Bioterrorism Extended Defintion

Bioterrorism: an Extended Definition*

Bioterrorism is, as the name states, terrorism using biologic agents. However bioterrorism can come in many different forms and variations and can also be disseminated in several different ways. Bioterrorism essentially is the use, or threatened use, of biological agents in order to promote or spread fear and/or intimidation upon a group, an individual or a population as a whole. Bioterrorism can also target animals and plants as well. Bioterrorism can be used for many reasons including religious, political, ideological, financial or personal issues.  The biological agents used in bioterrorism are typically found in nature in the various parts of the world with the exception of the smallpox virus. These biological agents can be weaponized in order to make them more resistant to vaccines and antibiotics to enhance their effectiveness. Another form of weaponization for these biological agents is to alter them so that they become increasingly easier to spread throughout the environment, making them easy to disseminate. Biological agents can be spread from human to human such as smallpox and some can not, like anthrax. Biological agents can be disseminated by various methods such as food and water contamination or through blood-feeding insects. Terrorists use biological agents because they can be very hard to detect and may not cause illness for a couple of hours or up to a matter of days. Bioterrorism is appealing to terrorists for its relatively easy and inexpensive manner to obtain or produce the biological agents as well as the ease of the dissemination and widespread fear bioterrorism can cause. 

Examples of bioterrorism can be seen from the past dating back to as far as the fourteenth century when Tatars spread the bubonic plague by catapulting diseased corpses into towns. More recently letters containing anthrax, a bacterial infection that affects the skin, intestines or lungs, were mailed to the television news anchor Tom Brokaw, which led to the deaths of five people and were the result of an Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda. 

The universal symbol for bioterrorism can be found at the right hand side which can help you recognize possible bioterrorism hazards.

Listed below are Web sites that can give you further information about bioterrorism:

• Center for Disease Control and Prevention
  

• Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
  

• Recognition of Illness Associated with the Intentional Release of a Biologic Agent

• Texas Department of State Health Services
  

• John Hopkins Public Health Preparedness Programs

• Bioterrorism Resources

Para altavoces españoles,

El bioterrorismo es, como los estados de nombre, el terrorismo que utiliza a agentes biológicos. Sin embargo el bioterrorismo puede entrar muchas formas y las variaciones diferentes y también puede ser difundido en varias maneras diferentes. El bioterrorismo es en esencia el uso, o el uso amenazado, de agentes biológicos de promover o esparcir temor y/o intimidación sobre un grupo, un individuo o una población en total. El bioterrorismo puede ser utilizado para muchas razones inclusive asuntos religiosos, políticos, ideológicos, financieros o personales. Los agentes biológicos utilizados en el bioterrorismo son encontrados típicamente en la naturaleza en las varias regiones a excepción del virus de viruela. Estos agentes biológicos pueden ser weaponized hacerlos más resistente a vacunas y antibióticos para aumentar su eficacia. Los agentes biológicos pueden ser difundidos por varias contaminación de métodos como alimento y agua o por sangre-alimentar insectos.

Ejemplos del bioterrorismo pueden ser vistos del pasado que antedata a por lo que el siglo XIV cuando tártaros esparcen la peste bubónica catapultando cadáveres enfermos en pueblos. Más recientemente cartas que contienen ántrax, una infección bacteriana que afecta la piel, los intestinos o los pulmones, fueron enviados a las noticias de la televisión ancla Tom Brokaw, que llevó a las muertes de cinco personas y fue el resultado de un grupo islámico de terrorista al-Qaeda. El símbolo universal para el bioterrorismo puede ser encontrado en el lado del mano derecho.

  

*Resources for this definition were found through the CDC and Texas Department of State Health Services.