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Biological warfare: Implications for antimicrobial use

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Abstract

Biological warfare is intended to incapacitate a large number of individuals at a single exposure, creating epidemictype disease, death, and social chaos. The organisms with potential for immediate use as bacteriologic weapons are Bacillus anthracis, Brucella melitensis, Yersinia pestis, and Vibrio cholera, all necessitating antibiotic therapy for a cure. It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that a biological attack, or even a hoax, would requiure thousands of individuals over a large area to begin antibiotic therapy. Issues such as antibiotic availability, logistical problems in antibiotic distribution, development of drug resistance, side effects influencing the individual, and adverse effects on the community due to the impact of mass therapy on the ecology, make biological warfare the most apocalyptic scenario for the creation of a "postantibiotic era."

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Infectious Diseases Unit, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Aviv University School of Medicine, 52621, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    Ethan Rubinstein MD & Itzhak Levi MD

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  1. Ethan Rubinstein MD
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  2. Itzhak Levi MD
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Rubinstein, E., Levi, I. Biological warfare: Implications for antimicrobial use. Curr Infect Dis Rep 4, 28–34 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-002-0064-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-002-0064-5

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