What kind of monitoring system is in place for infectious disease outbreaks or chemical attacks?
Detection and monitoring for the presence of chemical weapons is the task of specialised military units in most countries. There are commercially available detection kits for the commonly known chemical weapons, and civil authorities such as fire brigades, police, and emergency medical personnel can use these. An increase in the frequency of calls to emergency services, poison centres or hospital emergency departments from people simultaneously developing similar symptoms is likely to be the earliest indicator that a chemical attack has occurred. Monitoring for such calls should be implemented at local or regional level.
