Bioterrorism and Biodefense

[TTSD]

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Cheaper and just as effective as a nuclear weapon in wiping out tens of thousands of civilians and at least tens of thousands more hospitalized as well.

As future doctors we will be on the front lines of this kind of war (provided we're not killed in the attack itself).

What're your guys thoughts on this subject?

I'm writing this because I'm preparing a seminar presentation on Biodefense and as I read through the CDC/NIH/FDA proposals, Bush's bioshield statement and the sheer scope that's being devoted into research and our current inventories all I have to say is this..

We are building a defense not on prevention but minimization. And you KNOW that one day, most likely within our generation when we're practicing.. someone is going to touch off a bio-weapon in a major US city.

Get a few kg of anthrax, disperse it over the city by a small plane or even just aerosol it.. you're going to have armageddon on your hands.

 

[Chrisobean]

this country is seriously NOT prepared for anything of that magnitude. its a shame. and we are probably screwed. and the worst part about that is we KNOW we are screwed.
maybe it is up to us to do something about it...

 

[duncanfj]

Anthrax would likely not be used in this manner. It doesn't hlod up well to aersolization. So many people are scared of anthrax, ebola, etc, but the one that scares the bejesus out of me is influenza. Fairly easy to manipulate, immunizations would take 6 months or so to be made in any quantity, and it is a fairly hardy virus that can survive outside a host for a while, which makes it easy to disperse. Look at what the Spanish flu did, and this season's flu is expected to double the number of deaths in the US. So a simple wt flu strain is going to kill around 100,000 people in the US. Much more than will die from AIDS. Think about that before you go to bed tonight.