Technology only a small part of detecting bioterrorist threats.

• Author: Ake, David C.
• Position: Homeland Security

Perched on rooftops in 30 different U.S. cities are machines that sniff the air searching for weaponized pathogens that could harm the general public.

But experts say the threat is two-fold. Naturally occurring infectious diseases can spread quickly in urban centers. A terrorist attack using known bio-weapons such as anthrax is a possibility as well.

The aftermath of 9/11, and the anthrax attacks later that year, have pushed the field of "biosurveillance" to the forefront.

Biosurveillance is defined as gathering, analyzing and interpreting data to monitor for pathogens in plants, animals, humans, food and the environment.

But technology such as the BioWatch monitors that dot U.S. urban landscapes are only a small part of the equation, public health officials said at a recent conference.

"Imagine if you were to go to a physician for an ailment and the only thing the physician could do is listen to your lungs, and that was it," said Pamela Diaz, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director for biosurveillance coordination. "There may be any number of other things wrong or going on that would be indicators of a problem with your health, but if that physician only looked at that one point, it would be, perhaps, not in your best interest," she said at the 2011 Biosecurity Conference in Washington, D.C.

Biosurveillance is a broad domain that requires a skilled work force that must include global, federal, state and local partners, she said. It's complex and requires collaboration between organizations. It's not a matter of creating one, single information technology solution, she said.

Acquiring new technology should not be the top priority for biothreat detection, several speakers noted. Instead, it should be building human-to-human partnerships for information gathering and the improvement of existing networks necessary for early detection and warning.

Randall Larsen, CEO of the WMD Center, a bipartisan, not-for-profit research and education organization, compared the fight against naturally and man-made pathogens to a traditional war.

"If somebody is attacking America with biological weapons, particularly a contagious pathogen, then America has become a battlefield. And on the battlefield the leaders must have situational awareness. You need to know what's going on," Larsen said.

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The anthrax attacks in 2001--codenamed "Amerithrax" by the FBI--killed five and sickened 17 others when letters laced with spores...