Clinical Recognition and Management of Patients Exposed to Biological Warfare Agents

• NCJ Number: 191280
• Journal: Journal of American Medical Association Volume: 278 Issue: 5 Dated: August 6, 1997 Pages: 399-411
• Author(s): David R. Franz; Peter B. Jahrling PhD; Arthur M. Friedlander; David J. McClain MD; David L. Hoover; W. Russell Bryne; Julie A. Pavlin; George W. Christopher; Edward M. Eitzen Jr.
• Date Published: August 1997
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Guideline
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded October 29, 2001

Annotation

This document provides information on 10 classic biological warfare agents.

Abstract

The diseases resulting from biological agents have incubation periods of days. Therefore, it likely will be a physician who is first faced with evidence of the results of a biological attack. Although the resultant diseases are rarely seen in many countries today, if the cause is identified quickly, appropriate therapy can be initiated and the impact of a terrorist attack greatly reduced. Anthrax would most likely occur by aerosol delivery and would result in inhalational anthrax. By the time symptoms appear for inhalational anthrax treatment is almost always ineffective. Brucellosis is usually contracted by human ingestion of contaminated raw meat or dairy products. Patients are treated with combinations of antibiotics. Yersinia pestis is the agent of plague, which would likely present as a pneumonic plague. Pneumonic plague progresses rapidly but there is a vaccine available. Q fever has a degree of infectivity and casualty production rivaling that of anthrax. Francisella tularensis or tularemia can be transmitted as an aerosol and often has a pneumonic component. Smallpox, eradicated in 1980, is highly infectious and has a high mortality rate. Viral encephalitides (Venezuelan, eastern, and western equine encephalitis viruses) are highly infectious by aerosol and can be recognized for their potential for neuro-invasion and encephalitis in humans. Viral hemorrhagic fevers describe disease processes associated with infection by a variety of RNA viruses. These viruses are highly infectious by aerosol, and are associated with high morbidity and high mortality. Botulinum toxins can be transmitted by aerosol or can be used to sabotage food supplies. They are the most toxic compounds known. Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (staphylococcus aureus) commonly causes food poisoning in humans and has extreme toxicity as an incapacitant. 146 references