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| Updated: 20-Jan-2003 | NATO Press Releases |
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Press Release (2003) 001 14 January 2003 |
Workshop on Preparedness against Bioterrorism and re-emerging infectious diseases in Central and Eastern European countries. On 15-18 January 2003, the Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Warsaw, Poland, in cooperation with the Cantacuzzino Institute of Bucharest, Romania, will organize a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Preparedness against bioterrorism and re-emerging infectious diseases - regional capabilities, needs and expectations in Central and Eastern European countries". The objective of the workshop is to provide countries in which a bio-defence system is currently under development with the experience of those which are more advanced in this respect and/or which have already been exposed to bio-terrorist attacks. The workshop will help to increase awareness of the problem at the political level in the region, to consolidate the community of experts and reinforce the connections with NATO and other international organisations in this particular area. These goals coincide with the general trend of global strengthening of response to outbreaks of infectious diseases through coordination of the individual countries' public health protection capabilities, as well as the activities in this area of the NATO member states and Partnership-for-Peace nations. The workshop agenda is ordered so as to embrace the most important structural and organisational elements of a country's bio-defence system, including real-time epidemiological surveillance; contemporary and future methodologies in biological warfare detection; biological response infrastructure and response teams; training and education. In addition, a number of issues usually less often dealt with will be addressed such as multiple agent attack and modes of transmisison; multiple drug resistance and biological weapons (BW) agent genetic engineering; transmission to animals and ecoterrorism; spread of the BW-related diseases and legal and logistic aspects of its control through vaccination, drug prophylaxis, extensive isolation and quarantine. For further information contact Dr. Janusz Kocik, (Military Institute
of Hygiene and Epidemiology - MIHE) by e-mail at jkocik@wihe.waw.pl
or by telephone at +48 607461970. |
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