Bio and information technology

SARS, FMD, and Plague Must post first. The threat to biosecurity arises from beyond the specter of bioterrorism.  Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases when combined with global travel have the potential to flare into pandemics.  The SARS outbreak of 2003 startled the world into a new reality.  Suddenly a rapidly spreading unknown disease threatened the world.  Think about this in terms of the current SARS-CoV2 pandemic which we will cover in more detail in week 7.     Naked Science 951K subscribers Killer Bug - SARS Coronavirus <div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B93uZPvThKc" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>  Discussion Assignment:  1. Watch or read the transcript of the 2003 BBC Horizon production SARS: The True Story.  Then read about the subsequent impact of SARS in Canada.  2. Learn about the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in the UK (2001) by reading about the event and its impacts in the  Journal of Rural Studies and also by viewing this report from the PBS News, "Disease Damage".  3. Finally, read about the recent Plague outbreak in Madagascar (2017) by reading the first WHO Situation Report from October 4, 2017 and the last from December 4, 2017 to understand what we knew when.  See also the ECDC assessment of the outbreak from October 2017 and their response recommendations. Consider these three very different outbreaks: SARS was a wholly new EID; FMD was a reemergence, and the plague in Madagascar (2017) was a particularly large outbreak of an endemic disease.  What struck you as important about these outbreaks in terms of EITHER (1) social impact; (2) detection of the outbreaks; OR (3) response activities?  You must select ONE of these aspects - but discuss all three outbreaks in your response.