Case Study – Germany

Public health structures in Germany reflect the federal system: health care in general lies within the responsibility of the 16 constituent states and the federal government only acts if a state asks for assistance. There were no bioterror-related intentional releases of biological agents in Germany in recent years. The potentially devastating effects of such an incident require sound public health preparedness planning. The Basic Constitutional Law (Grundgesetz) does not allow the deployment of armed forces within Germany with some rare exceptions. However, there is a well-established civil-military cooperation. The Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) are deployed in humanitarian and multinational UN or NATO crisis containment missions abroad, requiring adequate protection from pathogens and diseases endemic or enzootic to those regions. Both, the military and the civil public health system are complex structures that contain administrative, care giving, medical investigation, and research capabilities in order to cope with natural, accidental or intentional biological incidents.