The Trump Administration has established a “National Biodefense Strategy.” The move is the first of its kind to address the full range of biological threats, including those that are naturally occurring, deliberate, and accidental. A White House summary notes that it “sets up a process to assess our capabilities and to prioritize biodefense resources and actions across the Government. For the first time, the Government will be comprehensively evaluating biodefense needs and monitoring implementation of the National Biodefense Strategy on an ongoing basis. This annual process will ensure that the Administration stays nimble and can counter the rapidly changing landscape of biological threats.”
According to the President, “The National Biodefense Strategy builds on lessons learned from past biological incidents, such as the 2001 anthrax attacks, the 2009 influenza pandemic, and the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, to develop a more resilient and effective biodefense enterprise. Biological threats emanate from many sources, and they know no borders. They have great potential to disrupt the economy, exact a toll on human life, and tear at the very fabric of society. My Administration will take steps to improve our understanding of the risks posed by biological threats and to respond to them effectively and efficiently.”
The Centers for Disease Control explains that “The word ‘bioterrorism’ refers to biological agents (microbes or toxins) used as weapons to further personal or political agendas. Acts of bioterrorism range from a single exposure directed at an individual by another individual to government-sponsored biological warfare resulting in mass casualties. Bioterrorism differs from other methods of terrorism in that the materials needed to make an effective biological agent are readily available, require little specialized knowledge and are inexpensive to produce. Until the aftermath of 9/11, few instances of bioterrorism were documented in the U.S…Bioterrorism differs from other methods of terrorism in that the effects are not always immediately apparent. An attack may be difficult to distinguish from a naturally occurring infectious disease outbreak. The first evidence of an attack will be in hospital emergency rooms where the proper diagnosis will be essential in treating and preventing the spread of the disease. In the event of intentional anthrax distribution, people at risk should take a 60-day course of prophylactic antibiotics, either doxycycline or ciprofloxacin. Vaccination against smallpox is not recommended to prevent the disease in the general public. In people exposed to smallpox, however, the vaccine can lessen the severity of, or even prevent, illness if given within 4 days of exposure. The U.S. has a supply of vaccine for emergency use.”
The White House is concerned because biological and chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction that could easily be obtained and deployed by terrorists. That’s a key reason why a Cabinet-level biodefense steering committee has been established, to be chaired by the Department of Health and Human Services. Other Cabinet departments, including the Defense Department; the Agricultural Department, (because a biological weapons attack could be directed against our food supply), Homeland Security, the EPA and others will also have key roles to play.
buying levitra without prescription It works mainly for the following reasons: Imbalance in the essential hormones like progesterone and estrogen. Does your penis turn into a bone, as well as you are talented with unprecedented stamina which permits you to manage yourself, boosting your trust, accommodating you the same sensation when you were juvenile, and certain perfection when you beat the heart of your associate by turning to super man in bunk. levitra prescription online It is so much an important medicine that can cure cialis prices in india the ailments, for example, Wretchedness, Schizophrenia, Craziness, Fears, Alarm Issue, Dietary issues, Post-traumatic Anxiety Issue, Habit Issue, Stroke, A mental imbalance, Epilepsy and Perpetual Torment and Stretch. sildenafil soft tablets visit this link now This product gets absorbed pretty soon and is available only with authorized chemists. Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar, speaking at a White House briefing on September 18, stressed that that there are a number of reasons the threat is growing.
“As the world grows more urbanized and interconnected, infectious threats can spread more rapidly and easily than ever. Think about one of the threats that HHS is monitoring at this very second, which is the Ebola outbreak in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Such is the ease of mobility between countries now, that just in the DRC, more than 100,000 people are being screened at border crossings every day. We also face accidental and manmade threats. Today’s rapid technological advances have great potential to improve public health and human health, but they also create the opportunity for new kinds of threats and for more and more actors to make use of biological weapons.”
At the same briefing, Ambassador John Bolton noted that “we’re constantly monitoring a range of countries and terrorist groups for the possibility that they would acquire a biological weapons capability that could threaten us. And the attack can come in a lot of different ways, either directly in the homeland. It could come from people traveling into the United States previously infected. It could come from stockpiles that are smuggled into the United States or may already be here. This is something we speak with our allies about all the time. There are any number of countries that are not the parties to the Biological Weapons Convention. There are parties that are — states that are parties to the Biological Weapons Convention that we think are violating it. I don’t want to get into the intelligence at this point, but we take very seriously, as we do across the range of weapons of mass destruction, the dangers to the United States from this kind of attack, which is why we felt that bringing all of this together in a coordinated government-wide biodefense strategy to create an accountable, operational capability was so important.”
Illustration: Centers for Disease Control