The Centre for Biosecurity and Biopreparedness (CBB) maintains a specialized 24/7 response capability to counter the effects of a biological incident of accidental or malicious origins.

The activities of CBB are research and evidence-based and include specialized areas of expertise such as microbiology, toxicology, molecular biology, biomedicine and bioinformatics. 

The handling of biological security threats involves a large number of public authorities and has three major objectives; surveillance, preparedness, and response. 
 

Surveillance

CBB’s surveillance consists of information gathering with special attention to technical and biological aspects as well as the monitoring of disease occurrences. The surveillance is globally relevant and aim at targeting the most relevant biological security threats in order to be able to prioritize preparedness measures.

Surveillance combine several elements:

• Health staff at the frontline (general practitioners, emergency room doctors and nurses, local microbiologists, pathologists, infectious disease specialist, dermatologists and medical officers) who show awareness of signs of possible bioterrorism 
• Alert systems for possible bioterror incidents in other countries 
• Global surveillance of disease outbreaks 
   

Incident response

CBB categorizes biological incidents in three types:  

• Type 1 incidents: A concrete finding has been made, typically an unknown substance which is suspected of being biological, i.e. it is suspected that an intentional release of a biological warfare agents has taken place.
• Type 2 incidents: A disease outbreak of a biowarfare or bioterror relevant disease without a known (natural) cause. Previous type 2-incidents abroad have involved microorganisms that can be found in the natural environment in Denmark (e.g. Salmonella). Typically, this has been in connection with contamination of food. Detection of type 2-incidents is difficult, and timely intervention is essential if effective countermeasures are to be taken. 
• Type 3 incidents: Accidents involving biological substances regulated by the Biosecurity Act and legally possessed by the facilities involved.

Type 1 and type 3 incidents primarily involve the police and fire and rescue services while a type 2-incident primarily involves health care sector. In either case diagnostic investigations are crucial to identify the biological agent involved - if any - so that relevant countermeasures can be taken. 

Furthermore, it is crucial to define the hazardous area so that further exposure to persons can be avoided, and already exposed persons can be treated. 

CBB conduct field investigations with teams that are on 24/7 hour duty. The teams work closely together with chemical experts and HazMat teams from the Danish Emergency Management Agency. Field investigations involve dispersal analysis and decision support, Render Safe operations, sampling and analysis. 

Type 3 incidents are handled using the same tools as type 1 and 2-incidents.
 

Countermeasures

Unauthorised and unprotected persons must be kept out of a biologically hazardous area until CBB has ensured that the required counter measures have been made. Countermeasures can include prophylactic or post exposure medical treatment, isolation, use of protective equipment, decontamination or cleansing. 
CBB advices regarding the choice of countermeasures based on general expertise as well as prognostic calculations in the actual situation. The care for exposed citizens is the responsibility of the Danish Patient Safety Authority.