Bio-Terrorism Challenge: Meeting the Threat

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THE BIOTERRORISM CHALLENGE: Meeting the Threat Class A biological agents provides the highest risk to national security, this includes anthrax, smallpox, botulism, plague, tularemia, and hemorrhagic fever such as Ebola which can all kill swiftly. All can be used for bioterrorism. Plague is one of the deadliest. It has caused global pandemics that wiped out 50 to 60 percent of the world’s inhabitants. Plague comes in two forms, bubonic and pneumonic which are caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, the latter being able to be spread to the air. Tularemia is a bacteria found in rodents and rabbits, but can be transported to humans when bitten by infected ticks or deer flies. This bacteria can be spread in an aerosol form and can survive for weeks in wet straw or other vegetation. Hemorrhagic fever kill by causing massive internal bleeding, eating up the internal organs. Terrorist could spread the disease by contaminating the blood supply at a donation center or hospital. Hemorrhagic fevers are highly infectious, usually transmitted by blood. There is no approved medication to cure any of the viruses, and there is a vaccine for yellow fever but not the others. Dave Hose works as a postal service supervisor for more than eleven years. One day, he went home dripping wet from sweat, without knowing the possible cause. The next day, he had muscle pains and was throwing up blood, not food. He went to a hospital and suggested to the doctor that he has an anthrax due to an encounter with a mail with suspected anthrax powders. So the doctor took a blood test to confirm and handed him a prescription of Cipro pills. The next morning, Dave was confirmed that he has an anthrax. He was then rushed to the hospital. The first four days was like hell, he was pumped with drugs just to let the body cope prom the toxin. Day seven, it seemed the anthrax was beginning to weaken,

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