Category B agents require enhancements in public health infrastructure. Which improvements are specified?

• A. Certificates for laboratories
• B. No enhancements needed
• C. Border closures only
• D. Enhancements of CDC's diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance

Answer: (D)

Strengthening public health infrastructure for Category B agents hinges on better detection and monitoring of disease. The best choice specifies enhancements of the CDC's diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance. This means expanding reliable laboratory networks and capabilities to rapidly confirm cases, plus robust systems to collect, analyze, and share data on outbreaks so that public health authorities can detect early signals, track spread, and implement timely control measures. The other options don’t address this core need: certificates for laboratories are only a piece of quality assurance rather than a system-wide upgrade; border closures are a containment action rather than an infrastructure improvement; and saying no enhancements are needed ignores the purpose of Category B preparedness, which is to strengthen the ability to identify and respond to outbreaks.