Martin Hugh-Jones

Online Slide Presentation - 2002 Ontario Veterinary Medical Association Annual Meeting.
Foot and Mouth Disease - the UK Lessons

from http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/ech/hugh-jon.htm Dr. Hugh-Jones is one of the foremost authorities on anthrax. He is currently Coordinator of the World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on Anthrax Research and Control. He also has served as Chairman of the WHO/Veterinary Public Health Working Group: “Anthrax: Epidemiology and Information.” In addition, Dr. Hugh-Jones participated in the investigation of the 1979 anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk (now known as Yekaterinburg) in the former USSR. He was in Moscow and Yekaterinburg in 1992 when the Russian government admitted the source of the outbreak to have been an accidental spore emission from a biological warfare facility. He oversees the content of the World Anthrax Data Site, a website that provides anthrax occurrence data for nearly 200 countries.

http://www.biohazardnews.net/int_hughjones.shtml Interview with Martin Hugh-Jones on Anthrax, March 2003

Extract: "BIOHAZARD NEWS: You're a moderator and one of the founders of ProMED. What role do you see ProMED playing in a major disease outbreak from a bioterrorism attack?

MARTIN HUGH-JONES: ProMEDmail has been successful in quickly alerting people worldwide to infectious disease outbreaks and toxin events. Therefore I would expect it to play a key role, especially if it were kept "in the information loop." Steve Apatow's Humanitarian website would also be important for discussions on methodological dimensions; these aspects are not covered by ProMEDmail which has different terms of reference.

BIOHAZARD NEWS: We're hearing a lot about huge government expenditures on bioterrorism preparedness and response. Are we prepared to deal with a large bioterrorism attack with anthrax, smallpox or plague?

MARTIN HUGH-JONES: I'm a cynical old bastard and I am not convinced that we are ready. Plus this country is too big to organise well. But having said that, if it were to break out in Texas I am sure they can do as good a job as anyone and better than most in dealing with it. If I were to come up with a Hollywood script it would involve a confusion and conflict of federal agencies while the guys on the ground got on with doing their best to deal with it."