© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society
EDITORIAL
Bioterrorism
Bioterrorism: the lung under attack
1 Department of Health, Skipton House, London Road, London SE1 6LH, UK
2 National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College, Dovehouse Street, London SW3 6LY, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr T D Tetley
Lung Cell Biology, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College, Dovehouse Street, London SW3 6LY, UK; t.tetley@imperial.ac.uk
Role of respiratory physicians in preparing for bioterrorist attacks
Keywords: bioterrorism
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Bioterrorism is a "hot topic"; a search of the literature and the internet reveals an explosion of publications, government strategies, and guidelines, as well as advice for the general public. Bioterrorism differs from "biowarfare" in the sense that the threat emanates from terrorist groups rather than nation states. Unlike conventional warfare, where the enemy, underlying circumstances and likely mode of warfare are known and understood, terrorism is less easy to predict—being sometimes aimed against seemingly random targets with little regard for the lives of civilian victims or that of the perpetrator. Chemical and biological weapons are very effective agents for terrorists whose strategy is not only to injure but also to instil terror and disorder into daily life, which may have long lasting psychological, economic, and political consequences. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 and subsequent deliberate release of anthrax into the community
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