MSMS will send regular updates to members who request to be added to the MSMS Biodefense Team. To join, send your e-mail address to msms@msms.org and indicate “Biodefense” in the subject line. We will respond to you with a confirmation and a request for specialty and special interest information, so that we may add you to our resource list in the event experts and or speakers are needed.

• Key Sites
  • American Medical Association – Center for Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Response
  • Michigan State Police - Emergency Management Division
    
• Clinical
  • American Medical Association:
    • JAMA - Consensus Statements
      • Anthrax
      • Smallpox
      • Plague
      • Botulinum toxin
      • Tularemia
  • American Academy of Dermatology:
    • American Academy of Dermatology and AAD Association: Biological Warfare and Its Cutaneous Manifestations.
  • Center for Disease Control Prevention:
    • Demilitarization of Chemical Weapons
    • Facts about Smallpox, Anthrax, Botulism, etc.
    • Smallpox and Anthrax Vaccine Information
    • Addressing Public Concern about Response to Public Health Emergencies
    • Anthrax Advisory
  • Michigan Department of Community Health:
    • Guidelines for Physicians
  • Mayo Clinic
    • Coping with War
  • New England Journal of Medicine:
    • Recognition and Management of Anthrax
  • University of California and Office of Surgeon General:
    • What I Need to Know About Anthrax Today
  • US Army:
    • Textbook of Military Medicine: Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare
  • U.S. Public Health Service Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices:
    • Recommendations on Smallpox Vaccination
    • Recommendations on Anthrax Vaccination
      
• Current Anthrax Cases, (CDC)
  • Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
• Procedures and Guidelines
  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
    • Procedures for Collecting Surface Environmental Samples for Culturing Bacillus Anthracis
    • How To Handle Anthrax and Other Biological Agent Threats
    • Contact Protocols in Case of Attack
    • Update: Investigation of Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax, 2001 (11/16/01)
    • Investigation of Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax and Adverse Events from Antimicrobial Prophylaxis (11/9/01)
    • Investigation of Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax and Interim Guidelines for Clinical Evaluation of Persons with Possible Anthrax (11/2/01)
  • Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH):
    • Guidelines for Health Care Providers in Clinics and Hospital Emergency Departments
    • Guidelines for Anthrax Threat: Letters and Packages
  • United States Postal Service
    • Mail Handling
  • Other Links
    • Richmond Academy of Medicine: Bioterrorism: An Overview and Assessment of the Current Threat in the United States
    • Richmond Academy of Medicine: Bioterrorism Consequence Management: Surviving the Unthinkable
    • Richmond Academy of Medicine: Contributing Leadership When the Community Is the Patient
    • Richmond Academy of Medicine: How the Disaster Response System Works
    • Richmond Academy of Medicine: Educating Patients and the "Worried Well"
    • Richmond Academy of Medicine: Organizing a Medical Community to Function in a Nuclear, Biological, or Chemical Attack
    • Texas Medical Association: Free Toolkit Offers Bioterrorism Information for Physicians
• Online Educational Courses
  • MDCH Bureau of Epidemiology: Clinical Aspects of Critical Biologic Agents
• Related Information
  • Partnership for Community Safety
  • Doctors Without Borders: Providing Medical Relief Worldwide
  • EPA: Environmental Protection Agency's Response to September 11
  • ER ONE: A National Prototype for the Next-Generation Emergency Department
  • FDA: US Food and Drug Administration: Bioterrorism Act of 2002
  • FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • FTC: Offers to Treat Biological Threats: What You Need to Know
  • Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies: "Globalization and Infectious Diseases: Institutions, Policies, and the Threat of Bioterrorism" Audio and Video Presentation of November 6, 2001, Conference.
  • Michigan Infectious Disease Society: A Michigan Organization Structured After the Parent Infectious Disease Society of America
  • Michigan Infectious Disease Society: Bioterrorism: The Threat after September 11
  • Nova: Links and Books
  • The American Red Cross
  • USDA: US Department of Agriculture Anthrax FAQs
  • US Department of Health and Human Services: Statement Regarding Hand-Held Assays for Identification of B. Anthracis Spores
• Physician Reservists Resource Guide
  • AMA: As physicians join the ranks of those called up to fight the war against terrorism, the AMA has created the "Reservist Resource Guide"
• Organized Medicine's Role
  • AMA: Organized Medicine's Role in the National Response to Terrorism. Report 17 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (I-99)
  • AMA: Organized Medicine's Role in the National Response to Terrorism--Update 2. Report 10 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (A-00)
  • AMA: Featured CSA Report Medical Preparedness for Terrorism and Other Disasters (I-00) Full Text
  • AMA: Medical Preparedness for Terrorism and Other Disasters
• Chemical Terrorism Resources
  • Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
  • EPA: Chemical Emergency Preparedness
• Learning Resources
  • The following are some useful sites that have bioterrorism modules:
    • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    • University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Center for Biosecurity

The Good Samaritan Immunity Statute provides that a physician who, in good faith, renders emergency care at the scene of an emergency is generally immune from civil liability. The immunity applies if there is no relationship between the physician and patient prior to the emergency. There is also no immunity if the physician is grossly negligent or engages in willful and wanton misconduct. This immunity also extends to the hospital if the physician does not have a duty to respond to an emergency, which would likely be the case for an E.R. physician who is on duty where immunity would not apply.