US DoD to enhance biosurveillance capability

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is developing an enhanced biosurveillance capability, aimed at providing detect-identify-respond capabilities against infectious diseases that could prove to be a threat to humans and livestock.

Earlier, the US Government had issued the first US National Strategy for Biosurveillance, to leverage defences against older emerging threats from animals and insects while providing early warning, detection and situational awareness.

The biosurveillance programme will gather, analyse, and interpret data related to disease activity and threats to provide early warning to safeguard human and animal health.

Nuclear, chemical and biological defence programmes assistant secretary for Andrew Weber as saying, that DOD is enhancing its leveraging its detection capability as well as forecast infectious disease outbreaks that imperil health security.

"The vision much like we do with the weather, is to have a global [disease]-detection and information-sharing system that will allow us to know when a storm is forming before it forms, and when it’s coming toward the border," Weber added.

With plans to field certain capabilities in the near future, Weber said, "and the technology is moving so quickly that within the next couple of years we will have fielded new and more mobile systems that cover more diseases. We call this the Next-Generation Diagnostics Program."

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Joint Science and Technology Office science and technology manager Nancy Nurthen said, "we could deploy them to get an early potential confirmation of what’s happening and have earlier warning, earlier confirmation, and an ability to make better decisions faster."

"Eight months down the road we will have an initial demonstration of the ability to receive a result from the diagnostic to the ecosystem. Then about a year and six months down the road, we look to have a full demonstration of the capabilities."