THE FBI AND THE JOINT TERRORISM TASK FORCE

Preparing for the next pandemic

For more than a decade a strain of avian influenza that first appeared on Southeast Asia has threatened to ignite a deadly pandemic. The H5N1 variant has nearly all the features of a virus capable of killing tens of millions of people, but it has not yet acquired a single key trait: the ability to spread efficiently from person to person. Experts say when that day comes a pandemic will begin.

The ongoing threat of influenza pandemics has been largely eclipsed in recent years by concerns of terrorism and natural disaster, but the threat remains. A pandemic in 1918 killed more than 40 million people around the globe.

Organizers of the third annual International Symposium on Agroterrorism commissioned NCI to shoot and produce the film, ‘H5N1 – The Next Pandemic?’ to provide background on the topic and lay the groundwork for the week’s presentations and related panel discussions. Representatives from more than 25 countries attended the symposium.

The film is part compelling documentary and part case study on a global public health threat. It also reinforces the symposium’s core theme of the need for international cooperation and coordination on health and food safety issues.

NCI incorporated this theme in the actual production of the film. We traveled to northern Vietnam – the place where H5N1 has killed more people than almost anywhere else in the world – to learn what worked and what didn’t and to share these lessons learned with the global community through the symposium.

According to the FBI’s Craig Watz, the film exceeded all expectations. He also noted the project actually helped add to the event’s bottom line by providing powerful sponsorship opportunities for major supporters.