[Healthcare response to bioterrorism].

Bioterrorists seek to use highly virulent pathogens to cause social and economic disruption. Historical agents such as anthrax, Yersinia pestis and botulinum toxin can easily be produced, whereas others such as hemorragic fever virus require much more sophisticated infrastructure and government-scale resources. In the near future, with the spread of new biotechnologies, bioterrorists may produce new transgenic pathogens. Epidemiological surveillance and diagnostic capacities should thus be more reactive. Real-time epidemiological surveillance together with a network of high-security laboratories would enable us to cope effectively with new infectious diseases that emerge naturally or through human manipulation. Clinical and research skills should be merged in infection-control centers, bringing a new dynamic to microbiology.