Essays on Bioterrorism

Outbreaks of infectious disease is a problem that has existed throughout the history of the United States of America with three influenza outbreaks in the 20th century killing approximately 604,000 Americans between 1918-1968 (Johnstone, 2008, p. 1). While pandemics are quite noticeable, a biological weapon attack may be less noticeable. This is a huge issue when it comes to Anthrax which can remain dormant and undetected within an area for a number of years before finding a host to contaminate (Johnstone, 2008, p. 2). Another issue with Anthrax is that it is near indestructible. However, the United States ...

Abstract

After the 9/11 event agro-terrorism has continually been recognized as a national security threat. It aims at depriving citizens off the confidence they have in the government. The act also endangers human life as the contaminated food is unhealthy. Agriculture has much vulnerability and although it does not have the shocking factors as other terrorist strategies it may be used as a secondary target. The US not having been a victim of a large-scale, successful agro-terrorism attack is not a guarantee that the nation’s agricultural and food processing systems are secure. Many policies have been implemented and initiatives ...

In this course we looked into the different kinds of toxins that affect the nervous, cardiovascular and endocrine system (Lu, Kacew, & Lu, 2003). The political, religious and social tension among different countries and communities, poses a constant threat of terrorism and war. Use of biological weapons like bacteria, viruses or toxin in the war is called biological warfare. Staphylococcus toxin and Botulinum toxin are the commonly used toxin in biological warfare. The use of biological warfare is an age old practice. There are several recordings in the history where biological toxins like ergot poison, hellebore, Barbarossa, human feces, leprosy ...

There is no exact definition of terrorism that all parties agree upon. Terrorism can be considered the manifestation of an organized plan for violence intended to threaten or kill a given number of human beings, but there are other more modern aspects of terrorism that might not perfectly fit this definition. Nevertheless, any violent act or intimidation that has the goal of forcing a person, community or government to do to do something they do not desire to do can be considered an act of terrorism. While in recent decades, it may seem that terrorism has become more frequent, ...

Abstract

Shortly after WW2, Japan became a place where the Allies put on trial Japanese military criminals of different standing. Overall, the process looked methodical and well-though-out, with an ad hoc classification developed for determining the guilt of offenders. The post-war years witnessed the execution of generals and the punishment of soldiers following their brutal orders. However, several years later, a complex of factors like the deliberate destruction of evidence or the enormous number of cases halted the prosecution process expediting its termination. As unethical and immoral as it was, the USA had its reasons not to prosecute some of ...

strains?” Researches on viruses have been carried out since time immemorial. Several vaccines, therapeutics, and targeted drug delivery systems have been developed only through extensive research on virulent strains. However, genetic engineering and molecular biology techniques have enabled scientists to manipulate, and develop new recombinant strains that may not occur in nature spontaneously. Proper containment of these engineered strains is essential as they might have properties that are entirely different from their parent strains. In September 2011 a researcher from Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam revealed how he had engineered avian influenza strain H5N1, and made it “more receptive to ...

Writing Assignment 5

Assignment Title Writing Assignment 5 Cyberterrorism, Bioterrorism, Agroterrorism and nuclear terrorism are some of the unconventional methods of terrorism that have been used by or attempted by certain terrorist organizations in the past. There are two, opposing levels of unconventional terrorism- the first is to conduct a huge terrorist strike using conventional methods such as warfare to bring about unconventional results and the second is to engage in a terrorist attack that is unconventional in nature but would bring about the same effect (Schweitzer, 2003) or damage as a conventional warfare would , such as, a change in regime, socio-political ...

Functions of the Federal, State, and Local Level during this Bioterrorism Event

Health organizations enforce regulations, such as isolation, that may be necessary throughout the emergency period. In case of a bioterrorism event, it is the responsibility of the federal health organizations to announce a state of health emergency. This helps to enlighten the public to be vigilant and aware of the health risks that exist. This has to be done promptly in case the threat involves water safety since water is a necessary consumable for all human beings. The state health organizations play an essential role in ensuring the bioterrorism threat is contained. This means containing the spread of the health risk associated ...

Chemical and Biological Agents and Radiation

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN): HCN is a highly toxic chemical blood agent in the form of a colorless gas. Cardiovascular, neurological, respiratory and thyroid effects can occur as a result of chronic low exposure to HCN (Blanc, Hogan, Hryhorczuk, Hessl & Bernard, 1985). In case of exposure to liquid HCL, mild soapy water can be used for decontamination. Either sodium or amyl nitrite combined with sodium thiosulfate can be can be used as an antidote for the effects of HCN poisoning (USAMRICD, 2000). Treating patients with poor oxygen-carrying capacity can be a bit challenging because nitrite-induced methemoglobinemia can be harmful. (Chandra, Gupta, Bhargava, ...

The center for disease control and prevention define public health as, ‘the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases’ .The recent Ebola outbreak in west Africa and the first ever transmission of the virus in the united states soil have raised a lot of questions on how CDC handled the outbreak. The outbreak is termed as the worst Ebola outbreak in history with more than 6,000 people has died from the virus mainly in western African country ...

__ November 2014 (date)

Safety of food supply is very important for any country in the world. Every government considers it to be the one of the most important tasks, as safety of food supply influences the health and well-being of the nation. There are many authorities dealing with it in the US, however, the country still faces significant problems with the food supply safety. Nowadays, the US has an important task to protect its people from the threats of the food supply. The task is so difficult that the government might be approaching crisis in this respect. The ...

The name of the essay is “The Bioterrorist Threat of Ebola in East Africa and Implications for Global Health and Security” by Amanda M. Teckman. The author writes on the outbreak of Ebola in Africa which alarmed the global health. The disease made its appearance in East and central Africa according to the virus. The essay also alleges that terrorist groups use the virus to infect people who then move in the countries and cause a high human casualty in these countries (Teckman). The essay alleges that the virus is spread by terrorists who infect some of their soldiers, mostly ...

Persian Gulf War

The Arab Gulf Region has been through two historically devastating wars: one was the prolonged conflict in 1980s between Iran and Iraq, and the other that followed was the war that started when the President of Iraq took the world by surprise and ordered the invasion of Kuwait. More than twenty years have passed since the official proclamation of the end of the Gulf War, but some would say that war continues to affect us every day. Nora Eisenberg recounted what the Executive Director of Gulf War veterans said, that the war not only lingers in the body of ...

Bio-terrorism includes the deliberate release of bacteria, viruses, or any other germs that are aimed at causing death and disease in people, animals or plants. These biological agents can be natural or genetically synthesized to increase their ability to cause disease, be resistant to current medicine, or increase their ability to spread. Bioterrorism is a real and growing threat in the 21st century. This threat calls for planned early detection and control. There have been efforts by the United States, Canada, and the European Union to address bio-terrorism over the years. However, these efforts are inefficient and not sufficient to ...

Introduction

There are many kinds of diseases that people can contract in different ways, and it is worth noting that any place a person travels to that is infested with a certain disease should steer clear of that place no matter how appealing it is. Now, there are some diseases that, once a person get it, there is no way to get rid of it and are forced to live with it for the rest of their lives. Ebola is one of those disease, and it has affected a multitude of people. Normally, there are shots to prevent certain diseases from ever surfacing but ...

Introduction

The world is facing risks as we all face the new millennium. Many terrorists are using harmful weapons such as the weapons of mass destruction. These may include dirty bombs, bioterrorism and even chemical weapons. The United States is one of the countries that terrorists are targeting to spread their acts. That is why we need to be aware about how we can respond with terrorism. As such, the United States government has been working to fight these terrorists by creating laws that would prevent and fight destructive weapons such as mentioned above. Numerous accounts have been documented regarding ...

More than half a millennia after the Black Death first ravaged Europe and the Middle East, it is still studied and analyzed with morbid fascination. This disease epidemic is so memorable today because it was such a destructive and fearsome plague, spreading as quickly as it did between individuals, primarily from 1346 to 1350, and demonstrating a worst-case scenario when a disease is not understood well and conditions favor disease spread. The Black Death is primarily a disease of small mammals like rats, and is transmitted by fleas. The organism directly responsible for the disease is a bacterium (Yersinia pestis). Once rats, plentiful in ...

1.0 The role and leadership traits of Public Information Officer In the present scenario, the public information officer is charged with the responsibility to advise the president on the public communication and the expected outcome on the communication. In the advent of the impending bioterrorist attack, the public information officer has to study the recorded video tape and advice the group on whether, how and when to communicate the information therein to the citizen. The aim of such communication would be to seek the citizen’s cooperation in the government’s plan and to prevent mass panic that ...

Research Paper: Quarantine

quarantine laws in disease control

Introduction

Background/ Literature Review - Evaluation of ancient and modern quarantine laws of communicable diseases control.

Discussion

- Analysis of ethical, legal, and sociological aspects of disease control methods including isolation and quarantine. - Evaluation of quarantine and isolation laws in bioterrorism preparedness and response

Conclusion

Recomemndation Abstract This research evaluates the effectiveness of state/ federal quarantine laws in disease control. It encompasses a detailed evaluation of ancient and modern quarantine laws of communicable diseases control. Also, an analysis of ethical, legal, and sociological aspects of disease control laws including isolation and quarantine will ...

- Identify one group from the text by Tucker and state one specific CBRN threat presented by that group. Then, identify the principles of detection, avoidance, protection, and decontamination from one specific CBRN hazard presented by that group. In 2001 the Islamist cult group that launched the Anthrax attack was considered a dangerous threat. According to Canadian Data Projections an anthrax attack on 100,000 Canadians would result in 50,000 anthrax cases, 32,875 deaths, 332,500 hospitalization days, and a cost of $ 6.5 billion. The detection process is difficult since anthrax an easily spore forming being delivered to a ...

Forum 4:- Epidemic vs. Pandemic

Ten epidemic diseases with pandemic potentials are:- - SARS - Gonorrhea - Dengue - Yellow fever - HIV/AIDS - Measles - Smallpox - Herpes - Cholera - Avian Flu (Morgan, 2004). HIV/AIDS is a communicable disease, which is transmitted through sexual intercourse or contact with infected blood. It has already reached epidemic proportions and swiftly moving towards pandemic due to the sexually transmitted nature of the disease and there is no way to tell physically if a person is infected with the virus. Epidemiological figures in 2010 revealed that ...

Forum 1 Chemical Attacks

- How has the Japanese terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo had a significant effect on counter-terrorist preparedness against chemical and biological weapons in the United States? The group pretended to be a religious organization communicating their theories through biblical messages. In such a way countries were not initially suspicious of them as being terrorists, but a religious cult. However, when they were discovered, the group produced the most dangerous devices of mass destruction ever manufactured in the world. They made the sarin gas, which they secretly released in a Toyo subway attacking five trains. Subsequently, a total of 5, 000 people were injured, with 15 ...

Introduction

Terrorism refers to the systematic use of violence to cause terror among civilians with the purpose of asserting demands and forcing the government to give in to those demands. Individuals involved in terror activity are called terrorists. The history of terrorism dates back to the French Revolution when words like 'terror', 'terrorist' and 'terrorism' were incorporated in the modern lexicon. However, in those days the acts of terror were executed by those in power, mostly through the man killing means of guillotine and not bombs. In the mid-19th century in the Unites States, the word 'terrorism' began to be ...

Strange Science: The Role of the Grotesque in Oryx and Crake and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr, Hyde Every culture has different rules and norms to follow, the adherence to which often separate the classes from each other. However, there are a few hand-and-fast rules that are cross-cultural; these values seem to be etched into the fabric of what makes humanity human. Although there are slight differences across the varying cultures, most cultures agree that murder, for instance, is immoral and undesirable within a civilized society. Another example of a nearly-universally-held value is the general human distaste for ...

Introduction

Biological weapons are a unique environmental hazard as they naturally occur in the environment, but they are also unnatural in the way they inflicted upon the community. The history of bioterrorism goes back to 6th century BC, an incident characterized by Assyrians poisoning the walls of enemies with rye ergot. The Solon also used purgative herb in the times of siege of Krissa. Thus, bioterrorism is defined as an intentional dissemination or release of biologic agents such as toxins, viruses and bacteria. They mostly occur naturally but due to technological advancements, some of them are human modified. These viruses, fungi, ...

According to Conover, Skloot, in her book, addresses the gigantic issues of medical experiments as to “who owns our bodies, the use and misuse of medical authority, the unhealed wounds of slavery” (qtd in Skloot 2). Skloot addresses story in the history of the United State’s medical field whose past is clouded by a dark history of human medical experimentations. The dark history in western medicine shows a record of horrifying events of medical experiment carried out on patients. Unfortunately, many of such experiments have been performed on children, impoverished people, and other marginalized vulnerable groups. As if that is ...

Bioterrorism involves intentional dissemination of natural or manmade bio-product with intentions to harm; mostly mankind. This kind of terrorism is one of the most severe as its effects can be felt down the generations. In his article “Confronting Biological Threats to the Homeland”, Chertoff cites some steps that could be vital in tackling the tragic attack. One of the steps and indeed the first step in countering bioterrorism is planning. As Chertoff writes, “Planning must involve an understanding of the full dimensions of a public health emergency—natural or manmade”, (2008). This calls for input of enough funds by ...

The major point of the event was to raise awareness about the treats that a possible biological warfare can pose. It had the purpose of promoting awareness about the existence of such a threat, as well as knowledge on the measures that will enable the public – the students, in this case – to prepare for such events if they do arise.

The event concluded that, although the launching of a biological attack is no simple task, this threat still remains, and that the best we can do is to establish the necessary measures and precautions that would enable us to counter the attack ...

According to the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) classification of hazards, each of the individual types of agents can result in various types of injuries at different periods depending on the time they have been released (CBRNE Task Force Statement, 2008). Both chemical and biological agents result in injuries that fundamentally affect human beings via internal cellular pathways (CBRNE Task Force Statement, 2008). Unlike biological agents, which are transmitted through infection, chemical agents do not have any infectious attributes (CBRNE Task Force Statement, 2008). However, usually, the consequences of noxious chemical agents, especially pulmonary toxins such as nerve ...