WHAT
IS BIOTERRORISM?
Bioterrorism
is the deliberate release of pathogenic microorganisms
(bacteria, viruses, fungi, and toxins) into a community.
The most likely diseases associated with bioterrorism
include smallpox,
anthrax,
botulism,
plague, and
tularemia.
Recognizing
a Bioterrorist Event
To
minimize the number of casualties, early identification
that an outbreak if from an unnatural source is essential.
A bioterrorism event may be suspected when increasing
numbers of otherwise healthy people with similar symptoms
seek treatment in hospital emergency departments, physician's
offices, or clinics over a period of several hours, days
or weeks. The early clinical symptoms for most bioterrorism
agents may be similar to common diseases seen by health
care professionals every day.
The
most common features of an outbreak caused by bioterrorist
agents include:
-
A
rapid increase (hours to days) in the number of previously
healthy persons with similar symptoms seeking medical
treatment
-
A
cluster of previously healthy persons with similar symptoms
who live, work, or recreate in s common geographical
area
-
An
unusual clinical presentation
-
An
increase in reports of dead animals
-
Lower
incident rates in those persons who are protected (e.g.,
confined to home; no exposure to large crowds)
-
An
increase number of patients who expire with in 72 hours
after admission to the hospital
-
Any
person with a history of recent (within the past 2-4
weeks) travel to a foreign country who presents with
symptoms of high fever, rigors, delirium, rash (not
characteristic of measles of chicken pox), extreme myalgias,
prostration, shock, diffuse hemorrhagic lesions of petechiae,
and/or extreme dehydration due to vomiting or diarrhea
with of without blood loss.
