PBHE413 Final Exam Questions.docx - Question 1 Discuss the...

Question 1: Discuss the differences in clinical presentation between a person who is a victim of
a chemical vs. a biological event.
Chemical and biological events typically have the same end results; debilitation, incapacitation,
and/or death. With that said, they are not exactly the same in composition. Chemical events are a
toxin and are just that a chemical compound that affects the biological material of living things,
whether human, animal, etc… Biological events are caused by a living organism, whether it is
bacteria or a virus, that attacks healthy organic material.
Chemical contamination typically display symptoms quickly, sometimes even upon skin contact,
inhalation, ingestion, or eye contact. An example would be VX, which “Symptoms will appear
within a few seconds after exposure to the vapor form of VX, and within a few minutes to up to
18 hours after exposure to the liquid form.” (Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC),
2015).
Biological contamination may not show symptoms immediately and could take a few days
during the incubation period of the bacteria and/or virus to reach sufficient levels within the host
body to start showing symptoms. Symptoms of Anthrax can take anywhere from 1 day to over 2
months to become noticeable for reporting purposes (Center for Disease Prevention and Control
(CDC), 2014)
Reference
Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). (2015, November 18). Facts About VX.
Retrieved June 30, 2018, from
Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). (2014, July 23). Anthrax. Retrieved June 30,
2018, from

Question 2: During Week 6, we learned about natural disasters and some lessons learned (e.g.,
Hurricane Katrina). How do these lessons from a natural disaster compare to those learned from
the other incidents about which you have read in this course?
One of the largest lessons learned is to have a response and recovery plan in place for an all-
hazards situation. By this I mean, plan a head for the probable scenarios that could plague a
community and ensure that there are plans in place to prepare for, respond to, and recover from
these incidents. Hazard and vulnerable assessments would need to be accomplished throughout