Heartland Virus Disease-An Underreported Emerging Infection.

First recognized 15 years ago, Heartland virus disease (Heartland) is a tickborne infection contracted from the transmission of Heartland virus (HRTV) through tick bites from the lone star tick () and potentially other tick species. Heartland symptoms include a fever <100.4 °F, lethargy, fatigue, headaches, myalgia, a loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, weight loss, arthralgia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia.

Psittacosis: An Underappreciated and Often Undiagnosed Disease.

The bacterial agent , and the resulting disease of psittacosis, is a little-known and underappreciated infectious disease by healthcare practitioners and in public health in general. infections can cause significant psittacosis outbreaks, with person-to-person transmission documented in the last decade. In this publication, we review the pathogen and its disease, as well as examine the potential for genetic manipulation in this organism to create a more deadly pathogen.

A Universal Travel Risk Assessment Questionnaire: Travel Assessment During COVID-19 Pandemic and Endemicity.

Introduction: Throughout the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, military commanders have been challenged with providing appropriate travel guidance for their military and civilian personnel and dependents. This guidance, where promulgated, lacks uniformity. Travel aids and computer applications similarly differ and are not updated as often as jurisdictional travel health guidance is changed.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 on the Heels of Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa.

This study utilized modeling and simulation to examine the effectiveness of current and potential future COVID-19 response interventions in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. A comparison between simulations can highlight which interventions could have an effect on the pandemic in these countries. An extended compartmental model was used to run simulations incorporating multiple vaccination strategies and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

Operational Perspective of Lessons Learned From the Ebola Crisis.

Given its potential to quickly spread internationally and initially uncontrollable nature, the 2014 to 2015 Ebola outbreak has implications for global biosecurity. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Technical Reachback provided near real-time analysis and recommendations as outbreak-relevant events unfolded. Our review of often-conflicting or incomplete information was required to answer policy decision makers about the expanding Ebola epidemic, and enable the formulation of best-possible U.

Training initiatives within the AFHSC-Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System: support for IHR (2005).

Training is a key component of building capacity for public health surveillance and response, but has often been difficult to quantify. During fiscal 2009, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Division of Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (AFHSC-GEIS) supported 18 partner organizations in conducting 123 training initiatives in 40 countries for 3,130 U.S.

Department of Defense influenza and other respiratory disease surveillance during the 2009 pandemic.

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center's Division of Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (AFHSC-GEIS) supports and oversees surveillance for emerging infectious diseases, including respiratory diseases, of importance to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Strategic National Stockpile program: implications for military medicine.

The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) program, managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, is designed to deliver critical medical resources to the site of a national emergency. A recent interagency agreement between the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services indicates that military medical treatment facility commanders should be actively engaged in cooperative planning with local and state public health officials, so that reception, storage, distribution, and dispensing of SNS materials as a consequence of an actual event could occur without disruption or delay. This article describes the SNS program and discusses issues of relevance to medical treatment facility commanders and Department of Defense medical planners and logisticians.

Bioterrorism preparedness. III: State and federal programs and response.

Management of a bioterrorism event will begin with early detection and intervention at the local level. Any large-scale event will require rapid state and federal assistance. Federal initiatives targeting bioterrorism have increasingly become a complex web of executive and legislative actions, frequently initiated in reaction to specific events, and often unrelated to this threat.

Bioterrorism preparedness. II: The community and emergency medical services systems.

Disaster planning is an arduous task. Perhaps no form of disaster is more difficult to prepare for than one resulting from the intentional, covert release of a biological pathogen or toxin. The complexities of response operations and the perils of inadequate preparation cannot be overemphasized.

Bioterrorism preparedness. I: The emergency department and hospital.

Fundamental precepts in hospital-based planning for bioterrorist events include having a comprehensive well-rehearsed disaster plan that is based on a threat and vulnerability analysis. JCAHO Environment of Care Standards and an "all-hazards" approach to disaster planning and management form the basis for a solid bioterrorism response plan. During preparation, education and training are imperative.