Biological Agent Sampling Course

The University of South Florida Center for Biological Defense (CBD) in collaboration with the Florida Department of Health (DOH) Bureau of Laboratories is pleased to offer the training program entitled "Recognition of and Response to Biological and Chemical Agents." This training is intended to provide an overview of biological and chemical terrorism agents, threat assessment and sample collection techniques according to state DOH laboratory procedures.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Describe characteristics of potential biological and/or chemical agents;
• Practice consistent, DOH-protocol driven biological agent sample collection techniques;
• Safely package and transport a suspicious material;
• Correctly follow all threat assessment and chain of custody procedures for biological and chemical agents.

Audience: HazMat and law enforcement officials are encouraged to attend. County health department training coordinators, emergency management/planning personnel and other security personnel may also benefit from this course.

Trainers will be provided by the CBD to conduct a course for your agency at your location. This course will last approximately two to four hours and can be modified to best meet your training needs, based on the amount of previous WMD training throughout your agency. Course materials are provided to each participant.

Registration Information:

Location: Courses are conducted on-site at requested locations. Numbers of participants depend of size of training facility.

Cost: Free of charge

Contact: For further information or to schedule a course, please contact Diana McCluskey at (813) 974-6663 or dmcclusk@health.usf.edu.