Abstract
Timely detection of a deliberate epidemic and the engagement of security and law enforcement forces are of crucial importance, because breaking the epidemiological chain does not guarantee that evil human minds will not start another epidemic. There are four available methods of differentiation between a biological attack and other epidemics: Grunow and Finke (Clin Microbiol Infect 8:510–521, 2002), Dembek et al. (Epidemiol Infect 135: 353–371, 2007), Radosavljevic and Belojevic (Public Health 126: 77–81, 2012) and Radosavljevic (Biopreparedness and public health. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 17–32, 2013). The aim of this study is to compare the application of these four methods on three documented bioterrorist attacks (Salmonellosis – The Dalles, Oregon, 1984; Shigellosis – Dallas, Texas, 1996; Anthrax USA – 2001) one accidental release of a weaponized agent (Anthrax – Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union, 1977) and three unusual epidemiological events (West Nile Virus – NYC 1999; Tularemia, Kosovo, 2000; Escherichia coli O104-H4 outbreak in Germany 2011). The results show that four methods are closely related in differentiation between a biological attack and other epidemics. Dembek et al. method and Radosavljevic & Belojevic method are simplier and most effective during an epidemic. Grunow & Finke method is more complex and most effective after an epidemic. Radosavljevic method is most detailed and allows for a further differential analysis of an unusual epidemiological event.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bachmann DJ, Jamison NK, Martin A, Delgado J, Kman NE (2015) Emergency preparedness and disaster response: there’s an app for that. Prehosp Disaster Med 30:486–490
CDC (1999) Outbreak of West Nile like viral encephalitis – New York 1999. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 48:845–849
Chang M, Glynn MK, Groseclose SL (2003) Endemic, notifiable bioterrorism-related diseases, United States, 1992–1999. Emerg Infect Dis 9:556–564
Dembek ZF, Kortepeter MG, Pavlin JA (2007) Discernment between deliberate and natural infectious disease outbreaks. Epidemiol Infect 135:353–371
Grundmann O (2014) The current state of bioterrorist attack surveillance and preparedness in the US. Risk Manag Health Policy 7:177–187
Grunow R, Finke EJ (2002) A procedure for differentiating between the intentional release of biological warfare agents and natural outbreaks of disease: its use in analyzing the tularemia outbreak in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000. Clin Microbiol Infect 8:510–521
Hsu VP, Lukacs SL, Handzel T et al (2002) Opening a bacillus anthracis-containing envelope, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: the public health response. Emerg Infect Dis 8:1039–1043
Jernigan JA, Stephens DS, Ashford DA et al Bioterrorism Investigation Team (2001) Bioterrorism-related inhalational anthrax: the first 10 cases reported in the United States. Emerg Infect Dis 7:933–944
Kolavic SA, Kimura A, Simons SL, Slutsker L, Barth S, Haley CE (1997) An outbreak of Shigella dysenteriae type 2 among laboratory workers due to intentional food contamination. JAMA 278:396–398
Meselson M, Guillemin J, Hugh-Jones M et al (1994) The Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak of 1979. Science 266:1202–1208
Mostashari F, Bunning ML, Kitsutani PT et al (2001) Epidemic West Nile encephalitis, New York, 1999: results of a household-based seroepidemiological survey. Lancet 358:261–264
National Research Council (US) (2002) Panel on biological issues. Countering bioterrorism: the role of science and technology. National Academies Press (US), Washington, DC
Radosavljevic V (2013) A new method of differentiation between a biological attack and other epidemics. In: Hunger I, Radosavljevic V, Belojevic G, Rotz L (eds) Biopreparedness and public health. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 17–32
Radosavljevic V, Belojevic G (2009) A new model of bioterrorism risk assessment. Biosecur Bioterror 7:443–451
Radosavljevic V, Belojevic G (2012) Unusual epidemic events: a new method of early orientation and differentiation between natural and deliberate epidemics. Public Health 126:77–81
Radosavljevic V, Finke EJ, Belojevic G (2015) Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak in Germany – clarification of the origin of the epidemic. Eur J Pub Health 25:125–129
Radosavljević V, Finke EJ, Belojević G (2016) Analysis of Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak in Germany in 2011 using differentiation method for unusual epidemiological events. Cent Eur J Public Health 24:9–15
Török TJ, Tauxe RV, Wise RP et al (1997) A large community outbreak of salmonellosis caused by intentional contamination of restaurant salad bars. JAMA 278:389–395
Wagar E (2016) Bioterrorism and the role of the clinical microbiology laboratory. Clin Microbiol Rev 29:175–189
World Health Organization (2000) Outbreak news. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 75:133
Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the Serbian Ministry of Educatiuon, Science and Technological Development, Contract No. 175078.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Belojevic, G. (2018). Comparison of the Available Methods of Differentiation Between a Biological Attack and Other Epidemics. In: Radosavljevic, V., Banjari, I., Belojevic, G. (eds) Defence Against Bioterrorism. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series A: Chemistry and Biology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1263-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1263-5_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-1262-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-1263-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)