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FEBRUARY 1999 CONTENTS
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RETURN TO Rx AGAINST TERROR
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AUTHOR'S NOTEBOOK
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RELATED SITES
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A F F A I R S
The Deadliest Five
Cell Photos Courtesy
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and U.S. Army Military Research Institute of
Infectious Diseases
| Description | Symptoms | Fatality Rate | Treatment | |
 (Inhalational) Anthrax Bacillus anthracis |
Inhaled spores germinate and release toxins, causing swelling in chest cavity. Possible blood and brain infection. | Fever, fatigue, and malaise, starting within two to 46 days; progresses to chest pain, cough, rapid deterioration of health. | Kills more than 85 percent of those it infects, often within one to three days after symptoms appear. | Antibiotics (preferably ciprofloxacin) should be given before symptoms appear. Vaccine available, though not to civilians. |
 Smallpox Variola Virus |
Very contagious, airborne disease. | About 12 to 14 days after infection. Fever, aches, vomiting, rash of small red spots that grow into larger, painful pustules covering the body. | Fatal in 30 percent of unvaccinated patients. | No treatment. U.S. has vaccine for about 6 million people. Only a fraction of those vaccinated before 1972 still protected. |
 (Pneumonic) Plague Yersinia Pestis |
Natural, flea-borne form causes bubonic plague. Gravest threat is posed by aerosol, leading to pneumonic plague. | High fever, headache, and bloody cough; progresses to labored breathing, bluish-grayish skin color, respiratory failure and death. | If untreated, a person with pneumonic plague will almost always die within one to two days after symptoms begin. | Various antibiotics including streptomycin and gentamicin. Isolate patients. |
 Viral Hemorrhagic Fever |
Highly infectious RNA viruses including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, and dengue fever. Spread by rodents, ticks, mosquitoes. | Vary from one type of HFV to the next. include fever, muscle aches, exhaustion, internal bleeding. | Varies. Death rate from dengue is as low as 1 percent. Ebola fatality rates have reached 90 percent. | Mainly supportive therapy. Anti-viral drug ribavirin useful in treating some viruses but not others (Ebola, Marburg). |
 (Inhalational) Botulism Clostridium botulinum) |
Produces toxin that blocks nerve signals, inhibits muscle movement. Weapon would most likely aerosolize toxin. | Difficulty swallowing food, mental numbness, muscle paralysis, possible breathing failure. | Inhalational form: Difficult to say since only a handful of cases have been recorded. | Patients with respiratory paralysis should be placed on ventilator. Antitoxin given early may prevent progression. |
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