Model Guidelines for Disease Exposure Control

In the post-September 11th world, public leaders and communities must have at their fingertips practical strategies to mitigate the severity of bioterrorist attacks and newly emerging contagious diseases.

CSIS has undertaken an effort to develop draft model guidelines for disease exposure control (DEC)--a new concept to help communities prevent or minimize exposure to contagious diseases and disrupt disease transmission, when vaccines or other medical countermeasures are inadequate or unavailable.

The document will introduce the key concepts involved in developing disease control programs; it will describe the tools available for control programs, key policy issues that must be considered to ensure effective implementation, and make suggestions for protocols that may be used in the development of specific operational guidelines.