Biological Agents in the Mail Center - Quick Reference Chart

The chart listed below was developed as a quick reference to give you an
overall view of the biological agents discussed in this course.

Like all terror attacks, BioTerrorism depends most of all on surprise.
The best defense against any disease is to know how diseases operate in
populations, and what lines of defense we have to stop them. The
following chart outlines key information i.e. availability, incubation
period, symptoms, and treatment of the biological agents listed in this
course.

# 

+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+----------+
| **D      | **Incu   | *        | **Avail   | **Deliv     | **Tre    |
| isease** | bation** | *Early** | ability** | erability** | atment** |
|          |          |          |           |             |          |
|          | **       | **Sy     | **of      | **of        |          |
|          | Period** | mptoms** | Agent**   | Agent**     |          |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+----------+
| **Inha   | 1-7 days | Non-s    | **High**. | **Medium**. | Anti     |
| lational |          | pecific, | Anthrax   | It takes    | biotics. |
| A        |          | Fever,   | grows     | technical   | Best if  |
| nthrax** |          | Malaise, | naturally | skills to   | given    |
|          |          | Cough,   | t         | refine      | early in |
|          |          | Chest    | hroughout | Anthrax to  | the      |
|          |          | Pains    | the       | the sized   | course   |
|          |          |          | world.    | required to | of the   |
|          |          |          | Hostile   | get into    | illness. |
|          |          |          | foreign   | the lungs.  | CDC      |
|          |          |          | nations   | More skill  | re       |
|          |          |          | have      | to          | commends |
|          |          |          | large     | manufacture | t        |
|          |          |          | supplies  | for aerosol | reatment |
|          |          |          |           | release.    | for 60   |
|          |          |          |           |             | days.    |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+----------+
| **       | 1-6 days | Non-s    | **        | **Medium**. | Ant      |
| Plague** |          | pecific, | Medium**. | It has been | ibiotics |
| (Pn      |          | high     | The       | d           | must be  |
| eumonic) |          | fever,   | bacteria  | emonstrated | given 24 |
|          |          | cough,   | is stored | that the    | hours    |
|          |          | chills,  | in        | bacteria    | after    |
|          |          | dyspnea, | microbe   | could be    | symptoms |
|          |          | nausea,  | banks     | mass        | first    |
|          |          | v        | around    | produced as | appear   |
|          |          | omiting, | the       | a potential | for best |
|          |          | he       | world.    | weapon, but | of       |
|          |          | moptysis | S         | requires a  | survival |
|          |          |          | afeguards | high degree |          |
|          |          |          | make it   | of          |          |
|          |          |          | difficult | technical   |          |
|          |          |          | to        | skill.      |          |
|          |          |          | acquire a |             |          |
|          |          |          | powerful  |             |          |
|          |          |          | strain.   |             |          |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+----------+
| #### T   | 3-5 days | Non-s    | **        | **Medium**. | Ant      |
| ularemia |          | pecific, | Medium**. | Bacterium   | ibiotics |
|          |          | fever,   | Bacterium | is          | started  |
|          |          | fatigue, | occurs    | difficult   | early    |
|          |          | chills,  | naturally | to process  | are very |
|          |          | cough,   | in mice,  | and harder  | ef       |
|          |          | malaise, | squirrels | to make     | fective. |
|          |          | GI       | and       | stable      |          |
|          |          | symptoms | rabbits.  | enough to   |          |
|          |          |          |           | cause mass  |          |
|          |          |          |           | casualties. |          |
|          |          |          |           | It is one   |          |
|          |          |          |           | of the most |          |
|          |          |          |           | infectious  |          |
|          |          |          |           | bacterium   |          |
|          |          |          |           | known.      |          |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+----------+
| #### S   | 7-17     | First    | **Very    | **Medium**. | V        |
| mall Pox | days     | s        | Low**.    | It would be | accinate |
|          |          | ymptoms: | The       | difficult   | within 4 |
|          |          | fever,   | a         | to process  | days of  |
|          |          | malaise, | uthorized | and         | e        |
|          |          | h        | stores    | aerosolize  | xposure. |
|          |          | eadache, | are in    | release,    |          |
|          |          | dis      | two labs: | but it      |          |
|          |          | tinctive | in Russia | could be    |          |
|          |          | rash or  | and U.S.  | done.       |          |
|          |          | pox      | It is     |             |          |
|          |          | breaks   | suspected |             |          |
|          |          | out      | that      |             |          |
|          |          | later.   | other     |             |          |
|          |          |          | nations   |             |          |
|          |          |          | have      |             |          |
|          |          |          | illegal   |             |          |
|          |          |          | supplies. |             |          |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+----------+

+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+---------+
| **D      | **Incu   | *        | **Avail   | **Deliv     | **Trea  |
| isease** | bation** | *Early** | ability** | erability** | tment** |
|          |          |          |           |             |         |
|          | **       | **Sy     | **of      | **of        |         |
|          | Period** | mptoms** | Agent**   | Agent**     |         |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+---------+
| **Viral  | 2-21     | Fever,   | **        | **Low**.    | ##      |
| Hem      | days;    | easy     | Medium**. | Technology  | ## None |
| orrhagic | varies   | b        | It would  | required to |         |
| Fevers** | among    | leeding, | be        | produced to |         |
| (VHF)    | viruses  | pe       | difficult | VHF is not  |         |
|          |          | techiae, | to obtain | considered  |         |
|          |          | red      | a strain  | to be       |         |
|          |          | itchy    | of Ebola, | highly      |         |
|          |          | eyes,    | but would | advanced    |         |
|          |          | hem      | be easier |             |         |
|          |          | atemesis | to obtain |             |         |
|          |          |          | strains   |             |         |
|          |          |          | of        |             |         |
|          |          |          | Are       |             |         |
|          |          |          | naviruses |             |         |
|          |          |          | from      |             |         |
|          |          |          | rodents.  |             |         |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+---------+
| ####     | **Food   | None     | **High**. | **Medium**. | There   |
| Botulism | borne**: |          | Toxin is  | It is hard  | is an   |
|          | 12-72    | **Food   | widely    | to          | an      |
|          | hours    | borne**: | a         | weaponize   | titoxin |
|          |          | nausea,  | vailable, | to be       | horse   |
|          | *        | vomiting | but the   | released as | serum   |
|          | *Inhalat | a        | more      | an aerosol, | kept by |
|          | ional**: | bdominal | deadly    | but it      | the CDC |
|          | 18-80    | cramps,  | form is   | could be    | ready   |
|          | hours    | d        | more      | put into    | to ship |
|          |          | iarrhea. | difficult | uncooked    | imme    |
|          |          |          | to        | food, such  | diately |
|          |          | *        | obtain.   | as a salad  | 24      |
|          |          | *Inhalat | Rogue     | bar or      | hours a |
|          |          | ional**: | nations   | beverage.   | day.    |
|          |          | de       | are       |             |         |
|          |          | scending | believed  |             |         |
|          |          | p        | to have   |             |         |
|          |          | aralysis | it.       |             |         |
|          |          | progress |           |             |         |
|          |          | to       |           |             |         |
|          |          | airway   |           |             |         |
|          |          | obst     |           |             |         |
|          |          | ruction. |           |             |         |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+---------+
| ####     | 4-8      | Inha     | **High**. | **Medium**. | ##      |
| Ricin (t | hours    | lational | Castor    |             | ## None |
| oxin fro | after    | fever,   | beans are |             |         |
| m castor | inha     | w        | commonly  |             |         |
|  beans ) | lational | eakness, | a         |             |         |
|          | exposure | cough,   | vailable. |             |         |
|          |          | hypo     |           |             |         |
|          |          | thermia, |           |             |         |
|          |          | cardiac  |           |             |         |
|          |          | c        |           |             |         |
|          |          | ollapse. |           |             |         |
+----------+----------+----------+-----------+-------------+---------+