Mission Statement:To protect and prepare our community by developing the capacity of the local public health system to respond to a bioterrorist event, infectious disease outbreak, and any other public health emergency, and to sustain a continuous preparedness program

It is a program funded by the Centers for Disease Control through the Texas Department of State Health Services due to recent terrorist events. The purpose of this program is to work together with other agencies, such as Texas DSHS, law enforcement agencies, local hospitals, medical providers, city health departments, first responders, and school districts in establishing a public health response team to cover Cameron County and to prepare the public when dealing with terrorism and other public health threats and emergencies. Another main objective of this program is the proper surveillance and monitoring of highly infectious diseases such as meningitis and hepatitis.

• Preparedness Planning and Readiness Assessment
• Surveillance and Epidemiology Capacity
• Communicating Health Risks and Health Information Dissemination
• Education and Training.

It is the overt or covert dispensing of disease pathogens as biological weapons for the expressed purpose of causing harm. Some examples of disease pathogens that are dispensed are:

Anthrax ( Bacillus anthracis ) – a gram-positive, encapsulated, spore forming, non-motile rod.
Smallpox ( Orthopoxvirus ) – a systemic viral disease, formerly found worldwide; no human cases since 1978.