The Beaumont Public Health Department, like many other health departments across the nation, is working diligently to safeguard its community from bio-terrorism and/ or infectious disease outbreaks.

The City of Beaumont Epidemiology Division has moved from the planning stage to physically doing activities to prepare the community for a possible event.

The purpose of the division in Beaumont is to:

• Assess the community for and correct weaknesses that could be used in a bio-terrorism and/or infectious disease outbreak.

a. Texas Department of Health Survey/Assessment recently completed
b. Center for Disease Control and Prevention LHD Preparedness Assessment recently completed.

• Create plans to protect the area from possible bio-terrorism attacks and/or infectious disease outbreaks.

a. Public Health Emergency Response Plan written
b. SNS plan in progress

• Create strong public health infrastructure.

a. Creation of the Bioterrorism Committee which consist of traditional and nontraditional partners
b. Conducted Tabletop Exercise to test current emergency response plans.
c. Currently training medical volunteers to assist in smallpox event.

In addition to the above mentioned activities, the division also works in collaboration with several other health departments (Hardin, Chambers and Orange County) to:

• Develop a system to receive and evaluate urgent disease reports, in hopes of identifying a possible bio-terrorism or infectious disease outbreak early.

a. Developed 24/7 Reporting System
b. Revised disease surveillance forms and delivered to area doctors office and emergency rooms to encourage reporting of infectious diseases.

Note: The epidemiologist currently receives reports from the above mentioned counties.

• Ensure participating counties are provided updated information on various diseases, public health protocol and surveillance software.

So far, the division has completed a Pre and Post Event Smallpox plan for North Jefferson, Orange, Chambers, Hardin Counties and the City of Nederland. The plans have been approved by the (TDH) and forwarded to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). In addition to writing plans, the division has created a smallpox response team of five (5) nurses who have been vaccinated with the smallpox vaccine and trained to vaccinate other healthcare workers.

The division also received a grant in January 2003 from the Texas Association of Local Health Officials (TALHO) to conduct a pilot project in Chambers County. The awarded funds were used to purchase syndromic surveillance software. The epidemiologist used the software to gather and analyze data from Chambers County for possible trends that may indicate a bio-terrorist attack or infectious disease event. The software's ability to effectively collect data, recognize unusual disease trends and alert if there were unusual trends was evaluated during this pilot. The results were then submitted to TALHO. We are currently awaiting TALHO's recommendation for the best performing disease surveillance software.