Bioterrorism

Background

• An attack using various biological agents, such as viruses, bacteria, or toxins to cause injury and death.
  • Can affect humans, anmials/livestock, and/or plant life.
• These disease still exist globally in many countries, but may be modified for increased effect as a weapon.
• Smallpox last naturally occurred in 1977

Classification

• Agents are divided into three categories, based on risk.
  • Category A: (highest risk) Easy to spread or transmit from person to person, and/or cause high morbidity/mortality rates.
  • Category B: Moderately easy to spread, moderate morbidity and usually low death rates.
  • Category C: Emerging agents that may be developed into weapons 2/2 ease of access or production, or have potential for high morbidity/mortality.

Specific Agents

Bioterrorism Agents

Category A

• Anthrax
• Smallpox
• Plague
• Tularemia
• Botulinum Toxin
• Viral hemorrhagic fever

Category B

• Ricin
• Brucellosis
• Epsilon toxin
• Psittacosis
• Q Fever
• Staph enterotoxin B
• Typhus
• Glanders
• Melioidosis
• Food safety threats
• Water safety threats
• Viral encephalitis

Category C

• Influenza
• Yellow fever
• Tickborne hemorrhagic fever
• Tickborne encephalitis

Differential Diagnosis

Mass casualty incident

• Radiation exposure (disaster)
• Dirty bomb
• Bioterrorism
• Chemical weapons
• Natural Disaster (e.g. Hurricane, Earthquake, Tornado, Tsunami, etc)
• Unintentional large-scale incident (e.g. building collapse, train derailment, etc)
• Major pandemic
• Explosions

See Also

• Weapon of mass destruction

External Links

• CDC Bioterrorism Agent List

References

Authors

Michael Holtz, Ross Donaldson, Daniel Ostermayer, Neil Young, Jonathan Osgood