Terrorism: the Epidemiology of Fear

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Terrorism the Epidemiology of Fear

• Ronald LaPorte, PhD.,
• Francois Sauer, M.D.,
• Carlos Gamboa, M.D.,
• Tony Villasenor, BS,
• Rania Saad, MD., and
• Eugene Shubnikov, M.D.

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Shock Disbelief Depression Anger Fear Helplessness
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Where did our children and community receive
Terrorism Information Sept. 11-20
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Global Health Network Sept. 1, 2001 Towards an
Internet Civil Defence against Bioterrorism Lancet
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Germans
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Sept 10 Rules of Engagement
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Approaches to Homeland DefenseSept. 10

• Sensors
• Better Laboratories
• Public Health Surveillance
• Data Mining Surveillance

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Approaches to Homeland DefenseSept. 11
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Approaches to Homeland DefenseNow

• Sensors
• Better Laboratories
• Public Health Surveillance
• Data Mining Surveillance

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Anatomy of a Terrorist Attack
Maximum 1-2 day Improvement
Preparation 5 years
Execution 1 day
Diagnosed case 3 days
First Death
Multiple deaths
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Approaches to Homeland DefenseNow

• A universal theme of the revolutionaries is
  that America spends entirely too much money
  buying slightly better versions of weapons it
  already has, at the expense of serious
  improvement NYTimes, 3/10/02

Can these systems transform homeland defense?
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Weapons of Mass Destruction
Sensors Better Laboratories Public Health
Surveillance Data Mining Surveillance
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Using Sept. 10 technology Maximum Improvement,
1-2 days Risk Reduction lt5
Can these systems transform homeland defense?
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Bioterrorism is not an Emerging Disease
Who is Mr. H?
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warfare seeks to conquer territories and
capture cities terrorism seeks to hurt a few
people and to scare a lot of people in order to
make a point NYTimes, 1/6/2000
Click on Horror
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Hitchcocks mission in life to simply scare the
hell out of people
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Old PH view of Bioterrorism Pathogen
Infectious Agent Damage Morbidity and
Mortality Model Emerging Disease Epidemiology
New PH view of Bioterrorism Pathogen
Hate Damage Fear Model Epidemiology of Fear
and Hate
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New Models

• Internet Civil Defense
• CSI epidemiologists
• Educational Deterrent against terrorism