THE THREAT OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AND POSSIBLE PREVENTATIVE MEASURES :: essays research papers

The Threat of Biological Warfare and attainable Preventative MeasuresThe events of September 11,2001, have made the threat of terrorism on our mainland very real. The twin towers were made into rubble that day, along with the lives of the many multitude touched by the overwhelming loss of life that occurred that day. Now, if that isnt profuse to cope with, in creeps the specter of bio-terrorism. Biological weapons are devices mean to deliberately disseminate ailment producing organisms or toxins in food, water, by insect, or as an aerosol. Bacillus anthracis, the organism that causes anthrax, has been bandied about the media and the American universe has been perfect(a) by stories of possible cases and fatalities. One agent not often discussed further every bit as horrifying as anthrax is variola major. variola is an acute, highly contagious virus disease characterized by prolonged fever, vomiting, and pustular eruptions that often leave pitted scars, or pockmarks, when healed as defined by Websters New World College Dictionary. Smallpox, commands respect and the concern of the American public along with that terrorism, of the biological variety, however improbable, is very possible. Smallpox was once heavy(p) in scope before vaccinations. At one point or another, everyone was going to contract it. A release of smallpox in aerosol form would scatter readily, and because of its stability in aerosol form would originate very formidable even in a small dose. so far mention of a group of smallpox cases can cause case panic and a possible public outcry for national need control measures to be taken. Several 2factors cause the concern smallpox has historically been feared as one of the most serious of all pestilential diseases, it physically disfigures, it bears a thirty percent fatality rate, it can be spread person to person, primarily by droplet nuclei expelled from the oropharynx of the infected person or by aerosol . Items most often thought as harmless, such(prenominal) as clothing or bed linen, could also spread the virus. afterward an incubation of about ten to twelve days, the patient experiences high fever and pain. Then a rash begins which forms into scabs by the seventh of eighth day. amid twenty-five and thirty percent of all unvaccinated patients die of the disease (1).Smallpox, anthrax and plague head the list of agents that can be utilize for bio-warfare. None of these agents has so far effectively been deployed as a biological weapon, and thus no real world events exist to provide likely scenarios (1).