FAQs

Anthrax Awareness

Potential Exposure Response

Suspicious Parcels or Packages

Chemical/Biological Agents Tutorial

Industrial Chemicals

Biological Agents

Commonly Asked Questions

Anthrax Awareness and Precautions

Background

Bacillus Anthracis are single-cell organisms that cause anthrax. A bacterial disease, anthrax occurs in domesticated and wild animals, including goats, sheep, cattle, horses and deer.

The skin form of the disease is contracted by handling contaminated hair, wool, hides, flesh, blood or excreta of infected animals and from manufactured products such as bone meal. Infection is introduced through scratches or abrasions of the skin, wounds, inhalation of spores, eating insufficiently cooked infected meat or from flies. The spores are very stable and may remain viable for many years in soil and water. They will resist sunlight for varying periods. Anthrax is not spread from one person to another person.

For more information on Anthrax, please refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) FAQ's on Anthrax: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/anthrax_g.htm#currissue

Responding to Potential Exposures

Some facilities in communities around the country have received Anthrax threat letters. Most were empty envelopes; some have contained powdery substances. Anthrax organisms can cause infection in the skin, gastrointestinal system, or the lungs. To do, so the organism must be rubbed into abraded skin, swallowed, or inhaled as a fine, aerosolized mist. Disease can be prevented after exposure to the anthrax spores by early treatment with the appropriate antibiotics

For anthrax to be effective as a covert agent, it must be aerosolized into very small particles. This is difficult to do, and requires a great deal of technical skill and special equipment. If these small particles are inhaled, life-threatening lung infection can occur, but prompt recognition and treatment are effective.

Extra precautions are being taken in mailrooms across the country to guard against this hazard. The purpose of the below guidelines is to establish procedures for handling such potential exposure incidents.

The first step is to be on the lookout for suspicious parcels. According to the United States Postal Service (USPS) and the FBI.

Some typical characteristics of suspicious parcels are:

• Parcels that are unexpected or from someone unfamiliar to you.
  
• Parcels with handwritten or poorly typed addresses.
  
• Parcels with excessive postage.
  
• Parcels with misspelled common words.
  
• Parcels with excessive security material, such as masking tape or string.
  
• Parcels that are addressed to someone no longer with your organization or have incorrect titles or have a title, but no name.
  
• Parcels that have no return address, or have one that can't be verified as legitimate.
  
• Parcels that are of unusual or excessive weight given their size, or are lopsided or oddly shaped or have an uneven envelope.
  
• Parcels that are marked with restrictive endorsements, such as "Personal" or "Confidential."
  
• Parcels with protruding wires or aluminum foil, strange odors, oily stains, or discolorations.
  
• Parcels that show a city or state in the postmark that doesn't match the return address.
  
• Parcels with a ticking sound

If you or your employees do encounter a suspicious mailpiece or package:

• Do not try to open the mailpiece. Do not shake or empty the contents of any suspicious envelope or package. If an envelope has powder and the powder spills out, DO NOT try to clean up the powder. Cover the spilled contents immediately with anything (e.g., clothing, paper, trash can, etc.) and do not remove this cover.
  
• Isolate the mailpiece. Place the envelope or package in a plastic bag or some other type of container to prevent leakage of contents. If you do not have any container, then cover the envelope or package with anything (e.g., clothing, paper, trash can, etc.) and do not remove this cover.
  
• Evacuate the immediate area. Leave the room and close the door, or section off the area to prevent others from entering.
  
• Wash your hands with soap and water to prevent spreading any powder to your face.
  
• Contact your local law enforcement agency. If you are at work, then report the incident to local police, and notify your building security official or an available supervisor.
  
• List all people who were in the room or area when this suspicious letter or package was recognized. Give this list to both the local public health authorities and law enforcement officials for follow-up investigations and advice.

If you may have had contact with an unknown powdery substance:

• Remove heavily contaminated clothing as soon as possible and place in a plastic bag, or some other container that can be sealed. This clothing bag should be given to the emergency responders for proper handling.
  
• Shower with soap and water as soon as possible. Do not use bleach or other disinfectant on your skin.
  
• If possible, list all people who were in the room or area, especially those who had actual contact with the powder. Give this list to both the local public health authorities so that proper instructions can be given for medical follow-up, and to law enforcement officials for further investigation.
  

Chemical and Biological Agents: A Tutorial

Document Number: 227

Introduction

Chemical and biological (CB) agents pose a threat to U.S. and allied military forces. Unfortunately, what strictly used to be a military risk has now become a concern to the civilian population—brought about by terrorist groups and other factions with developed CB capabilities. As a result, national, state and local authorities have initiated domestic preparedness against CB terrorism. Although the probability of a terrorist CB attack is low, it’s important to have an understanding of the potentially devastating and far-reaching effects of these agents.

There are several reasons for heightened interest in CB agents: the potential for large numbers of casualties; the psychological impact of their potential use; and the relative ease of their acquisition and/or production. Moreover, it is extremely difficult to identify the acquisition of a CB agents due to the widespread availability of the related technology and raw materials. Regardless of whether CB agents are actually used, the mere potential for use can cause significant concern and disruption.

Chemical Agents

Chemical agents are toxic substances that cause incapacitation or death upon exposure. There are four general types of “traditional” chemical agents—choking, blood, blister and nerve—that vary in their toxicity, mode of action and effect. Characteristics for several of these common chemical agents are given in the table below . . .

Choking agents are the oldest known chemical warfare agents and have a corrosive effect on the respiratory system. Breathing these agents causes pulmonary edema where the lungs fill with fluid and choke the victim—also known as “dry land drowning.” Choking agents are heavy gases and tend to stay close to the ground but tend to dissipate rapidly in a breeze. Examples include phosgene and chlorine.

Blood agents were used to a limited extent in World War I. They are fast acting, highly poisonous chemicals. This class of agent inactivates the enzyme cytochrome oxidase which prevents the normal uptake of oxygen by the cells, causing damage to body tissues. Blood agents are highly volatile and enter the body through the act of breathing. In a gaseous state they dissipate rapidly in the air. Examples include hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride.

Vesicant (blister) agents were initially used by Germany in World War I and are casualty-producing compounds. Released as liquids, these agents cause painful, debilitating blisters on exposed skin and can also affect unprotected eyes and lungs. Effects occur within a few minutes to hours of exposure. The blisters from sulfur mustard exposure heal very slowly and are more susceptible to infection than chemical or physical burns. Examples include sulfur and nitrogen mustard.

Nerve agents are the most toxic chemical agents which can cause death in minutes. They can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin. This category is further broken down into G-series and V-series.

Discovered in the 1930s by German scientists, G-series nerve agents are organophosphorus compounds that inhibit the action of the acetyl cholinesterase enzyme. As a result, large amounts of the chemical acetylcholine build up within the nervous system, which cause hyperactivity of the muscles and body organs stimulated by these nerves. Examples include sarin, tabun and soman.

V-series nerve agents were researched by the British in the 1950s and are similar to G-series nerve agents. However, they are more advanced than G-series agents and are generally more toxic and less volatile. They also pose a greater skin penetration hazard. An example of a V-agent is VX.

Industrial Chemicals

Although countries generally focus on traditional agents (choking, blood, blister and nerve), terrorist groups may use readily available toxic industrial chemicals as well. In fact, several compounds initially developed for military use in wartime, such as phosgene and chlorine, are commonly used in industry today. There are a wide variety of potential chemicals that could be used for malicious purposes including:

• Organophosphate pesticides—such as malathion and parathion. Chemically related to nerve agents but are not nearly as toxic. These compounds disrupt the acetyl cholinesterase enzyme just like nerve agents.
  
• Carbamates—produce the same effects as nerve agents and organophosphate pesticides, but are not structurally related. An example is Sevin R.
  
• Metallic poisons—affect a person in a variety of ways and are usually inhalation or ingestion hazards. Arsenic trioxide is a metallic poison.

Biological Agents

One of the most insidious aspects of biological agents is their extraordinary potential for covert use. Biological agents are undetectable by the human senses and can be readily released from stand off distances. Clinical symptoms usually do not appear for days to a week or more after an attack. Since the biological agent attack may not be detected, initial cases of exposure may not be attributed to it. This would make it extremely difficult to adequately respond to exposure of a large number of people and to identify the culprits. One disadvantage to the use of biological agents is that many are rapidly degraded upon exposure to certain conditions in the environment, such as ultraviolet and visible radiation, heat, drying or humidity.

Pathogens are living organisms that can cause diseases in humans. Pathogens include bacteria, viruses and fungi and vary considerably in their lethality and physiological effects. Toxins are also classified as biological agents even though they are non-living sub-stances. The table below provides characteristics for several common biological agents.

Bacteria are single-cell organisms that can be grown and developed by terrorists. Examples include Francisella tularensis and Bacillus anthracis (see table below), the cause of tularemia and anthrax.

Viruses are submicroscopic organisms that require living cells to produce and multiply. Variola major, the causative agent of smallpox, is a virus that could be used as a biological agent.

Fungi usually do not affect healthy individuals but they can pose a significant hazard to plants such as crops. Cereal rust is an example of a fungal agent.

Toxins are metabolic by-products of living organisms, such as microbes, insects, snakes and plants. They can also be artificially produced. Ricin, for example, is a toxin extracted from castor beans.

The characteristics and effects of biological agents vary; Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of the plague, has the potential to inflict epidemics while Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) spores can contaminate soil for decades. Toxins can take effect within hours and most are more deadly than the synthesized chemical nerve agents. Biological agents can be spread through the contamination of food and water supplies or via aerosol dissemination. An example of food contamination would be the use of Salmonella typhii which produces symptoms similar to that of food poisoning.

Dissemination Devices

Terrorist groups can acquire common devices to disseminate CB agents and readily adapt them for ill-conceived purposes. Agents can be distributed using simple containers such as glass bottles or modified aerosol generators. Ease of dissemination is highlighted by the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo, in which ordinary plastic bags were used to release the nerve agent sarin in the Tokyo subway system.

In general, the effects of chemical agents occur more rapidly and contaminate smaller areas than biological agents (on a per weight basis). Biological agents however, can cover vast areas, resulting in large numbers of indiscriminate casualties comparable to that of nuclear devastation.

Commonly Asked Questions

Q. What is the physical state of chemical agents?
A. Chemical agents come in all states (liquid, gas, solid), however, most are liquids. Some of the original compounds used in war were gases— simply because they were readily and commercially available. Therefore, the use of terms like mustard “gas” and nerve “gas” is not necessarily correct.

Q. Do any of the chemical agents have odors?
A. Yes, depending on the chemical and its purity. For example, distilled sulfur mustard is odorless while a less-pure sample would have a faint garlic smell. The nerve agents sarin and VX are odorless; the choking agent phosgene smells like freshly mown hay, while hydrogen cyanide has an odor of bitter almonds.

Q. I have seen chemical agents referenced as letters. What does this mean?
A. The U.S. military uses digraphs to identify chemical agents. Examples include GB (sarin), HD (distilled sulfur mustard), CG (phosgene) and VX for the chemical compound O-ethyl-S-(2-diiso-propylaminoethyl) methyl phosphonothiolate. The chemical name, trade name/synonym or digraph are used interchangeably.

Q. Are toxins classified as chemical agents or biological agents?
A. The U.S. military categorizes toxins as biological agents. However, other countries or groups may con-sider toxins to be more similar to chemical agents. Toxins are in a “gray area” because they are non-living substances, similar to chemical compounds, but are produced by living organisms.

Q. What is a “causative agent” when discussing biological warfare?
A. Microorganisms are specifically identified by their genus and species. Many people refer to biological agents simply as Tularemia, Anthrax and the Plague. In fact, these terms are the diseases that the microor-ganisms cause. For example, the biological agent named Bacillus anthracis causes the disease we know as anthrax.

Sources for More Information

For further information on chemical and biological warfare issues and the efforts underway to counter these threats, please contact federal, state or local emergency management agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition, the U.S. Army's Domestic Preparedness Chemical and Biological Helpline can be reached at 1-800-368-6498. To report a chemical release or a known or suspected terrorist threat contact the National Response Center and Terrorist Hotline at 1-800-424-8802.

Additional Sources of Information

U.S. Army’s Soldier and Biological Chemical Command:
Web site: http://www.apgea.army.mil/

Department of Defense’s focal point for CB defense scientific and technical information:
Web site: http://www.cbiac.apgea.army.mil/

U.S. Army Surgeon General’s source for nuclear, biological and chemical medical information:
Web site: http://www.nbc-med.org/

The State Department’s Arms Control and Disarmament Agency:
Web site: http://www.acda.gov/

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