BiodefenseEducation.org

is a Biodefense Digital Library and Collaboratory, curated from open source intelligence by Donna M. D'Alessandro M.D. and Michael P. D'Alessandro M.D., and intended to serve as a source of continuing education on biodefense affairs.

Public Policy - Saga of Incompetence - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Washington Post - An editorial that asks a pertinent question that desperately needs to be answered: "Even today, it still is unclear who in the government -- the White House, the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Health and Human Services -- is really in charge of defense against bioterrorism."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/25/AR2005122500458.html

Research - Govt to establish conditions for level 4 bio-safety labs - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Yomiuri Shimbun - The Japanese government will establish within three years conditions for the operation of a bio-safety level 4 (BSL4) facility that can isolate for safe handling and study dangerous infectious disease agents.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20051228TDY01005.htm

Research - A building boom for labs - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Wall Street Journal - The U.S. government plans to spend at least $1 billion on new facilities to fight bioterrorism over the next decade...The government plans to build seven large new buildings housing laboratories for research designated "biosafety level-4
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05362/628979.stm

Public Policy - Pandemic funding, liability shield clear Congress - (Found July 8, 2008 )

CIDRAP - Before adjourning last week, the US Senate passed and sent to President Bush a bill providing $3.8 billion for pandemic influenza preparedness and a controversial liability shield for those who produce and administer drugs and vaccines used in a declared public health emergency.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/dec2805liability.html

Simulation - The Battle to Stop Bird Flu - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Wired - A virtual pandemic hits New Mexico: Inside the Los Alamos weapons lab, massive computer simulations unleash disease and track its course, 6 billion people at a time. A look at how simulation is aiding biodefense efforts.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/birdflu_pr.html

Research - Scientists helping U.S. prepare for biological attack - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Scripps Howard - Getting useful tips from biochemical soup left over from an anthrax, plague or botulism toxin attack might sound like an impossible task, but scientists at Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories are able to find many of them.
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=TERROR-GARBAGE-12-29-05

Vaccines - New Technique Points To Safer, More Efficient Vaccination - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Science Daily - PLoS Pathogens - Researchers have demonstrated a technique that has the potential to reduce the toxicity of vaccines and to make smaller doses more effective...Developing vaccines is fraught with challenges, particularly because many candidates carry a high risk of toxic side effects. For example, twenty percent of people immunized against smallpox will suffer side effects....
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051230085026.htm

Editorial Note - 2005 Biodefense Year in Review - (Found July 8, 2008 )

2005 There were no documented uses of biological weapons this year. However, in January a man in Florida was arrested after having been found to have ricin in his possession. In March and November there were false positive alarms for anthrax being detected in Department of Defense mail facilities; while in October there was a false positive alarm for tularemia being detected on the Mall in Washington D.C. Natural outbreaks this year involving Category I agents included: Outbreaks of Anthrax...
http://www.biodefenseeducation.org/2006/01/01#a780

Decontamination - Treating Children Exposed To Chemicals Used In Bioterrorist Attacks, New Video - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Medical News Today - The US Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released "The Decontamination of Children: Preparedness and Response for Hospital Emergency Departments," a 27-minute video that trains emergency responders and hospital emergency department staff to decontaminate children after being exposed to hazardous chemicals during a bioterrorist attack or other disaster.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=35404

History - An interview with Charles C. Mann - (Found July 8, 2008 )

Indian Country - In this interview with Mann, author of the book '1491,' focuses on the impact disease had in the European colonization of the Americas.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412156