Biological Agents

Introduction of diseases via bioterrorism can actually occur with any of the unintentional or accidental routes of introduction; the only difference between the two mechanisms is the conscious intent of an individual or group. One alarming aspect of bioterrorism is the relative ease of availability of these agents and the lack of complicated equipment and technology required for using them. How likely a pathogen is to be used as a bioterrorism agent is dictated by how easily it can be acquired as well as its innate infectiousness, contagiousness, virulence, and pathogenicity. However, the magnitude of a given bioterrorist impact is most heavily influenced by how quickly the agent is recognized and contained, how rapidly a response is mobilized, and the availability of control and treatment options.

Below are two lists of biological agents and diseases that are thought to pose the greatest threat to animal and public health. Although some agents are common to both lists, most of them are not. It is important to remember that the agents useful to the agroterrorist are primarily those that detrimentally impact economic trade, whereas the agents used in bioterrorist attacks against humans are chosen to elicit human mortality and cause fear.

1. Foot and Mouth disease virus
2. Classical swine fever virus
3. African swine fever virus
4. Rinderpest virus
5. Rift Valley fever virus
6. Avian influenza virus
7. Velogenic viscerotropic Newcastle disease virus (VVND)
8. Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus
9. Bluetongue virus
10. Sheep and goat pox virus
11. Pseudorabies virus (Aujeszky’s disease)
12. Vesicular stomatitis virus
13. Teschen disease virus (porcine enterovirus 1)
14. Porcine enterovirus type 9
15. Lyssaviruses and rabies viruses
16. Lumpy skin disease virus
17. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
18. African horse sickness virus
19. Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)
20. Chlamydia psittaci (ornithosis, psittacosis, chlamydiosis)
21. Cowdria ruminantium (heartwater, cowdriosis)
22. Screwworm (myiasis)

From Emerging Diseases of Animals, eds. Brown, C. and Bolin, C. Chapter 3, ASM Press, Washington, D.C., 2000.

Category A (highest priority)

1. Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)
2. Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism)
3. Yersinia pestis (plague)
4. variola major (smallpox)
5. Francisella tularensis (tularemia)
6. Viral hemorrhagic fever

Category B (second highest priority)

7. Coxiella burnetti (Q fever)
8. Brucella species (brucellosis)
9. Burkholderia mallei (glanders)
10. Ricin toxin from Ricinus communis (castor beans)
11. Epsilon toxin of Clostridium perfringens
12. Staphylococcus enterotoxin B

Category C (third highest priority)

13. Nipah virus
14. Hantaviruses
15. Tickborne hemorrhagic fever viruses
16. Tickborne encephalitis viruses
17. Yellow fever
18. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

List compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of 5/07/01. For information of category classification, please see: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/Agent/Agentlist.asp

Emerging Diseases of Animals, eds. Brown, C. and Bolin, C. Chapter 3, ASM Press, Washington, D.C., 2000.

The Organization for Safety and Asepsis Procedures (OPSA) website: http://www.osap.org/training/symp/2000/summary/bioterrorism.htm

The CDC’s Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program Website http://www.bt.cdc.gov/