Table 1.

CDC list of potential bioterrorism agents

Category	Definition of Category	Disease	Organism(s)/Agent(s)
A	High-priority agents include organisms that pose a risk to national security because they: Can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person Result in high mortality and have the potential for major public health impact Might cause public panic and social disruption Require special action for public health preparedness	Anthrax	Bacillus anthracis
		Botulism	Clostridium botulinum toxin
		Plague	Yersinia pestis
		Smallpox	Variola major
		Tularemia	Francisella tularensis
		Viral hemorrhagic fevers	Filoviruses (eg, Ebola, Marburg) Arenaviruses (eg, Lassa, Machupo)
B	Second highest priority agents include those that: Are moderately easy to disseminate Result in moderate morbidity rates and low mortality Require specific enhancements of laboratory diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance	Brucellosis	Brucella species
		Epsilon toxin	Clostridium perfringens
		Food safety threats	Salmonella species, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Shigella, and so forth
		Glanders	Burkholderia mallei
		Melioidosis	Burkholderia pseudomallei
		Psittacosis	Chlamydia psittaci
		Q fever	Coxiella burnetii
		Ricin toxin	Ricinus communis (castor beans)
		Staphylococcal enterotoxin B	Staphylococcus aureus
		Typhus fever	Rickettsia prowazekii
		Viral encephalitis	Alphaviruses (eg, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis]
		Water safety threats	Vibrio cholerae, Cryptosporidium parvum and so forth
C	Third highest priority agents include emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination in the future because of: Availability Ease of production and dissemination Potential for high morbidity and mortality and major health impact	Emerging infectious diseases	Nipah virus Hantavirus Tick-borne hemorrhagic fever viruses Tick-borne encephalitis viruses Yellow fever Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Adapted from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bioterrorism Agents/Diseases. Available at: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.asp. Accessed January 14, 2013.