Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) Seminar on Microbiological Risk Assessment, 28 January 1997

Microbiological risk assessment is an area of growing importance and significant potential, where the underlying science, software systems and databases are developing to the point of real and useful application. It is also an area where the developing science is posing as many questions as it is presenting answers. Key issues emerging from the day included: the need for more sophisticated management of uncertainty, which is much more relevant to microbiological risk analysis than to other applications; the need for global surveillance systems with better compatibility and appropriate peer review; considered assessment of the impact of new molecular‐based diagnostic and screening techniques; the explosion of relevant information available, particularly on the Internet, which makes computer literacy essential both to professionals and ‘laymen’; and the appearance of software systems which are either tailored for microbiological application or have the potential for this use. The closely associated issues of risk communication and perception also emerged as being vital to the effective application of microbiological risk management to public health issues. Overall, the majority of participants considered the event to have been valuable and stimulating and thought that it would lead to improvements in the use of microbiological risk assessment. The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens is committed to taking this topic forward and will be both taking up the messages from this seminar and encouraging development of suitable databases and software systems.