The present study had two main aims. The first was to
identify and describe the frequency, nature and geographical
location of acute public health chemical incidents of potential
international concern, as determined by the proposed revised
IHR. The second was to assess the utility of the systems used to
detect outbreaks of communicable disease for detecting chemical
events. This report focuses on the events that were identified
during the first 17 months of the project, from 1 August 2002
to 31 December 2003.