United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Beltsville, Maryland, 20705-5138, USA
There is a raising level of awareness and concern that agriculture
and food supplies might serve as targets for bioterrorists.
To minimize such threats a number of new initiates are urgently
needed: 1. Greater levels of financial commitment from federal,
state, and international organizations for research on highly
infectious diseases and for emergency response infrastructure;
2. Well-orchestrated emergency response plans based on inter-agency,
inter-departmental and stakeholder working groups; 3. Teams
prepared for risk assessment and risk communication; 4. Modern
systems of animal identification and accurate trace-back for
animal movement; 5. Increased biosecurity in intensive production
operations; 6. accurate intelligence as to what pathogens pose
the highest risks for economic and social impact; 7. Establishment
of new international animal and plant disease research networks
and partnerships; 8. Strengthen international disease surveillance
networks for early detection and intervention; 9. New generations
of rapid diagnostic tests for pathogen detection that are practical
for field and diagnostic laboratories; 10. Increased level of
commitment to pathogen genomics research for molecular epidemiology
and vaccine development; 11. New chemical and immunological
intervention strategies to prevent or control disease outbreaks;
12. Increased level of training on exotic and emerging animal
diseases in basic veterinary education and through continuing
education for veterinarians, state and federal field personnel
and laboratory diagnosticians.
