Rapid validation of disease outbreak intelligence by small independent verification teams

ABSTRACT

The requirement for rapid ground-truth verification is a major rate-limiting step in the early warning of global outbreaks of serious infectious disease. Until this problem is solved, the current and future systems for global disease surveillance will not be optimally functional. One solution is to create a well-funded team of military specialists capable of conducting a rapid on-site inspection and verification of any infectious disease outbreak posing a possible threat to international health security. There are multiple scenarios for the deployment of this team, including their entry into conflict areas to garner medical intelligence. This concept is not without precedent.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Asymmetrical Biodiversity Studies and Observation Group, NPF.

Notes on contributors

Steven J. Hatfill

Steven J. Hatfill is a specialist physician and virologist with 16 years of medical experience in Africa including Zaire, Rhodesia, South Africa. His Fellowships include the National Institutes of Health, Oxford University, and the NRC where he studied the Marburg and Ebola filoviruses at the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick. In 2015, he trained and helped establish the Rapid Hemorrhagic Fever Response Teams for the National Disaster Management Unit in Kenya, Africa. In 2018, he was awarded Honorary U.S. Army Parachute Wings with Bronze Star by the U.S. Army 1^st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne). He is an adjunct assistant professor in two departments at the George Washington University Medical Center and School.