- It is not a question of if bioterrorism will occur, it is a matter of when and where.
- Bioterrorism is the intentional or threatened use of biological agents to care fear or actual disease or death upon a population for political, religious or ideological reasons.
- Qualities of an ideal biological weapon are: inexpensive, easy to produce, small size to be aerosolized, can survive the environment, causes lethal or disabling disease, easy to distribute, minimal or no effect treatment or prophylaxis.
- There are three types of bio-agents: bacteria, viruses, and biotoxins.
- It is often difficult to identify biological agent exposure because they often mimic other things and require large numbers of infected patients before awareness occurs.
- They often all presents with an initial influenza-like illness.
- Some identification keys are: clusters of cases, symptoms that unusual for an age group, unusual time of year for symptoms, rare infection type to region, dead animals before humans.
- The CDC has classified various biological agents in categories based on the potential morbidity and mortality, delivery potential, public perception of fear, civil disruption, and the public health preparedness needs.
- Level A agents are the highest threat to national security. Agents include: anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulism, tularemia, and viral hemorrhagic fevers.
- Level B agents are: brucellosis, clostridium perfrinogens, salmonella, escherichia coli O157:H7, melloidosis, psittacosis, Q fever, ricin, staphylococcal enterotoxin B, typhus, viral encephalitis, cholera, shigella dysenteriae, cryptosporidium parvum.
- Level C agents are: nipah virus, hanta virus, tickborne hemorrhagic fevers/encephalitis viruses, yellow fever, multidrug resistant tuberculosis.