Biological Agents of Water and Foodborne Bioterrorism

Trainer
Kellogg Schwab, PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Description
In this presentation, Dr. Schwab examines the various biological agents that terrorists could use against food or water supplies.

Trainer
Dr Schwab’s overall research focus is the development of new approaches to evaluate human microbial exposure assessment and to investigate the fate and transport of agents in the environment. Current research projects involve improving environmental detection methods for Noroviruses and investigating how many important human pathogens including Noroviruses, hepatitis A virus, rotaviruses, antibiotic resistant Campylobacter, antibiotic resistant enterococci, Cryptosporidium parvum, Toxoplasma gondii and Aspergillus persist and are transported through environmental media (water, air, and food). In collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and state health laboratories he has investigated numerous waterborne and foodborne outbreaks of viral gastroenteritis. Other projects include investigating the use of better microbial water quality indicators such as bacteriophages, for rapid, cost effective determination of microbial water quality; working on improvements for drinking water and wastewater treatment processes by assessing the microbial removal efficiency of micro- and ultrafiltration units as well as full scale riverbank filtration systems; assessing the impact of concentrated animal feeding operations on human health, the environment and quality of life in the communities in which these operations are located; and evaluating the impact of human pollution on urban streams and the Chesapeake Bay caused by aging and deteriorating distribution systems by combining microbial, chemical and geographic information system (GIS) data.