Health Ontario ready for potential SARS-like virus Bird flu breaks out in one more southern province Health officials fear return of measles Security TSA now permits airlines to store birth dates, bringing relief to some Program to allow air travelers to speed through Customs checks Manhole covers: Gateways to terrorism Local Issues Airport security gets mellow Terror attack would overwhelm L.A., D.C. hospitals, expert says Federal Ageny Events U.S. tests response to set of calamities Homeland Security to test high-tech buoys TSA: Deadline extended for port worker screenings Russia, U.S. sign civil nuclear pact International News West, Central Africa seen as major source of next new disease China struggles to contain viral epidemic Risk of bird flu pandemic probably growing Academic Studies Who should MDs let die in a pandemic? Report offers answers Border protection and ag inspection highlight meeting WHO to update guidelines for possible flu pandemic Conferences 2008 Homeland Security Symposium: Fostering Public-Private Partnerships, Washington D.C.: May 22, 2008 Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) 1st Emergency Management and Homeland Security Symposium: We Know Where We Have Been, But Where Are We Heading? New York, New York: June 18, 2008 Continental Divide Disaster Behavioral Health Conference: Preparing for Pandemic. Colorado Springs, Colorad July 8-10, 2008

Health

Ontario ready for potential SARS-like virus
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/2008/05/07/5494091-sun.html

Ontario’s Health Minister says the province is well prepared to withstand another SARS-like epidemic, following reports that China is dealing with an outbreak of a new virus that has killed at least 26 children. An official with the Ministers office confirmed Canadian Integrated Public Health Surveillance (CIPHS) issued an alert asking that any unusual clusters or outbreaks of hand, foot, and mouth disease be reported to the agency. Provincial labs are being asked to submit any enterovirus strains that they isolate. Enterovirus 71 (EV-71) is implicated in the more serious cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease that has infected thousands of children in China.

Bird flu breaks out in one more southern province
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/05/781086/

Bird flu has been discovered in the southern Vietnamese province of Vinh Long, killing nearly 400 chickens of a farmer family in Xuan Hiep commune, the local veterinary agency reported. Chickens there began dying on a massive scale on April 26. On April 28, the veterinary agency announced its test results, which showed that the chickens had died of bird flu. None of the chickens were vaccinated. Vietnam currently has three provinces with this disease, two in the south and one in the north.

Health officials fear return of measles
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-measles_02may02,0,962695.story

Federal health officials warned Thursday that the U.S. could be on the verge of a major outbreak of measles, a viral disease that had been declared wiped out in this country in 2000. The official tally of measles cases between January 1 and April 25 totaled 64, the highest number in six years, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Although the numbers seem small, two developments could set the stage for a major resurgence in this country: an increase in the numbers of people choosing not to get vaccinated and ongoing outbreaks of the disease in Israel and Europe, CDC officials said.

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Security

TSA now permits airlines to store birth dates, bringing relief to some
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/5455

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now permitting airlines to store passengers’ birth dates. The people who will benefit most from this change are those who have similar names to one on a terrorist watchlist, and who are routinely confused for being a terrorist themselves. The TSA says that by storing birth dates, the airlines will be able to more quickly verify that you are not the same person on the list. Right now, TSA keeps two lists: a strict “no fly” list, and another list that flags passengers for special attention at airport check-in and security. Those with names that match those on watchlists are currently barred from checking in for their flights online. Instead, they must present themselves to an agent at their airport.

Program to allow air travelers to speed through Customs checks
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-05-06-travelers_N.htm

Air travelers can now sign up to speed through Customs checkpoints at select U.S. airports when they return from trips abroad. A government program called Global Entry will enable U.S. citizens and permanent residents to avoid the long lines that often greet them when they get off airplanes arriving from international destinations. People who pass a background check and pay $100 to enroll will enter a separate Customs line at certain airports. They will swipe their passport at a kiosk instead of having it read by a Customs officer and electronically answer questions similar to those on a Customs declaration form. If no problems arise, they will be cleared through Customs. The program will start operating June 10 at three airports — Washington Dulles, Houston Intercontinental and New York’s Kennedy. Customs and Border Protection expects it will expand to 17 other major U.S. airports, the program director says. Wagner of Customs and Border Protection says Global Entry is aimed at people who take at least four international trips a year.

Manhole covers: Gateways to terrorism
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/05/manhole_covers.html

Manhole Barrier Security Systems warned on Monday that cities need to do more to protect against assaults on infrastructure launched by underground attackers. The company’s chairman and chief executive officer argues that it is too easy for terrorists and vandals to enter the subterranean world, where telecommunications and utility lines are buried. This view was also confirmed by a former commissioner of the U.S. Presidents Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, who wrote a report titled “Manhole Security: Protecting Americas Critical Underground Infrastructure.” In it, he warns, “Without manhole security, the United States risks suffering significant consequences resulting from an attack on underground infrastructure, including incalculable economic damages, large numbers of civilian casualties, and considerable disruptions to our urban way of life.”

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Local News

Airport security gets mellow
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/29/cbsnews_investigates/main4053175.shtml

A new airport security system, designed to better identify a terrorist or a suspicious traveler by reducing anxiety levels of passengers, was introduced Monday at Baltimore’s Thurgood Marshall International airport. The security checkpoint combines new high-tech x-ray machines with calming lights and soothing music. The system is aimed at reducing the stress of passengers as they shove carry-ons through airport metal detectors while trying to balance themselves as they remove their shoes and dig for their boarding pass. The Homeland Security Secretary said that by lowering the stress level for everybody with a more soothing environment, it is hoped that someone who is up to no good will stand out more. The system is expected to be installed at airports across the country in future.

Terror attack would overwhelm L.A., D.C. hospitals, expert says
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-ersurge6-2008may06,0,2066270.story

A terrorist attack similar to the 2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid would be even more catastrophic in Los Angeles or Washington, D.C., because the injured would overwhelm strained emergency services, experts told a congressional hearing Monday. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform examined conditions at 34 hospitals in seven cities on an arbitrarily chosen date and time to gauge how they could have handled such an influx of patients. The survey focused on hospitals with level 1 trauma centers, which handle the most serious injuries. None of the hospitals surveyed in New York City, Chicago, Houston, Denver, and Minneapolis had enough ER beds, intensive-care beds, and regular beds to treat the number of patients that arrived at Madrid hospitals. Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., had the most acute shortages. The emergency rooms at three of the five Los Angeles County hospitals surveyed were turning away ambulances that afternoon because there was no place to put new patients. In the other two hospitals combined, just six ER beds were available. Two of the five hospitals had no intensive care beds available. On average, each had fewer than 30 regular beds free.

Federal Agency Events

U.S. tests response to set of calamities
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050602687.html

Thousands of key federal employees are being whisked from the Washington area by helicopter and car for a three-day test of their ability to run the government from remote locations during a disaster. The exodus, which began yesterday and will continue today, involves the White House and other parts of the executive branch. Congress and the judiciary are not part of the exercise, which is being overseen by the Department of Homeland Security. This weeks “continuity of government” drill is one of the largest by the federal government since 9/11, officials said. It is part of a national eight-day exercise in which officials are responding to a cascade of nightmarish events. The drill started Thursday, with terrorists sabotaging a tanker carrying poisonous gas in Washington State. Next, suspected nerve gas was accidentally released from a government stockpile in Oregon. The disaster script also calls for a devastating Category 4 hurricane to roar up the East Coast toward the District, where officials will be getting word of a terrorist threat to the capital. Officials leaving the Washington area will work from temporary offices in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland for periods ranging from a few hours to two days. Others will work from home.

Homeland Security to test high-tech buoys
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-04-buoys_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

The federal government is preparing to test high-tech buoys adapted from Cold War-era Navy technology that could act as an offshore early warning system against a terrorist attack by sea. Finding boats that are not supposed to be heading for U.S. shores is a difficult task in vast, sometimes dangerous seas. Much of the surveillance is done by aircraft and satellites, which is very expensive, a Homeland Security spokeswoman says. The department hopes contractors can create inexpensive buoys that can withstand rough water and do not require any maintenance for at least a year. The “sonobuoys” can pick up sounds made by everything from 25-foot speedboats commonly used in the drug trade to lumbering ships. If one passes through the invisible net of buoys, information will be transmitted by satellite to the Internet and read by security officials on land or at sea. If a signal from a suspect boat is picked up, the Coast Guard or police boats would have time to intercept it before it reaches land, says the official.

TSA: Deadline extended for port worker screenings
http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8266149&nav=menu1344_2

The federal Transportation Security Administration says the deadline is being pushed back for workers, who need access to secured port facilities, to undergo security screenings. TSA says the decision follows consultation with port officials. An estimated 40,000 workers at the ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans will need a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, which will require a background check. Refinery and chemical plants workers are expected to be affected, too.

Russia, U.S. sign civil nuclear pact
http://www.newsmax.com/international/russia_us_nuclear_agreement/2008/05/06/93975.html

Russian and U.S. officials signed a key agreement on civilian nuclear power that could give Washington access to Russian technology and potentially hand Moscow lucrative deals on storing spent fuel. But the agreement ran into immediate trouble on Capitol Hill, where two senators said they would try to block it. The two senators are circulating a letter that will urge the U.S. president not to send the pact to Congress. The deal will give the U.S. access to Russian state-of-the art nuclear technology. The U.S. is especially interested in developments in areas including fast-neutron reactors and recycling nuclear fuel. The deal could also help Russia in its efforts to establish an international nuclear fuel storage facility by importing and storing spent fuel.  

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International News

West, Central Africa seen as major source of next new disease
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iI3zjg_5kwfVNPJzIrCvVhA7bZ2A

West and Central Africa are emerging as the major potential sources for the next new infectious disease, a study released on Wednesday said. Deforestation in these regions is forcing wild animals that are a natural host for pathogens into ever smaller areas and into ever likelier contact with fast-growing human populations, it said. The paper, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, looks at how new, killer diseases such as AIDS, Ebola, and bird flu have leapt the species barrier to humans in the past three decades. Its authors found that closely related primates – monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans – pose the biggest risk of “host shift” as they share similar biology and immune responses, and are vulnerable to many of the same microbes.

China struggles to contain viral epidemic
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080502/hl_afp/chinahealthenterovirus_080502154931

Doctors in China are struggling to contain the spread of an intestinal virus that has infected about 3,000 children, killing 21 of them so far, the state press reported Friday. The latest death occurred in the city of Fuyang in Anhui province, the epicenter of the epidemic with 2,946 children infected there, according to local health officials. The number of children in Anhui infected with enterovirus 71, or EV71, has risen by nearly 500, the report said. EV71, which can cause hand, foot, and mouth disease, is highly contagious and spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. Young children are most susceptible because of lower immune systems. The disease has spread in Anhui since early March, amid accusations by the Chinese media of a government-led cover-up of the epidemic.

Risk of bird flu pandemic probably growing
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL0615943120080506?sp=true

The risk of a human influenza pandemic remains real and is probably growing as the bird flu virus becomes entrenched in poultry in more countries, health officials warned. Some 150 experts are attending a meeting hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to update its guidance to countries on how to boost their defenses against a deadly global epidemic. The H5N1 avian flu virus has infected flocks in much of Asia, Africa, and parts of Europe. Experts fear it could mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking an influenza pandemic that could kill millions. The timing of a pandemic “remains speculative,” a disease control expert at Thailand’s health ministry said.

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Academic Studies

Who should MDs let die in a pandemic? Report offers answers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_rationing_care;_ylt=AoHB5ALw5p1b....

An influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients would not be treated in a flu pandemic or other disaster. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients, and those with severe dementia. The list was compiled by a task force whose members come from prestigious universities, medical groups, the military, and government agencies. They include the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Health and Human Services. The proposed guidelines are designed to be a blueprint for hospitals “so that everybody will be thinking in the same way” when pandemic flu or another widespread health care disaster hits, said a critical care specialist in San Diego and lead writer of the task force report. Their recommendations appear in a report appearing in the May edition of Chest, the medical journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Border protection and ag inspection highlight meeting
http://www.farmfutures.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=CD26BEDECA4A4946A1283CC7786AEB5A&....

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) held a meeting in Washington last week to update agricultural stakeholders on the agencies’ partnership in protecting agriculture from foreign plant and animal pests and diseases. The group was updated on the work that has taken place since some of the USDA inspection roles were transferred to DHS. While there were some growing pains, the efforts have become more successful over time, according to the undersecretary of agriculture. Participants also were updated on the efforts of the Joint Agency Task Force and the newly established Federal-State Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Partnership Council. The task force was formed last year to address concerns about the Agricultural Quarantine Inspection program and strengthen the partnership of the two agencies.

WHO to update guidelines for possible flu pandemic
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-05-07-voa9.cfm

About 150 experts from governments, the World Health Organization (WHO), and other organizations are meeting to work on new guidelines to help nations confront and combat a potential influenza pandemic. The WHO, which is hosting the week-long meeting, says that it is certain that one day the world will face a human influenza pandemic and that governments must be prepared. But, the coordinator of WHO’s Global Influenza Program says the near term risk of an avian influenza pandemic breaking out among humans is anyone’s guess. Therefore, it becomes all the more important that governments be prepared to help their people survive a disease that could potentially kill millions. He says advances have been made in the development of an H5N1 vaccine and in anti-viral drugs. He says the World Health Organization has a large stockpile of these drugs and plans are afoot to increase the supply of future vaccines. The meeting this week will focus on areas such as disease control, surveillance, medical interventions, and the role of communications during an influenza pandemic.

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Conferences

2008 Homeland Security Symposium: Fostering Public-Private Partnerships
Washington D.C.: May 22, 2008
http://www.jmu.edu/iiia/2008symposium/ or contact elliotcj@jmu.edu

This symposium aims to foster development of public-private partnerships; highlight successful public-private partnerships at the local, regional, and national level as models; and considers steps to develop and improve future public-private partnerships. The program includes presentations by recognized experts from government and industry engaged in operating and securing critical infrastructures. It encourages the participation of academe; federal, state, and local government agencies; private-sector companies; industry associations; and standards organizations.

Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) 1st Emergency Management and Homeland Security Symposium: We Know Where We Have Been, But Where Are We Heading?
New York, New York: June 18, 2008.
pburkes@mcny.edu or visit http://www.mcny.edu

The symposium will provide a forum for emergency management and homeland security personnel to exchange ideas and best practices in this emerging and vital field. Subjects to be covered in the symposium will include public health; special needs; and education. Some topics titles include Disaster Myths and Dealing with Contaminated Corpses, The Government's Role in the Evacuation of Special Needs Populations, and the newly released National Response Framework and Effective Exercise Design Using Non-Linear Branching Table Top Exercises.

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