CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN BIOTERRORISM: AN ANALYSIS OF PREVENTION AND RESPONSE STRATEGIES
CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN BIOTERRORISM: AN ANALYSIS OF PREVENTION AND RESPONSE STRATEGIES

Author(s): Maria-Victorița TĂNĂSELEA (CĂLUGĂRU)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Sociology, Security and defense, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: bioterrorism; dissemination; pathogenic agent; disease; panic;
Summary/Abstract: Bioterrorism represents a persistent global threat, alongside other forms of terrorism, and involves the deliberate dissemination of microorganisms with the purpose of causing disease, panic, and terror, with short-, medium-, and long-term effects. The distinctive characteristic of the biological agents employed lies in their volatility, making them particularly preferred as they are difficult to detect, lacking color, taste, smell, sound, or visual signals. Dissemination and contamination occur silently, exacerbated by the fact that humans can serve as primary transmission vectors. The initial signs and symptoms are nonspecific (e.g., fever, myalgia, cough), which often suggest known diseases. However, within an epidemiological context, these signs raise the suspicion of a bioterrorist attack, which must then be confirmed through diagnostic tests. These tests, however, are not universally available for all suspected infectious agents. In the absence of rapid diagnostic tests, specialized laboratories, including international facilities, are utilized alongside the initiation of supportive treatment or presumptive therapy based on the clinical diagnosis. The management of a bioterrorist attack is highly complex, involving the stabilization of patients presenting to emergency departments, concurrent reporting of cases to specialized institutions, and the implementation of measures to limit the spread of the disease and prevent subsequent bioterrorist incidents.

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