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Chemical and Biological Terrorism Incidents and Intensive Care

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Critical Care Toxicology

Abstract

The events of 2001, including the terrorist bombing of the World Trade Centers and the deliberate introduction of anthrax spores into the US postal system, marked a watershed in the medical planning for and response to an incident using a chemical or biologic weapon. Although much planning has focused on the prehospital and emergency department phases of these disasters, toxicology and intensive care are among the key resources in the management of the actual uses of these weapons.

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Correspondence to R. Steven Tharratt or Timothy E. Albertson .

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Grading System for Levels of Evidence Supporting Recommendations in Critical Care Toxicology, 2nd Edition

  1. I

    Evidence obtained from at least one properly randomized controlled trial.

  2. II-1

    Evidence obtained from well-designed controlled trials without randomization.

  3. II-2

    Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case-control analytic studies, preferably from more than one center or research group.

  4. II-3

    Evidence obtained from multiple time series with or without the intervention. Dramatic results in uncontrolled experiments (such as the results of the introduction of penicillin treatment in the 1940s) could also be regarded as this type of evidence.

  5. III

    Opinions of respected authorities, based on clinical experience, descriptive studies and case reports, or reports of expert committees.

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Tharratt, R.S., Albertson, T.E. (2016). Chemical and Biological Terrorism Incidents and Intensive Care. In: Brent, J., Burkhart, K., Dargan, P., Hatten, B., Megarbane, B., Palmer, R. (eds) Critical Care Toxicology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20790-2_5-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20790-2_5-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20790-2

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