“A single misdiagnosis of an SSBA could have enormous political, economic and medical implications”.

Prior to events in the United States in September 2001, bioterrorism was not a highly visible area of public health in Australia. Since then an emerging view of bioterrorism as a global threat has received increased recognition as has the need for associated biopreparedness in laboratory services .

In 2008 RCPA Quality Assurance Programs Pty Ltd received a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to establish a proficiency testing program for Security Sensitive Biological Agents (SSBAs).

For a number of years the BioSecurity QAP have been sending specialised surveys to a small number of laboratories within Australia that have facilities for handling and testing these SSBAs.