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Salmonella Effect

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There have been numerous times where I have been affected by Salmonella, so it was easy to swing towards Salmonella as the CBRN choice. Salmonella is found in everyday food products such as raw chicken, raw beef, raw fish, raw eggs and unpasteurized milk (foodsafety.gov). Salmonella can also be found on reptiles, amphibians, birds and even pet treats (foodsafety.gov). People will start to feel symptoms within four to seven days, which include: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, headaches, dehydration and possibility blood in the stool (mayoclinic.gov).

Salmonella can be put into an aerosol or into a liquid. According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), approximately 1.2 million cases of salmonella poisoning are reported each year, these cases cost roughly around $325 million in direct medical costs (Layton, June 2011). Even though Salmonella is not the deadliest bacteria or virus, this could possibly do some economic damage to citizens. According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, in 2010 the average hospital stay was around $12000 a night (Pfuntner, Wier, Steiner, January 2013). …show more content…

If used in water, farmers could possibly be infecting the hundreds of acres of food they are trying to grow. Dust croppers are still used for pesticides and watering crops throughout agricultural farms. That would be a fast way to distribute salmonella infected water. The United States has already seen a biological attack with Salmonella. In 1984, a group call the Rajneeshee poisoned multiple buffet style restaurants in Wasco County with salmonella infected water (Bovsun, June 2013). This biological attack affected 750 citizens, but with no deaths. The purpose of this attack was to swing the vote for a building permit, to stop people from going to the voting polls (Bovsun, June

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