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Sustaining Performance in Mass Casualty Environments
Published in Steven Kornguth, Rebecca Steinberg, Michael D. Matthews, Neurocognitive and Physiological Factors During High-Tempo Operations, 2018
Biological agents may be considered “ideal terrorist weapons” due to a number of characteristics. Most notable among these are ease of access, dual use, and natural occurrence, emergence and re-emergence of pathogens of interest. Furthermore, biologicals intended for legitimate use may be obtained from supply houses and research laboratories and subsequently weaponized. Technologies and infrastructure, such as those employed for fermentation, antibiotic and vaccine production may be readily modified and scaled for required production purposes. Ease of scalability, deployment, and concealment in the natural environment is described in the Interpol bio-terrorism fact sheet, http://www.interpol.int.Public/BioTerrorism. Unfortunately, many biological agents are spread with relative ease through air, food, and water. Most media produce dilutional effects, and water treatment systems further reduce pathogenicity and transmissibility of many agents. In contrast, in humanitarian assistance and disaster response settings, humanhuman, and human-animal proximity and population co-location with untreated water sources make such settings much more vulnerable to disease outbreak, and necessitate rapid detection, response, and proactive measures.
Introduction
Published in Robert A. Burke, Counter-Terrorism for Emergency Responders, 2017
Biological agents are living organisms or their toxins, also known as infectious substances or disease-causing organisms. Biological organisms have a delayed period of time between infection and the actual onset of symptoms, which may vary from days to weeks. Toxins, however, are actually chemical poisons and may act quickly. Biological weapons are usually odorless, colorless, and are generally not a skin absorption hazard, except for mycotoxins. When dispersed, these agents are more difficult to distinguish than chemical weapons, and can be much more toxic. Some biological toxins are more lethal than the strongest nerve agent, VX. Biological agents have sometimes been referred to as the “poor man's atom bomb.” Making or obtaining them can be easily done with little outside detection of the operations. All biological agents occur naturally and can be found harvested from nature and cultivated in a laboratory setting.
Indoor/In-Plant Air Quality
Published in Paul N. Cheremisinoff, Air Pollution Control and Design for Industry, 2018
Biological agents consist of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. They usually affect health by causing infections or by acting as allergens. There were 29 visitors who died after attending a convention in a Philadelphia hotel in 1976. This hotel’s ventilation had nurtured “Legionnaire” bacteria. Microorganisms pose health effects by causing dermatitis, respiratory problems, and allergic reactions; hay fever, asthma, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
Navy Metrology and Applications of Biosensors
Published in NCSLI Measure, 2018
Subrata Sanyal, Dylan Shackelford
The biological agents that are released in a biological attack are categorized into two types: pathogens and toxins. The difference between the two is that a pathogen is a living organism, whereas a toxin is an inert by-product of a living organism. Pathogens include bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, and fungi. They are either naturally occurring or altered by genetic mutation for a desired goal. Toxins are just as deadly as pathogens, being produced by the metabolic activities of living organisms. Classical biological agents include anthrax, botulinum toxin, smallpox, tularemia, Q fever, ricin, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and the plague [7]. Biological agents fall into five main categories [8]:BacteriaRickettsiaViral agentsFungiToxins of biological origins.