Loading...
A biological attack using an aerosol of weaponized Bacillus anthracis would be a devastating event, taxing available medical resources at the locale affected and carrying a projected mortality of at least 50%. Triage would involve, at the very least, consideration of which affected people needed immediate, life-saving intravenous antibiotics versus those who could receive oral antibiotics for cutaneous illness or as prophylaxis.
Using data from a 2001 B. anthracis attack in the U.S., researchers created a checklist of signs and symptoms that could be used by first responders with little or no medical training to provide treatment screening of an exposed population. Classically, inhalation anthrax produces constitutional, respiratory, gastroi…