Biosurveillance Threats and the Opportunity to Develop a Safer World

Abstract

Biological events that have caused significant mass morbidity, mortality and fear are well chronicled in human history [1]. They range from the Antonine Plague (similar to smallpox), which caused a death toll of 30% of the population, to the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death, which resulted in mortality estimates of as high as 70% of the population. Biological disasters have also occurred in modern times. Such disasters include: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and 2003; influenza in the 20th century; Ebola Viral Disease in West Africa in 2014