2. INTRODUCTION
What is Bioterrorism?
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination
of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, or toxins, and may be
in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form.
3. HISTORY OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE:
1346 : siege of Kaffa; plague
1763 :French and Indian war; smallpox
Ww1 :German program; anthrax,glanders
1925 :Geneva protocol bans biological weapons
Ww2 :Japanese program;anthrax,plague,cholera,shigella
1946 :U.S announces involvement in bioweapons research
1984 :Rajneesh ult members contaminate salad bar with Salmonella
typhimuriu in Oregon
1992 :Ricin attack planned by Minnesota militia
4. CLASSIFYING BIOTERROR AGENTS
CLASS A
• Contagious
• High death rates and high health impact on the public
• ANTHRAX, BOTULISM, SMALLPOX, TULAREMIA, PLAGUE
CLASS B
• Moderately easy to spread
• Some illness & death rates
• TYPHUS, WATER SAFETY THREATS, SALMONELL A
CLASS C
• Easily available
• Easily produced and spread
• Have potential for high death & illness rates
• NIPAH VIRUS Hey look, a llama! Never can be too careful
5. TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL AGENTS:
Tularemia or "rabbit fever"
Has a very low fatality rate if treated, but can severely incapacitate. The
disease is caused by the Francisella tularemia bacterium, and can be
contracted through contact with the fur, inhalation, ingestion of
contaminated water or insect bites. Francisella tularemia is very infectious.
6. ANTHRAX:
Anthrax is a non-contagious disease caused by the spore-forming
bacterium Bacillus anthracis. An anthrax vaccine does exist but requires many
injections for stable use. When discovered early, anthrax can be cured by
administering antibiotics.
7. PLAGUE:
Plague is a disease caused by the Yesinia
pestis bacterium. Rodents are the normal host of
plague, and the disease is transmitted to humans
by flea bites and occasionally by aerosol in the form
of pneumonic plague.
8. Why use biological weapons?
These are characteristics agents used as biological weapons:
Invisible and microscopic
Difficult to trace
Easy to multiply and maintain
Very deadly
Simple laboratory techniques required to prepare these agents and
may not required sophisticated apparatus
9. DISADVANTAGES
:
High risk of workers being contaminated
Living organism may be destroyed when incorporated with bombs
and missiles (by heat)
Problem of dispersal and attack, difficult to deploy
Requires confirmation that the strains are pathogenic and diseases
causing
Problems of acquisition for highly restricted microbes
10. How It become A Threat?
Because they can extremely difficult to detect
They do not cause illness for sevral hours to sevral days
Some bioterrorism agents like smallpox spread from person to person and some like
athrax cannot.
Rapid evolution
The world is unaware
Long term consequenses
Spread from country to country
11. PREPAREDNESS:
PREVENTATION:
Regulating environmental and agriculture condition to minimize
condition
Limiting access to certain biological agents
Improving intelligence to uncover plans for biological and chemical
attacks
12. DETECTION:
Health care providing training
and education to improve
diagnosis
Improve laboratory capabilities
Enhanced surveillance and
epidiomolgy to detect outbreaks
13. Threat to economy
Threat to biodiversity and wild life
Physic social factors during bioterrorism
Threat to population size
Problems Faced:
14. Conclusion:
The threat of bioterrorism is real. To prepare for that we must educate
our health care team, in corporate bioterrorism preparedness into
disaster plans and support cooperation and communication between the
public health departments and hospitals.