Biological Agents of Warfare

1
Biological Agents of Warfare

• La Salle University
• October 2001

2
Inhalation anthrax

• Agent

• Bacillus anthracis (Gr rod)

3
Inhalation anthrax

• Signs/symptoms
• Fatality rate(untreated)
• Transmission

• Fever, cold, hemorrhage, shock
• 90
• Not person to person

4
Inhalation Anthrax

• Vaccine
• Treatment
• Production

• 93 effective 6 doses required available for at
  risk only
• Antibiotic (Cipro) effective ONLY if given
  before signs develop
• Difficult to produce fine powder hardy spores

5
Inhalation Anthrax

• Detection of anthrax with Tetracores BioThreat
  Alert (BTA) strip

6
Inhalation Anthrax

• Results of BTA tests (15 minutes)

7
Smallpox

• Agent
• Signs/symptoms
• Fatality rate(untreated)
• Transmission

• Variola virus
• Fever, headache, backache, rash, skin lesions
• 30
• highly infectious (aerosolized droplets)

8
Smallpox
9
Smallpox

• Vaccine
• Treatment
• Production

• Highly effective little available protection
  for only 10 years
• Supportive
• Little virus availabledangerous to handle

10
Tularemia

• Agent
• Signs/symptoms
• Fatality rate(untreated)
• Transmission

• Franciscella tularensis (Gr- rod)
• Fever, pneumonia, systemic infection
• 10
• Highly infectious (aerosolized droplets)

11
Tularemia

• Vaccine
• Treatment

• Partially protective (experimental)
• Antibiotics effective

12
Pneumonic Plague

• Agent
• Signs/symptoms
• Fatality rate(untreated)
• Transmission

• Yersinia pestis (Gr- rod)
• Fever, chills, cough (blood), septic shock
• 100
• infectious (aerosolized droplets)

13
Pneumonic Plague

• Vaccine
• Treatment

• not effective against pneumonic form of disease
• Antibiotics effective

14
Botulinum toxin

• Agent
• Signs/symptoms
• Fatality rate(untreated)
• Transmission

• Protein toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum
  (Gr rod)
• Blurred vision, slurred speech, paralysis,
  respiratory failure
• lt15
• Not person to person contact of toxin with
  mucosa or by ingestion

15
Botulinum toxin

• Vaccine
• Treatment
• Production

• Effective with 5 of 7 types limited
  availability
• Antitoxin effective
• Dangerous to handle most poisonous substance
  known