Majority of U.S. Schools Not Ready for Next Pandemic, Researchers Say

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2012) ? Many U.S. schools are not prepared for bioterrorism attacks, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases or pandemics, despite the recent 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic that resulted in more than 18,000 deaths worldwide, Saint Louis University researchers say.
The study, led by Terri Rebmann, Ph.D., associate professor at SLU's Institute for Biosecurity, surveyed about 2000 nurses working in elementary, middle and high schools across 26 states. The findings reveal that only 48 percent of schools address pandemic preparedness and only 40 percent of schools have updated their plans since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic that spread illnesses in more than 214 countries.

"There is a lot of research that shows influenza spreads quickly in schools because it's a communicable disease and kids interact closely," Rebmann said. "Schools need to have a written pandemic plan in order to be prepared to put interventions into place quickly when an event occurs."

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120914082055.htm

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Re: Majority of U.S. Schools Not Ready for Next Pandemic, Researchers Say

Fighting Bioterrorism: SLU Professor Calls for Better Disease Tracking

ST. LOUIS- Nearly 11 years have passed since the 2001 bioterrorism-related anthrax attacks that shook the nation, killing five people and injuring 17, but according to Alan Zelicoff, M.D., director of The Institute for Biosecurity at Saint Louis University, the country has still not learned its lesson.

"The key requirement for mitigating the effects of a bioterrorism attack is early detection and diagnosis," Zelicoff said. "Our current disease detection system is still hobbled by slow transfer of information to public health officials who might otherwise be able to determine unusual patterns or disease that suggests a bioterror attack."

Zelicoff said current data mining approaches are passive and don't provide immediate solutions to the emergencies at hand. He proposes an electronic, clinician-based reporting system that would have the capacity to limit the impact of a bioterrorism attack. "We need a nationwide but locally-operated real-time disease surveillance system," Zelicoff said. "Nobody knows about the local health system better than the local public health officials."

Through this system clinicians will be able to immediately report the information about unusual or unusually severe set of symptoms to the local public health officials and update the local map where cases are being reported along with a time graph.

Zelicoff anticipates this real-time system will help speed up the initiation of an outbreak investigation and take immediate control of bioterror situations.

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http://www.slu.edu/rel-biosecurity-911