Bioterrorism Web Sites for Pharmacists

The threat of a biological terrorist attack has propelled many government and healthcare organizations to prepare a response action plan. Since pharmacists have a role in responding to a biological attack, pharmacists need access to relevant bioterrorism information. Multiple websites provide bioterrorism information, and a guide for their use can facilitate finding relevant information in a timely manner. The purpose of this webpage is to provide a brief list of healthcare-related websites that are essential to pharmacists by addressing bioterrorism and identify those websites that contain the most easily accessible, comprehensive, and pharmacy-specific information. This page will be updated as additional resources become available. A brief description of key information available at each website is presented below. Information presented below is based upon a manuscript (Misita C, Boosinger A, Kendrach MG. Bioterrorism websites for pharmacists. Ann Pharmacother 2003;37:132-35) published in the journal Annals of Pharmacotherapy.(http://www.theannals.com/) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

• Includes biological weapon information addressing: causative organism (e.g., anthrax, smallpox, botulism, plague, tularemia, viral hemorrhagic fevers), mode of transmission, incubation period, signs/symptoms, and treatment.
• Presents the Emergency Preparedness and Response Inventory (EPRI), which can be used to determine a geographic location's capacity to respond to an attack.
• Provides links to state and local health department websites.
• Considered a primary website for bioterrorism information; a multitude of other websites link to this site.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 

• Presents links to CDC web page, Department of Health and Human Services web page, National Library of Medicine web page, and webpages of other government organizations.
• Presents information regarding threats to the food supply and appropriate preparedness steps.

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) 

• Provides links to the CDC, the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS), and various public health and professional organizations.
• Contains citations/links to journal articles and books pertaining to the pharmacist's role in bioterrorism, background information on bioterrorism, and bioterrorism agent-specific data.
• Contains an ASHP statement pertaining to the health-system pharmacists' role in counterterrorism with advice concerning preliminary preparation for hospital and health-system pharmacists.

American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) Information unique to this site includes:

• Discussion of the effects of US mail irradiation on medications shipped through the postal service.
• Regulations outlining traveling with diabetes supplies (i.e., lancet, needle) that may be used as a weapon.
• Statement addressing the promotion of consumer antibiotic stockpiling by internet pharmacies.
• Online continuing education (CE) program addressing the following issues: diseases from biological and chemical terrorism, patient counseling on the subject, and treatment/decontamination strategies.

American Medical Association (AMA) 

• Includes a quick reference guide (in PDF format) for each bioterrorism agent; presents the incubation period, clinical syndrome, lethality, diagnostic tests, treatment, vaccine, and prophylaxis guidelines for the bioterrorism agents.
• Includes multiple Consensus statements from JAMA concerning bioterrorism agents.

Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies 

• Presents unique bioterrorism issues not addressed by other sites.

Recommendations for locating bioterrorism information on the Internet

• Visit the CDC website first for the most current biological agent information as well as contact numbers for health departments; a rationally designed web page that is easy to navigate.
• For information addressing food safety, visit the FDA website.
• For additional agent-specific data, visit the AMA website.
• For pharmacy-specific information, access the ASHP website (advice to prepare a hospital for responding to a bioterrorism attack) and APhA website (sections regarding irradiation of mail and traveling with diabetes supplies).

Persons Traveling with Disabilities and Medical Conditions  

• Air travel with medications, diabetic supplies, etc. 

Irradiation of U.S. Mail

• Concerns with mailing medications and other products 

Information on this page was prepared by: Caron Misita, Pharm.D. Candidate Reviewed by: Andrea Boosinger, Pharm.D. and Mike Kendrach, Pharm D.
Original: August 2002
Last update: Feb 4, 05