Food & Water Safety

Upon viewing of this slide show, learners will be able to:
• Describe the process of conducting a disease outbreak investigation
• Identify several methods of data collection used in an outbreak
• Recognize which agencies and departments may be involved in a large scale outbreak
• Recognize the process of trace back when a food item is determined as a source

The intended target audience for the slide show is: Physicians, Nurses, Certified Health Education Specialists, and Certified Food Safety Inspectors who may potentially come in contact with food-borne illnesses.

In 2005, the United States will import more than $58 billion in agricultural products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Security experts caution that food imports can be targeted for intentional contamination. Dr. Radford Davis will discuss food security and address the importance of food imports to the American diet, explain the steps in importing food, and cover the basics the container trade. Dr. Davis is an assistant professor of public health and an assistant director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University.

Joy Wells, MPH, Director for Health Assessment at the Cobb-Douglas Boards of Health, Robert Blake, REHS, MPH, Director of the Division of Environmental Health at the DeKalb County Board of Health, and Heidi Davidson, MPH, District Epidemiologist at the East Metro Health District discuss the metro Atlanta's coordinated response to West Nile Virus. As part of the discussion, panelists also discuss the Metro Atlanta Surveillance Task Force (MASTF).

This introductory course on pandemic influenza will help the learner understand why this virus is capable of producing worldwide outbreaks. Participants will explore the epidemiology, historical context, and response efforts related to both seasonal and worldwide influenza outbreaks.

This orientation exercise involves an intentional attack to our food system with a highly toxic agent (the most toxic substance known, and an agent listed in CDC’s “A” group of BT agents.) The exercise is designed to be educational in nature and to help participants think through and understand the responses and relationships necessary for the successful resolution of an event.

Raoult Ratard, MD, MPH, TM, MS, Louisiana State Epidemiologist, discusses the public health consequences of Hurricane Katrina, including infectious diseases, immunizations and healthcare delivery. Dr. Ratard also discusses the environmental issues, such as pollution and indoor air quality, resulting from Hurricane Katrina.

The ability to train health care professionals to deliver care in a culturally competent manner is the cornerstone of any effective heath program. Although this nation has aggressively pursued efforts to prepare health professionals for disasters, it is not clear how competent public health professionals are in understanding cultural issues related to various phases of disaster planning (i.e., prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery).

Robert Tauxe, MD, MPH, Deputy Director, Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, National Center for Zoonotic, Vectorborne, and Enteric Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and David Acheson, MD, Assistant Commissioner for Food Protection, Food and Drug Administration discuss lessons learned from historical foodborne outbreaks, their impact on current outbreaks, and the importance of preventive events such as the massive recall of products.

The course will discuss the basic principles which should underlie disaster consequence management, planning and appropriate actions within the action phases of disaster response. It will focus on the saving of life and mitigation of injury for victims with special needs and vulnerabilities. The discussion will examine how culture and religion are population characteristics which may be usefully considered in the context of special needs when designing and executing consequence management activities during a crisis.

In this training, Dr. Chotani examines the path of the avian influenza and examines how it could impact world health.

This lecture series will compare and contrast past and contemporary examples of domestic and global terrorist attacks on agriculture, food and water systems in order to instill in the student an appreciation for the serious public health challenges posed from such attacks. We will consider the use of microorganisms, radiation, and chemicals to inflict damage on plants, animals, ready-to-eat and fresh food supplies, water sources, public health, and public morale. In addition, we will review laws, regulations and organizations that are used to protect U.S. populations from such attacks.

The “Talking Circle” is an approach used in this workshop to deliver the history of the Incident Command System, basic epidemiological principles, and personal preparedness. It is a culturally appropriate teaching format used among many Native-American tribes. Often used as a teaching format by health educators for health promotion purposes, the Talking Circle provides a culturally appropriate methodology for teaching public health preparedness, ICS and epidemiological concepts to Native-American Community Health Representatives.

Dr. Rolf Halden describes the importance of water in the United States, how water is processed, and the governmental regulations that protect the processing system.
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Drinking Water Treatment
Part 3: Wastewater Treatment and Infrastructure Protection

After listening to, viewing, and studying the presentation materials, you will be able to do the following:
• Explain the necessity of water management for public health
• Identify current strategies for processing of drinking water and wastewater

The materials provided here were presented at the Association of Schools of Public Health Environmental Conference in 2005.  The materials include a presentation on water security and guidelines for the subsequent exercise.  The presentation addresses the public health issues of water system security, beginning with a brief history and background of contamination.