This textbook provides an overview of the management of casualties in the event of a chemical or biological attack.
The development of passive countermeasures for chemical and biological defense has significantly reduced the threat to United States' military forces. Although the biological defense countermeasures program is not yet as advanced as its chemical counterpart, new developments in biotechnology have taken tremendous strides forward. Educating healthcare providers now can be at minimal cost and great potential benefit. One of the reasons that chemical and biological weapons are considered so dangerous is that medical officers, in their daily clinical practice, hardly ever see patients whose conditions have any similarity to casualties of chemical and some of the more exotic biological agents. Terrorist attacks at home and abroad have heightened the interest of civilian healthcare providers and first responders, and of other governmental agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Public Health Service that would be required to respond in case of an attack on U.S. soil. The scientists who organized and are responsible for this textbook are recognized worldwide as the foremost experts in the medical aspects of chemical and biological warfare. The goal of this book is to promote understanding of the threats of chemical and biological weapons and how to respond to them, and, therefore sustain fewer casualties. The chapters of this book cover the history of chemical and biological weapons; the threat to the military and homeland; long-term health effects; field management; and descriptions of the effects of various chemical and biological weapons. Index