Preparing for Bioterrorism

Abstract

W e've been told that it's just a matter of time before there is a bioterrorist attack in the USA. Although the probability that we will personally deal with bioterrorism is low, Louis Pasteur reminded us that "chance favors the prepared mind." Knowledge about bioterrorism can empower us to recognize it early and to protect ourselves when caring for these patients. We need to know about hospital plans for bioterrorism. The increased awareness can also help us with unique cases. For example, a few years ago at a local hospital, a person bleeding from the mouth and nose was brought into the emergency room. This person had just flown in from Africa, and a diagnosis of viral hemorrhagic fever had to be considered. There was a recent outbreak of Ebola in Uganda. Someone could flee that country and show up in our hospital with serious disease. We need to be prepared. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines bioterrorism as "the intentional use of microorganisms or toxins de

Lessons Learned from Historic Plague Epidemics: The Relevance of an Ancient Disease in Modern Times

“…In the months and years following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City, concerns regarding the use of various biological agents, including Y. pestis, as agents of bioterrorism were raised, and appropriate preparedness and response programs were developed. For an in-depth review of this topic, we will refer the interested reader to other publications [9,12,25,[79][80][81]. Briefly, it is well known that plague has been used as a bioweapon since the 14 th century; the perhaps most successful programs on a large scale was reportedly developed during World War II by the Japanese, and during the "cold war" by the former Soviet Union [9,25,80].…”

The Potential Dual Use of Online Pharmacies

“…the use of biological agents, most frequently bacteria and viruses. Other materials or toxins produced by these microorganisms can also be used (Klietman and Ruoff 2001;Budowle et al 2007;Lathrop and Mann 2001). Bio-terrorism has been applied for many centuries (Klietman and Ruoff 2001).…”

“…Enemies, such as hostile armies or populations under siege, for example Native Americans, were frequently infected by plague, varicella, Leptospira, or Rickettsiae prowazekii. During the last century there were several dangerous attempts to use biological means for terrorist attacks (Lathrop and Mann 2001;Sandhu et al 2003). …”

“…Animal corpses were also used for that purpose in the United States (US) during the Civil War (Klietman and Ruoff 2001;Poupard and Miller 1992). In the 18th century, British troops in North America used other objects as vehicles to spread disease; they gave blankets and handkerchiefs used by British smallpox victims to hostile Native Americans (Lathrop and Mann 2001).…”

“…The possibility of establishing online pharmacies or acquiring already existing ones without drawing the attention of security authorities can be attractive for terrorist organizations. Due to the low production costs of biological weapons and their easy obtainability, as well as the existence of very dangerous "dual-use biological research", bioterrorist attacks can be very dangerous, if not devastating, to world safety (Davidson et al 2007;Fox 2004;Friedman et al 2008;Kant and Nagar 2006;Lathrop and Mann 2001).…”