National Biosurveillance Strategy and Associated Science and Technology Roadmaps : Considerations and Priorities

A well-integrated, national biosurveillance enterprise is a national security imperative. The United States' ability to detect quickly and characterize a potential incident of national significance that affects human, animal, or plant health is of paramount importance. Rapid detection and enhanced situational awareness are critical to saving lives and improving incident outcomes, whether the result of a bioterrorism attack or other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threat, an emerging infectious disease, pandemic, environmental disaster, or a food-borne illness. Beyond the need to protect domestic interests, and because health threats transcend national borders, the United States also plays a vital role within an international network of biosurveillance centers across the globe. This book focuses on the national strategy for biosurveillance and the national biosurveillance science and technology roadmap.