Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense
Open Access

Research Article

Human Factors and Bioagent Transmission following an Indoor Bioterror Attack

Jonathon Taylor, Ka Man Lai^* and ZaheerAhmad Nasir

Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London (UCL), London, UK

*Corresponding Author:

Ka Man Lai
Department of Civil
Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
University College London (UCL)
Gower Street, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
E-mail: k.lai@ucl.ac.uk

Received Date: July 02, 2012; Accepted Date: July 25, 2012; Published Date: July 27, 2012

Citation: Taylor J, Lai KM, Nasir ZA (2012) Human Factors and Bioagent Transmission Following an Indoor Bioterror Attack. J Bioterr Biodef 3:116. doi: 10.4172/2157-2526.1000116

Copyright: © 2012 Taylor J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

The spread of bioagent through the population in a building following a bioattack is dependent on the built environment, the characteristics of the agent and the medium in which it is introduced, and the actions of individuals inside the building. While there has been a great deal of research on the spread of contaminants in indoor environments, many studies do not take into account the impact of human factors on bioagent spread and transmission. This paper discusses how bioagents may be spread through an indoor environment following an attack due to the behaviours and characteristics of the building population, in terms of their typical behaviour, as well as any emergency response measures they implement. Modelling methodologies are proposed which can be used to supplement existing air transport and Markovian models in order to take into account the actions and decisions of the building population.

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