Agents of Bioterrorism

Agents of Bioterrorism

Recognition of Illness Associated with the Intentional Release of a Biologic Agent

On September 11, 2001, following the terrorist incidents in New York City and Washington, D.C., The Center for Disease Control recommended heightened surveillance for any unusual disease occurrence or increased numbers of illnesses that might be associated with the terrorist attacks. Subsequently, cases of anthrax in Florida and New York City have demonstrated the risks associated with intentional release of biologic agents.

The CDC instructed health-care providers to be alert to illness patterns and diagnostic clues that might indicate an unusual infectious disease outbreak associated with intentional release of a biologic agent. Any clusters or findings should have been reported to local or state health departments.

All students will read the enclosed article on Virus Hemmorhagic Fevers and fill in the information in the enclosed chart. Students in each group will be assigned a different biological agent and will be responsible for obtaining the information required in the chart. The diseases studied include agents that cause:

ANTHRAX

PLAGUE

BOTULISM

SMALLPOX

POISONING

Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you.

Paul Wilkinson (b. 1937), British scholar, author on terrorism. Daily Telegraph (London, 1 Sept. 1992).

Agent	*Bacillus anthracis*	Versinia pestis	Variola major	Botulism toxins of Clostridium botulinum	Ricin Toxins of Ricinus communis	Virus Hemorrhagic Fever
Disease Caused
Incubation Period
Symptoms
Dissemination
Contagious
Treatment
Vaccine Availability

Billy Joel
We Didn't Start the Fire

1949	Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe Dimaggio,
1950	Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe,
1951	Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom, Brando, The King and I and The Catcher in the Rye
1952	Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new Queen, Marciano, Liberace, Santayana good-bye .
	CHORUS We didn't start the fire It was always burning, Since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.
1953	Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist bloc,
1954	Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Tosconini, Dacron, Dien Bien Phu falls, Rock Around the Clock,
1955	Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team, Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland,
1956	Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev, Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez.
	CHORUS We didn't start the fire It was always burning, Since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.
1957	Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac, Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge on the River Kwai,
1958	Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball, Starkweather homicide, Children of Thalidomide,
1959	Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia, Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no go,
1960	U-2, Syngman Rhee, Payola, and Kennedy, Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo.
	CHORUS We didn't start the fire It was always burning, Since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.
1961	Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land, Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs Invasion,
1962	Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania, Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson,
1963	Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex, JFK blown away, What else do I have to say?
	CHORUS We didn't start the fire It was always burning, Since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.
1964 to 1989	Birth control, Ho Chi-Minh, Richard Nixon back again, Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate,Punk Rock, Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airlines Ayatollahs in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan, Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, Heavy metal, Suicide, Foreign debts, Homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz, Hypodermics on the shore, China's Under Martial Law, Rock and Roller Cola Wars, I can't take it any more!
	We didn't start the fire It was always burning, Since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire But when we are gone It will still burn on and on and on and on..... CHORUS

return to Disease Project