The study was conducted by the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia and is the first globally to monitor health-system requirements for a smallpox deliberate release.

“While infectious disease outbreaks are inherently unpredictable, there are many factors we can control and mitigate, to ensure epidemics are stopped rapidly,” said Raina MacIntyre, head of the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute at UNSW. “It is essential to plan for health system surge capacity, both human resources and physical space requirements, in order to minimize the impact of potential bioterrorism attacks.” READ MORE