Matthew Boulton to speak on bioterrorism April 18-20 ANN ARBOR—Matthew Boulton believes the risk of a bioterrorism attack in Michigan is small, but as the state epidemiologist and a leader in the state’s bioterrorism preparedness effort, he sees a number of benefits to establishing a statewide plan of action.

For example, public health officials already have a monitoring system in place to watch for such infectious diseases as measles, hepatitis, E. coli and listeria. By strengthening that monitoring network to include contact with public safety and medical officials when a health care provider sees the first sign of specific symptoms associated with bioterrorism, the state is also better prepared to react to the early signals of other health crises like a pandemic, or worldwide, flu outbreak.

Boulton, a clinical associate professor of epidemiology in the University of Michigan School of Public Health, will be a featured speaker at the Michigan Conference on Terrorism and Domestic Preparedness, April 18-20, in Lansing. The title of the event is “Assessing the Threat….Planning for the Future.”

Boulton will give a presentation titled “Bioterrorism: Public Health’s Newest Challenge,” providing an overview of the unique challenges in building bioterrorism preparedness and response capacity in Michigan’s public health system.

Part of the challenge in deciding what’s needed to defend against bioterrorism is the many possible ways such an attack could unfold. The terrorist could announce his actions in advance, as is generally the case, but also could covertly release an infectious agent that would not be discovered until people began to fall ill. Spreading a disease like small pox would be especially appealing to a terrorist because although difficult to obtain, it is communicable and virtually everyone is susceptible, while an agent like anthrax is easier to get but would harm only those who came into contact with it personally. What all pathogens that are possible agents of bioterrorism have in common is high morbidity and high mortality, Boulton said.

“It’s important to place bioterrorism in its proper place on the spectrum,” Boulton said. “It’s a theoretical risk and I think a small risk.

“But do we need to be prepared? Yes.”

Boulton helped write the proposal resulting in the 1999 award of a five-year grant expected to total at least $3 million from the Centers for Disease Control to help the state plan for bioterrorism. It was the fourth largest such grant in the country, and is intended to assist in planning, surveillance and epidemiology to prepare for a chemical or biological attack on the population. Now Boulton has primary responsibility for building Michigan’s public health bioterrorism planning and response capacity.

For details on the conference: http://www.msp.state.mi.us/division/emd/terrorism_conference_2001.htm#S

Matthew BoultonSchool of Public HealthCenters for Disease Controlhttp://www.msp.state.mi.us/division/emd/terrorism_conference_2001.htm#S