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Plague |
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| Plague as a Bioweapon |
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Yersinia pestis used in an aerosol attack could cause cases of pneumonic plague.
One to six days after becoming infected with the bacteria, people would develop pneumonic plague. Once people have the disease,
the bacteria can spread to others who have close contact with them. Because of the delay between being exposed to the bacteria
and becoming sick, people could travel over a large area before becoming ill and possibly infecting others. Controlling the disease
would then be more difficult. A bioweapon carrying Y. pestis is possible because the bacterium is available and
could be isolated and grown in quantity in a laboratory. Even so, manufacturing an effective weapon using Y. pestis
would require advanced knowledge and technology.
Plague has been identified by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a "Category A" agent, meaning it has been given high priority
due to its potential threat to national security. The following references provide information on the use of plague as a bioweapon
and associated issues to be considered during a plague outbreak.
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Plague Information.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Contains extensive information
regarding plague as a bioweapon, including fact sheets, overviews, FAQs, diagnosis
and evaluation, infection control, laboratory testing, surveillance and investigation,
selected publications, and education and training materials.
- Textbooks of Military Medicine: Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare.
Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army, (2007). Addresses the
weaponization of biological agents, categorizing potential agents as food,
waterborne, or agricultural agents or toxins, and discusses their respective
epidemiology.
- Chapter 5: Plague. Worsham PL, McGovern TW, et al, 10 MB
PDF, 30 pages. Provides a thorough review of plague, including its history
and epidemiology, as well as biological warfare and clinical issues.
- USAMRIID's Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook,
Sixth Edition. US Army Medical
Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), (2005,
April), 2 MB
PDF, 187 pages. Provides
recommendations regarding medical response to a biological warfare attack on a
civilian or military population. Specific information on a number of
potential bioterrorist agents is supplied, including plague. Also known as the
"Bluebook",
- Hoffman RE, Norton JE. Lessons Learned from a Full-Scale Bioterrorism Exercise.
Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2000 Nov-Dec;6(6). Describes a simulated bioterrorist
attack during the Topoff exercise in 2000. Participants were told that a Yersinia
pestis aerosol had been covertly released, leading to more than 2,000 cases of
pneumonic plague, many deaths, and hundreds of secondary cases resulting in
pneumonic plague.
- Inglesby TV, Dennis DT, et al. Plague as a Biological Weapon: Medical and Public Health Management.
JAMA. 2000 May 3;283(17):2281-90. Considers the prospect of an aerosol release of Y. pestis bacteria, and provides
information on epidemiology, infection signs and symptoms, diagnosis and
monitoring, vaccination, medical treatment, infection control, environmental
decontamination, and more.
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