Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Threats, Significance, And Management

Identification of the Threats Caused by Weapons of Mass Destruction

Discuss about the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism.

A weapon of mass destruction is just a chemical, radiological, nuclear or biological that kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans or cause damage to structures made by humans such as buildings. This term originally coined in reference to aerial bombing with chemical explosives.

The aim of this assignment is to identify the numerous threats caused by the weapon of mass destruction such as biological, radiological, chemical agents and various signs and symptoms associated with them.

The weapon of mass destruction entails radiological management, biological and chemical agents with the ability to cause death at low doses and with serious long-term health side effects in survivors.

Psychological victims can manifest symptoms similar to those of exposure to chemical agents, posing a diagnostic challenge for hospital care provider.

Weapons of mass destruction and their associated delivery system pose a threat to the national security of the country and that is the reason why a number of activities are pursued to counter paramilitary and terrorist threats from biological, nuclear and chemical agents (Kibaroglu, 2009, p. 233).

Weapons of mass destruction threats

• Threats concealed or overt.
• Strategic and economic targets for example crops, food, and animals.
• Delivery systems for example spraying, mines, bombs and hand grenades.
• More than one agent may be used in an attack.

  In the weapon of mass destruction, there are routes of entry. These are ways in which the toxic and hazardous materials can enter the body which include;

1. Absorption which can take place through the skin
2. Injection whereby the toxic materials enter the body via bloodstream in case one has a wound or needle injection.
3. Ingestion and this comes as a result of taking contaminated fluid or food.
4. Inhalation whereby the toxic materials are inhaled into the mucous membrane of the nose, upper respiratory tract and lungs via spray devices(Duncan, 2014, p. 34).

  There are five categories of terrorist weapons of mass destructions and they include;

• Biological
• Chemicals
• Explosives
• Nuclear
• Incendiary

These are living organisms in form of liquid droplets or dry powders causing disease or harm. The use of biological agents is attractive to terrorist since they are cheap and they do not require deep technology to deliver produce. The signs and symptoms of diseases produced as a result of biological agents can take a day or a week to develop. The following solutions should alert the worker of a health facility to the possibility of bioterrorism event (Currance, 2007, p. 34).

• Group of patients from a single location management.
• A large number of fatalities
• An unusual number of dead or sick animals or people.
• Uncommon disease among the patients
• Types of Biological Agents

1. Bacteria such as plague, anthrax, and tularemia
2. Viruses such as Ebola, Lassa, and smallpox

• Toxins such as ricin, mycotoxins, and botulism

This is an event whereby the nuclear agent is used as a weapon of terrorism and involve the explosion of a nuclear bomb of a volatile device that includes nuclear resources. Food and other products can be contaminated as a result of radioactive materials (Oday, 2009, p. 23).

The number of chemical agents was vesicants (mustard agent or blister), blood agents (cyanide) and nerve agent (sarin, soman, and tabun),  impairment to the respiratory tract, eyes, and the skin are caused by the mustard agents and its longstanding effects such as damage to respiratory, blindness, cancers, immune and reproductive system (Cordesman, 2007, p. 123).

Routes of Entry in Weapons of Mass Destruction

1. Simple radiological devices which spread radioactive materials.
2. Radiological disperse device which kills those closest to a bomb

       The chemical agents act within a minute and people exposed to it will develop symptoms immediately and this what makes the difference when compared to biological agents. The primary route of the exposure of chemical agents is inhalation and its toxicity depends on the size of particles.

Types of chemical agent

1. Nerve agents such as tabun, soman, and sarin which affect the organs with cholinergic receptors and its signs include increased secretions, runny nose, and others
2. Blister agents such as lewisite and mustard which cause burns to the eye, respiratory tract tissues and skin. Its symptoms include swelling of the eyelids, skin itching, abdominal pain and others(Terzuolo, 2010, p. 98).

• Blood agent for example cyanide which affects the ability of the blood to transport oxygen and its symptoms include vertigo, respiratory distress, vomiting

Risk Register

This is a set of written instructions and records relating to the treatment of illness or ailment

   In case of biological or chemical situation, activation will be needed starting with the first patients and early response is needed to keep the situation out of control. The health facilities must be familiar with;

• Hazardous material incidents
• Decontamination plan
• Facility lockdown
• Bioterrorism Response Plan

Weapon mass destruction terrorist event is hazardous in nature and depending on the exposure time, biological agents’ events usually do not require decontamination. The victims need to be isolated and protection of staff needs to be done until decontamination occurs. The hospital personnel primary responsibilities are to (Barriot, 2008, p. 45);

• Recognize that particular hazardous material situation
• Protect him/herself
• Prevent contamination
• Make proper notification
• Isolate and relocate people who are not affected
• Increase security at the decontamination area

Decontamination must take place first in case a patient is contaminated with a substance. The patient should not come into contact with an unaffected person in case he/she is contaminated with a harmful substance.

The type of agent can be tested by carrying out the blood test, X-rays, and advanced test. A large laboratory with enough equipment to run the test should be used.

In the treatment of these chemical or biological weapon victims; most frequent drugs such as atropine, doxycycline and ciprofloxacin should be readily available.

Biological agents cannot be transferred from one person to another but precautions need to be taken All patients must be handled using standard universal precautions such as handwashing, putting on gloves, wearing mask and gowns.

Planning to acquire resources needs to be done in case a large event occurs

If a healthcare facility suspects that a weapon of mass destruction event has occurred then they should notify relevant agencies such as hospital administration, local infection control personnel, and state health departments.

The decisions in the healthcare on weapon mass destruction are analyzed and the benefits of these health actions and then the cost associated with taking actions of weapon of mass destruction are subtracted.

The health facility should be responsible for taking care of those influenced by the weapon of mass destruction agents which include biological, chemical and radiological agents which can cause death

An action plan will assist in providing a detailed outline of the task needed to be accomplished. It will assist in breaking down the process into actionable steps based on the timeline given. The action step is chosen, identifying the person responsible for the action and providing a clear schedule for completing the action steps.

Conclusion

This particular study is very helpful since it helps in alerting the learner with complexities and issues linked with community-wide weapons mass destruction terrorist events such as biological, chemical and nuclear events

Barriot, P., 2008. Treating Victims of Weapons of Mass Destructions. s.l.: Reed Elsevier.

Cordesman, A., 2007. Terrorism, Asymmetric Warfare, and Weapons of Mass Destruction. s.l.: Random House.

Current, P., 2007. Medical Response to Weapons of Mass Destruction. s.l. Haufe Gruppe.

Duncan, I., 2014. Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations. s.l. Adventure Works Press.

Kibaroglu, A., 2009. Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destructions. s.l.: Ridders Digest.

Oday, A., 2009. Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism. s.l. OLMA Media Group.

Tamsett, J., 2011. Jihadists and Weapons of Mass Destructions. s.l. Sanoma.

Terzuolo, E., 2010. NATO and Weapons of Mass Destructions. s.l. Scholastic.

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