WHO’s response to the threat of deliberate releases of chemical and biological agents

Following the deliberate releases of anthrax in the United States last autumn, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified a need to review existing emergency plans and implement further actions to allow member states, WHO and other international organisations to prevent, prepare for and respond to deliberate releases of chemical and biological agents (1). Previous WHO guidance on the threat of bioterrorism, specific activities at European Union level, and the coordinated international initiative to improve global health security, have been described in Eurosurveillance Weekly (2-5).