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5130830-2337834Bioweapons and Epidemiology
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
5130830-212489Executive Summary
The oldest mass destruction weapons utilized by man are biological
weapons (Goniewicz et al., 2020).
Worldwide terrorism tends to be a fast developing threat to global security
and intensifies bioterrorism risk (Green et al., 2019).
Bioweapons ailment outbreaks can result in the extermination of rare
0215904wildlife species.
Traditional human livelihoods could also be destroyed.
Genetic miscellany in domesticated animals and plants could also undergo
erosion thus; a course of action is required.
3733800-60089Threat Analysis
Bioweapons tend to be infectious agents like virus or bacteria intentionally utilized in inflicting bodily damage to animals, people and environment.
Bioweapons could be used to cause:
huge fatalities
economic losses
social disruption
environmental issues.
They are used a means of terrorism and warfare
0-166617Bioweapons are hard to control after release as they are infectious agents spreading wildly past the intended region.
5130830-669690Anthrax Etiology04062726
Anthrax tends to be a severe illness whose cause is Bacillus anthracis.
Bacillus anthracis is a gram-positive and rod-shaped bacteria.
A high number of human anthrax cases result from contact with infected animals, hides or meat.
The disease tends to naturally occur in domestic and wild animals like sheep and goats.
The animals can be infected after breathing or ingesting spores from polluted plants, soil, and water.
3200400-60089Identification and Lab Analysis
Anthrax diagnosis is done through culturing Bacillus anthracis from skin lesions,
blood and respiratory excretions.
It can also be done by measuring precise antibodies in the blood of persons with
suspected infection.
Anthrax bacteria tend to have several unique physical features that scientists
utilize in distinguishing them from other bacteria types using a microscope.
0134625For instance, anthrax has a small rod shape and are non-motile.
In patients being diagnosed for anthrax, laboratory testing plays the biggest role.
5130830-669690Disease Process: Reservoir04062726
Anthrax tends to be a zoonotic illness.
This means that it is transmitted from animals to people.
Reservoirs tend to be grass-eating animals, fomites, or soils
polluted with spores.
The spores could live in the setting for years.
Typically, livestock and wildlife herbivorous animals tend to
split blood at death or shed the bacilli in terminal hemorrhages.
2286000-60089Disease Process: Transmission Mode
Most infected people tend to be exposed through working with infected animals.
Also, contact with animal products like hair, wool, and hides can cause the disease.
In case of inhalation of spores present in the air, one can get inhalation anthrax.
This can happen during the industrial procedure of contaminated products like
wool.
0564561Drinking water or eating food contaminated with spores can also lead to infection.
5130830-669690Disease Process: Incubation Period04062726
For cutaneous anthrax, the incubation period tends to be 1 day.
In pulmonary anthrax cases, the incubation period is 1-7 days.
For pulmonary anthrax, the incubation period could also go up to
60 days.
This is normally associated with the late activation of inhaled
spores.
In the gastrointestinal type, incubation is typically 3-7 days.
5130830-669690Threat Level: Occurrence04062726
Signs and symptoms tend to differ depending on the type of anthrax.
Some of the signs include fatigue, chest pain, and breathing
difficulty, fever, headache, skin ulcer, and profuse sweating.
The initial deliberate use of anthrax as a weapon was in early the
1900s.
This was during the first world war.
It has been proved that the German army utilized anthrax to infect
livestock and animal feed that neutral partners traded to Allied
Nations.
5130830-669690Threat Level: Susceptibility
People with specific professions like farmers, veterinarians, and livestock
manufacturers could be more susceptible to the disease.
People who often handle animals and their products are also at great risk.
0220305Laboratory specialists who handle anthrax can also be highly infected and
also the mail handlers.
A recognized instance of non-animal transmission was a bioterrorism attack
that took place in the United States, the year 2001.
22 people got anthrax infection from exposure to spores sent via the mail,
and 5 of the infected died.
3124200-87053Threat Level: Communicability Period
It is extremely rare for th
