Microbiology and Bioterrorism

ABSTRACT

It's been 2 decades since the posting of the anthrax letters in the United States in 2001. This event marked a pivotal point in our history. It highlighted the vulnerability of modern society to acts of bioterrorism and set countries on a course to develop capabilities to pre-empt, prevent, react to, investigate, and recover from acts of bioterrorism. The current COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the enormity of the impact that the release of a biological agent, natural or otherwise, can have on an immunological naïve society. The purpose of this article is to describe how microbiology is applied in the investigation of bioterrorism, highlighting the modern advances in technology, particularly the DNA technologies, which have assisted this discipline as a forensic practice. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.