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book concludes with some ideas and specific suggestions for moving from response to risk reduction and prevention. This book will be of much interest to students of biosecurity studies, public health, public policy, political science and international relations, and to professionals working in the fields of public health, public safety, medicine, nursing, and first responders as well as military personnel.