It was a long, hard, collaborative effort that brought together 55 scientists to produce a book that will have important implications for every man, woman and child in this country and beyond. Many of the authors of ‘‘Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare” joined with editors and representatives of the publisher at Fort Detrick in January to celebrate its completion and sign copies.
Grounded in a historical perspective the book addresses weaponization of biological agents, categorizing potential agents as food, waterborne, or agricultural agents or toxins, and discusses their respective epidemiology. Descriptions of individual agents and the illnesses induced include recent advances in biomedical knowledge.
Out of 55 authors, 54 were researchers from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
‘‘This book is very important to our national defense, as was the previous volume,” said Col. George Korch, who was involved with the project. ‘‘It contains the scientific, medical and regulatory information to lead our nation for the next 10 years as its predecessor did for the past 10 years.”
Maj. Gen. Gale S. Pollock congratulated the authors for their hard work of researching and writing that was necessary to produce this book.
‘‘It is not realistic to think that terrorists around the world will not continue their work against us,” Pollock said to the packed conference room in USAMRIID. ‘‘I applaud your willingness to talk about things that people don’t like to hear about. We hope this effort will help to educate enough people on the good side of our effort so we can defend our nation.
‘‘This edition of this book will be even more popular and necessary than the last one because of our new sense of urgency about terrorism.”
Maj. Gen. George Weightman said the last edition of the book was ‘‘the most popular and most subscribed book ever published” by the two books’ publisher, Borden Institute, which is part of the United States Army Medical Department, Office of the Surgeon General, Army Medical Department Center and School.
‘‘The fact that this organization (USAMRIID) provided 54 of the 55 authors of this work speaks well of the intellectual capital we have here,” Weightman continued. ‘‘This highlights your role as part of USAMRIID to protect our nation from chemical and biological threats. It doesn’t take a lot (for terrorists) to make and distribute a biological agent. This book provides a countermeasure resource for the entire nation on a local, State, and federal level to help fight the war on terror.”
‘‘Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare” updates the previous edition, published in 1997, of ‘‘Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare.” Updated information on the chemical aspects of biological warfare will be published this spring in a separate volume, according to Col. Martha Lenhart, director of the Borden Institute.
The book provides information on how biological agents can be used as weapons in the war on terror. The book discusses food, waterborne and agricultural agents and the illnesses they produce. Some of the agents discussed — such as anthrax, plague and smallpox — are familiar, even to the general public. Others — such as alphaviruses — are not as familiar, but having information about them is just as important for first responders, epidemiologists and government entities.
‘‘This book — and all our books —- can be ordered through the Borden Institute,” said Lenhart. ‘‘Civilians and civilian organizations also can order the book through the Government Printing Office.”
Janice Rusnak of USAMRIID, was one of the organization’s authors who contributed to the book.
‘‘I was responsible for Chapter 21, which discussed medical countermeasures,” said Rusnak. ‘‘It actually was fun to work on this. I learned a lot. I must say I was very, very impressed with the final product. The organization of the book, the layout and the illustrations were beautifully done and did justice to all our hard work.”
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