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Book Review
Biological Weapons Defense:
Infectious Diseases and Counterbioterrorism
Luther E. Lindler, Frank J. Lebeda, and George W. Korch, editors
Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, 2004
ISBN: 1588291847
Pages: 597; Price: US $145.00
Suggested
citation for this article
This insightful text, complete with an eBook version on CD-ROM, is edited
by 3 scientists from the Department of Defense (DOD) and includes 58 contributors
and forewords by David Franz and Mathew Meselson. The 25 chapters are
divided into 4 sections: 1) Preparation and Military Support for a Possible
Bioterrorism Incident, 2) Medical Countermeasures and Decontamination,
3) Emerging Threats and Future Preparation, and 4) Diagnostic Development
for Biowarfare Agents.
Threats discussed include plague, glanders, Q fever, filoviruses (as
a specific example of "a world aswarm with viral zoonoses"),
anthrax, smallpox, brucellosis, botulism, and ricin. Information is also
provided on genetically-engineered protein toxins, as well as genetic
fingerprinting for forensic studies and the use of genomics for the agents
of tularemia, brucellosis, and clostridial gas gangrene.
Notably, several chapters are devoted to critical topics that are often
not found in other books. For example, 2 chapters on aerosol pathogenesis
and "Biological Weapons Defense: Effect Levels" are particularly
relevant given the US Cities Readiness Initiative that involves planning
for an aerosol attack with anthrax or another agent in US metropolitan
areas. Similarly valuable is the chapter on decontamination because it
provides insight on how to respond to the challenge of recreating a safe
environment in which to live and work after a biological attack.
The 25-page chapter on the Global Emerging Infections System (GEIS) of
the DOD as it applies to biodefense is well written. Surveillance systems
used by DOD-GEIS are described, from the Electronic Surveillance System
for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics to newer systems,
along with ways to integrate DOD and civilian surveillance systems. Other
particularly useful chapters that encompass multiple present and potential
future biological threats include those on diagnostics. These 3 chapters
focus on explaining biological threat identification systems, DNA-based
pathogen identification, and immune response–based assays. Taken together,
the 25 chapters of this book are a welcome addition to the growing field
of counterbioterrorism and complement well the mostly clinical publications
already in print.
Daniel R. Lucey*
*Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA
Suggested citation
for this article:
Lucey DR. Biological
weapons defense: infectious diseases and counterbioterrorism [book review].
Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2006 Apr [date cited].
Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no04/06-0090.htm
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