Eco-Epidemiology as Anti-Terrorism

Abstract

Eco-epidemiology is a promising model for cross-disciplinary anti-terrorism. Derived from epidemiology's dominance of agents to illness and injury, the eco-epidemiological paradigm considers natural systems that generate causal pathways to disease and dynamic morbidity. Within this model is a hierarchy of systems interconnecting at biological, human, and social levels. Eco-epidemiology capitalizes on interacting components within and between system levels to identify contact patterns and apply mechanisms of control. Considering the complex and paradoxical nature of the threat-fear dynamic, a systematic, ecological approach would be more adaptive to terrorism's changing rules of engagement. To counter terrorism and nullify threat-fear, eco-epidemiology must be shared by public health researchers with threat assessment and harm reduction disciplines.