Bioterrorism: what is the threat?

Abstract

The usefulness of an agent for bioterrorism depends on a number of factors including the mode of transmission, the infectivity of the agent, its stability and the environmental conditions. If the agent is readily transmissible as an aerosol, then its potential as a bioterrorist agent is greatly enhanced. However, the infectivity of different agents can vary from as low as 0.2 virus infectious units for measles, to 10 for Q fever and tularaemia, 180 for Shigella flexneri, at least 1300 for anthrax, 105 for typhoid, 108 for cholera and 109 for shigellosis.