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Biological agents are of great concern especially because many of them are easy to manufacture, transport, and disperse. Due to the time lag between a biological attack and the appearance of the symptoms, biological weapons could be devastating. Many diseases caused by biological agents (except toxins) are highly contagious, and during this time lag, infected persons continue to spread the disease, further increasing its reach.
Additionally, difficulties in detecting bioagents make the situation worse. Hundreds or even thousands of people could become sick or die if a biological attack occurred in a major metropolitan area, apart from population panic movements resulting.
Early warning, detection, or recognition of biological aerosolized weapons attacks (the most serious risk), are essential components of biodefence, helping to get an adapted response to mitigate their consequences. The main steps in the detection of the biological threat are:
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the alert which gives a first level of information – ‘there is a potential danger’
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the collection which yields a sample
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the identification of the agent in order to propose the right countermeasures
Bertin Technologies have associated its efforts with partners to propose state-of-the-art solutions for each one of these steps.
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