Category B potential bioterrorism agents: bacteria, viruses, toxins, and foodborne and waterborne pathogens.

摘要

Category B of potential weapons of bioterrorism is by far the broadest, because it includes a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and toxins. Category B agents have been listed both by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [1] and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Biodefense Research [2]. The NIAID list is practically an expanded, detailed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list, and it is used as the basis of this article (Box 1). Inclusion of a certain pathogen in this list implicates either its attractive nature as a potential bioweapon that is accompanied by a low ability to cause massively destructive (and socially deconstructive) consequences, or an ability to induce major public health consequences that is accompanied by certain difficulties in the development and execution of a potential attack (and low probability). Basic aspects of the pathogens included in category B, along with important parameters related to their potential as biological weapons, are discussed.