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Luciana Borio

Publications and source records attributed to Luciana Borio.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Navigating the storm: report and recommendations from the Atlantic Storm exercise.

Atlantic Storm was a tabletop exercise simulating a series of bioterrorism attacks on the transatlantic community. The exercise occurred on January 14, 2005, in Washington, DC, and was organized and convened by the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC, the Center for Transatlantic Relations of Johns Hopkins University, and the Transatlantic Biosecurity Network. Atlantic Storm portrayed a summit meeting of presidents, prime ministers, and other international leaders from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in which they responded to a campaign of bioterrorist attacks in several countries. The summit principals, who were all current or former senior government leaders, were challenged to address issues such as attaining situational awareness in the wake of a bioattack, coping with scarcity of critical medical resources such as vaccine, deciding how to manage the movement of people across borders, and communicating with their publics. Atlantic Storm illustrated that much might be done in advance to minimize the illness and death, as well as the social, economic, and political disruption, that could be caused by an international epidemic, be it natural or the result of a bioterrorist attack. These lessons are especially timely given the growing concerns over the possibility of an avian influenza pandemic that would require an international response. However, international leaders cannot create the necessary response systems in the midst of a crisis. Medical, public health, and diplomatic response systems and critical medical resources (e.g., medicines and vaccines) must be in place before a bioattack occurs or a pandemic emerges.

Atlantic Ocean↗
PubMed2002

Management of anthrax.

From 3 October 2001 through 16 November 2001, in the United States, there were 18 confirmed cases of inhalational and cutaneous anthrax, an additional 4 suspected cases of cutaneous anthrax, and 5 deaths due to inhalational anthrax. Although the number of cases was relatively small, this experience brought bioterrorism and its potential to sharp focus as thousands of people began receiving prophylactic antibiotics after possible exposure to anthrax spores. These events have resulted in a substantial impact on the health care system, including the rewriting of pneumonia guidelines, new emphasis on identification of microbial etiology, substantial infusion of funds for bioterrorism-related research, and a sudden mandate for regional disaster and public health planning. This article provides clinicians with clinically relevant information about the diagnosis and management of anthrax.

Anthrax↗
PubMed2002

Hemorrhagic fever viruses as biological weapons: medical and public health management.

OBJECTIVE: To develop consensus-based recommendations for measures to be taken by medical and public health professionals if hemorrhagic fever viruses (HFVs) are used as biological weapons against a civilian population. PARTICIPANTS: The Working Group on Civilian Biodefense included 26 representatives from academic medical centers, public health, military services, governmental agencies, and other emergency management institutions. EVIDENCE: MEDLINE was searched from January 1966 to January 2002. Retrieved references, relevant material published prior to 1966, and additional sources identified by participants were reviewed. CONSENSUS PROCESS: Three formal drafts of the statement that synthesized information obtained in the evidence-gathering process were reviewed by the working group. Each draft incorporated comments and judgments of the members. All members approved the final draft. CONCLUSIONS: Weapons disseminating a number of HFVs could cause an outbreak of an undifferentiated febrile illness 2 to 21 days later, associated with clinical manifestations that could include rash, hemorrhagic diathesis, and shock. The mode of transmission and clinical course would vary depending on the specific pathogen. Diagnosis may be delayed given clinicians' unfamiliarity with these diseases, heterogeneous clinical presentation within an infected cohort, and lack of widely available diagnostic tests. Initiation of ribavirin therapy in the early phases of illness may be useful in treatment of some of these viruses, although extensive experience is lacking. There are no licensed vaccines to treat the diseases caused by HFVs.

Aerosols↗