Commentary
Bioterrorism and Surveillance for Infectious Diseases - Lessons from Poliovirus and Enteric Virus Surveillance
L M Shulman1,2*, Y Manor1, D Sofer1 and E Mendelson1,2
1Central Virology Laboratory, Public Health Services, Israel Ministry of Health Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel 52621
2Dept. of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 69978
- *Corresponding Author:
- Lester M. Shulman
Central Virology Laboratory
Chaim Sheba Medical Center
Tel-Hashomer, 52621, Israel
Tel: +972-3-530-2341
Fax: +972-3-535-0436
E-mail: lester.shulman@sheba.health.gov.il
Received Date: November 18, 2011; Accepted Date: February 05, 2012; Published Date: February 18, 2012
Citation: Shulman LM, Manor Y, Sofer D, Mendelson E (2012) Bioterrorism and Surveillance for Infectious Diseases - Lessons from Poliovirus and Enteric Virus Surveillance. J Bioterr Biodef S4:004. doi: 10.4172/2157-2526.S4-004
Copyright: © 2012 Shulman LM, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Early recognition and rapid response are crucial for control of infectious diseases introduced by bio-error, bio-terror or Mother Nature. Early recognition requires surveillance. Surveillance includes methods for identifying the presence of infectious agents or the symptoms caused by the presence of such agents. Overlapping of different surveillance strategies improves the chances for success. Results from enteric virus surveillance of acute viral gastroenteritis in sentinel children wards and outbreaks and environmental surveillance for polio and non-polio enteroviruses in Israel are presented to exemplify surveillance for infectious disease agents and for use as yardsticks for evaluating response to intervention and to introduction of new vaccination programs and for their potential for evaluating acute gastroenteris syndromic surveillance.
