This lecture is dedicated by Global Health Disaster Network (GHDN) to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Please send the messages to “aardalan@gmail.com” and “Ronlaporte@aol.com”. It would be great to have you involved. Authors: Ali Ardalan, MD, MPH, PH.D. Health in Emergency & Disaster Division Institute of Public Health Research School of Public Health & Institute of Public Health Research Tehran University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran Ronald E. LaPorte, Ph.D. Professor of Epidemiology Director, Disease Monitoring and Telecommunications, WHO Collaborating Centre Graduate School of Public Health University of Pittsburgh USA Eugene Shubnikov, MD Senior Research Fellow Institute of Internal Medicine Novosibirsk City, Russia Faina Linkov, M.P.H. Research Assistant Department of Epidemiology University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15261 USA Mehdi Russel MD, MBA, Ph.D. General Secretariat of Health Risk Management & Emergencies Ministry of Health & Medical Education Iran Eric K Noji, MD, MPH Senior Advisor to the Director Office of Emergency Preparedness & Response (NCEH/ATSDR) Centers for Disease Control (CDC) USA