The informatics response in disaster, terrorism, and war

Abstract

The United States currently faces several new, concurrent large-scale health crises as a result of terrorist activity. In particular, three major health issues have risen sharply in urgency and public consciousness--bioterrorism, the threat of widespread delivery of agents of illness; mass disasters, local events that produce large numbers of casualties and overwhelm the usual capacity of health care delivery systems; and the delivery of optimal health care to remote military field sites. Each of these health issues carries large demands for the collection, analysis, coordination, and distribution of health information. The authors present overviews of these areas and discuss ongoing work efforts of experts in each.

Figure 1

Epidemic curves and detection strategies for an outbreak of inhalational Bacillus anthracis due to a large bio-aerosol release. A indicates intelligence; B, biosensors; C, 500 prodromal presentations coupled with epidemiologic (e.g., work address) or intelligence data, or both; D, few cases with specific syndrome (e.g., x-rays, gram stains); E, culture-based diagnosis.