High-Tech Terror: Recognition, Management, and Prevention of Biological, Chemical, and Nuclear Injuries Secondary to Acts of Terrorism

• NCJ Number: 230592
• Author(s): Robert S. Cromartie III, M.D., FACS; Richard J. Duma, M.D., Ph.D., FACP
• Date Published: 2009
• Length: 200 pages
• Sale Source: Charles C. Thomas
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Overview Text
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Intended for health care professionals and personnel in emergency response work, this book provides instruction in the prompt recognition and management of patients with injuries from terrorist attacks that involve biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons.

Abstract

Part I, "Biological Agents and Diseases," presents an overview of the identification and classification of biological agents and their associated syndromes. Specific biological agents and associated diseases and syndromes discussed are anthrax, plague, botulism, tularemia, smallpox, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and ricin. Attention is given to the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and containment of these major threats from a biological attack. Part II focuses on chemical warfare agents that may be used by terrorists. Following a review of the history and development of chemical warfare agents, chapters address the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and containment of injuries and diseases due to choking agents (chlorine and phosgene); blistering agents (phosgene oxime, sulfur and nitrogen mustards, and lewisite); and nerve agents. Part III addresses the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and containment of radiation injuries that would stem from a nuclear terrorist attack. Following a review of the history and development of nuclear warfare and terrorism, chapters discuss nuclear weapon systems and how the work, as well as acute radiation syndrome. The historical content that is included in each of the three parts of the book focus on how the respective agents have been and might be weaponized and exploited by terrorists, the likelihood of encountering them, the delivery systems that might be used by terrorists for agent dispersion, the difficulties in promptly recognizing the illnesses the agents produce, and the immediate and secondary consequences of such diseases/injuries. Historical reviews also consider unanticipated problems such medical disasters might bring, including widespread hysteria, crippled health care systems, diminished public safety, economic chaos, and food shortages. 27 tables, 13 figures, 611 references, and a subject index