Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens

The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is a UK-wide advisory committee. It was established in 1981, and the terms of reference were revised in 1991 to allow for a wider remit.

Description

The terms of reference of the ACDP are:[1]

"To provide as requested independent scientific advice to the Health and Safety Executive, and to Ministers through the Department of Health, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and their counterparts under devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, on all aspects of hazards and risks to workers and others from exposure to pathogens. In addition, to provide as requested independent scientific risk assessment advice on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) to Ministers through the Department of Health, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and their counterparts under devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and to the Food Standards Agency."

The Committee comprises a Chairman and up to 17 members. The membership includes scientific and medical experts, representing a range of disciplines.[1][2]

On 31 December 2012, the Committee was reconstituted from an advisory non-departmental public body to an Expert Advisory Committee.

COVID-19

From 19 March, Public Health England, consistent with the opinion of the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, no longer classified COVID-19 as a "High consequence infectious disease" (HCID). This reversed an interim recommendation made in January 2020, due to more information about the disease confirming low overall mortality rates, greater clinical awareness, and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase. The statement said "the need to have a national, coordinated response remains" and added "this is being met by the government’s COVID-19 response". This meant cases of COVID-19 are no longer managed by HCID treatment centres only.[3]

gollark: Being able to type ≠ is great, I must say.
gollark: Derived from ≠ the same thing.
gollark: I don't really follow fetal development enough to put down a precise date.
gollark: No.
gollark: Also, people are really bad about reasoning about risk and uncertainty.

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.