Bioterrorism has attacked the United States with viruses and bacteria that pose a high risk to the public, easily spreads and results in high death rates in short amounts of time; this frightening dilemma should be handled and addressed seriously for future prevention. Bioterrorism is a release of agents that come from nature, but can be manipulated to have the ability to cause serious diseases: Anthrax, Small Pox, Cholera, and Malaria are some of the examples of biological agents. All of these biological agents cause social disruption and require special action to prepare for defense. Terrorists may use some of these diseases to distract their predators, because they are extremely difficult to detect and take several days to recognize; therefore …show more content…
There are three categories: category one, two and three. Category one is considered the first priority of risk where the agents can easily spread from person to person, have increasing death rates and can potentially cause damage to the public health. Category two is the second highest risk in classifications where agents need enhancements and specific laboratory capacity and have lower death and illness rates than the first category. The third category consists of agents that are upcoming and could be worked on for mass distribution in the future. These classifications of agents can easily spread or produce and have the potential for high mortality rates and major health defects. In all reality, no matter what classifications these biological agents are in, there is a high chance of illness and or death. The CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention) have come up with many ways to try and exclude as many members of the biological agents as …show more content…
Biological agents are simply invisible and are not detectable by x-rays or metal detectors. The first indications of an attack are the symptoms that are revealed by those who are exposed. Those exposed may not develop these symptoms immediately, but can show up days or several weeks after the bioweapon is dispersed. These symptoms are most commonly mistaken for the common flu when examined by a healthcare professional. The common biological agents that one may be familiar with are Anthrax, Smallpox, Malaria and others, but there are many more that not only terrorists use for attacking. There are five different types of biological agents: bacteria, rickettsiae, viruses, fungi, and toxins (Wenner). Bacteria as we all know can cause deadly diseases such as the Plague or Tularemia and are single-celled organisms. Rickettsiae are microorganisms that are similar to bacteria but are parasites that reproduce insides of cells. Typhus and Q fever are examples of diseases that are causes by the Rickettsiae parasites. Viruses are intercellular parasites that are ten times smaller than the size of bacteria, and diseases like the Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis are caused by these little parasites. Therefore, fungi are used in food and can be weaponized to use against crops to