Bioterrorism : an update with a focus on anthrax.

The current problem with anthrax, a disease of antiquity with a reputation that has exceeded its actual impact on human health, has brought into reality the meaning of bioterrorism. No matter how prepared a population may be, bioterrorism cannot be prevented. The first case or cases will occur and will serve to alert the authorities to initiate the preexisting plan to limit the quantitation of the bioterrorist event.

Psychiatric disorders in rescue workers after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Psychiatric disorders were studied in a volunteer group of 181 firefighters who served as rescue/recovery workers after the Oklahoma City bombing.

METHOD:

Approximately 34 months after the disaster, the authors retrospectively assessed psychopathology both before and after the bombing with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Findings for male rescue workers were compared with those of male primary victims who had been in the direct path of the blast and who had been assessed with the same instrument.

RESULTS:

The implications of terrorism for public health.

The true historical significance of any event can only be assessed 50 years after it has
happened but the view that 'things will never be the same after September 11th'now seems
to be widely accepted. While some Europeans have lived with the threat of terrorism for
many years, in regions such as Northern Ireland or the Basque country, the events in the US
have added new dimensions in their scale (up to 5,000 deaths in a single day) and nature ...

The impact on health and risk factors of the diarrhoea epidemics in the 1998 Bangladesh floods.

Abstract

The 1998 flood in Bangladesh ravaged approximately 60% of the land and affected over 30 million people. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of the flood on the health of the communities affected and to explore factors associated with episodes of diarrhoea.

Protean nature of mass sociogenic illness : from possessed nuns to chemical and biological terrorism fears.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Episodes of mass sociogenic illness are becoming increasingly recognised as a significant health and social problem that is more common than is presently reported.

AIMS:

To provide historical continuity with contemporary episodes of mass sociogenic illness in order to gain a broader transcultural and transhistorical understanding of this complex, protean phenomenon.

METHOD:

Literature survey to identify historical trends.

RESULTS:

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