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PHARMACY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (PERT): ROLE UNRAVELLED IN BIOTERRORISM |
ANUBHUTI SONI, ABHISHEK SONI, SACHDEV YADAV |
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Throughout history, warriors have sought to devise more effective means of mass destruction and this urge to win over others have given a birth to a totally new breed of weapons, called as "BIOWEAPONS". Biological weapons have been of interest for centuries and have been utilized in numerous battles. Today State-sponsored programs have intensively researched optimal organisms and techniques for their dissemination. Large stockpiles of such altered bioweapons now exist and are available for terrorist use. These Biological attacks from terrorist groups pose a serious risk to both civilians and members of the armed forces. Biological weapons can cause fatalities to a far greater extent than chemical weapons, are inexpensive to manufacture, can be used over large distances with ease, and can be delivered in a variety of ways, such as bombs, missiles, and sprays. It has been estimated that a 30-kg load of anthrax delivered over 10 square kilometers would result in 20,000 to 100,000 deaths. A biological attack such as this could result in an unprecedented number of civilian casualties. The release of a biological weapon would endanger the emergency medical personnel who were the first to respond and rapidly spread throughout the general public. Eventually, local resources would be overwhelmed. Furthermore, an attack may take several days to be recognized if the incubation period or duration of illness is prolonged. In these cases, the number of deaths would escalate in the days after the attack. |
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