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SICK & WELL
HEALTH CARE
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PROMOTING
HEALTHY LIVING
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PREVENTING
DISEASE
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ABOUT US
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Bioterrorism and Natural Disasters
Wilkes County Health Department reports local health information to medical providers in the community and they also
report back to the Health Department certain diseases they find in patients, especially if they begin seeing several cases
that have something in common such as a school, worksite or having attended the same church picnic. When an outbreak
is found, the Health Department’s Epidemiology Team (“Epi-Team”) goes into action, finding cases and controlling the spread
of disease in the community. Depending on the type of disease and how it is spread, the Health Department will begin control
measures to stop the spread of the outbreak. Some common control measures are handwashing education, restricting children
from daycares or schools or adults from work, testing people exposed to the sick person for disease, or providing vaccination or
medication against the disease.
Bioterrorism is the intentional or threatened use of bacteria, viruses, toxins or chemicals as a weapon to sicken, kill or terrify.
If we were to have a bioterrorist event, county, state and national officials would ask the public not in immediate danger to pretend
the day was a “snow day” and to do all the things people do on snow days: stay at home (inside if necessary), listen to or watch
local news stations and wait for things to clear up. It may be that county officials ask certain people to come to sites set up to
give medicines or vaccines for the bioterrorist agent or to leave their homes for a safer site for a period of time. Regardless, it is
important to be prepared: be informed, make a kit and make a plan for your and your family to respond to a disaster.
Just as could happen with bioterrorist events, when natural disasters strike you may need to stay at home, shelter in place and
be prepared to take care of yourself for a day or two while emergency workers respond. Below are a few helpful suggestions for
safety during an emergency situation. To become prepared, download the county’s Are You Prepared information booklet or
pick one up at the Health Department or Emergency Operations Office.
Are You Prepared? Download our
Natural and Man-Made Disaster Protection Guide (923kB, PDF)
Download our brochure on Controlling Smallpox (69kB, PDF)
For more information on preparing for a disaster, recovering from storm or disaster damage and to find links to other government
and health agencies, please visit
NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Division of Environmental Health’s Storm Center
For specific information about Health and Safety activities for residents and volunteers taking place in the wake of Katrina, please
review the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s
Katrina and Other Hurricanes webpage.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer to respond to disasters, FEMA prefers volunteers with training in the National Incident
Command System. Many of the trainings can be performed online at the
Emergency Management Institute. The most basic
training, IS-100: Introduction to Incident Command System takes about 2 hours to complete.
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