Citation

Radosavljevic V, Radunovic D, Belojević G. Med. Hypotheses 2009; 73(3): 342-346.

Affiliation

Military Institute of Preventive Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.mehy.2008.12.055

PMID

19423234

Abstract

A bioterrorist attacks usually cause epidemics of panic in a targeted population. We have presented epidemiologic aspect of this phenomenon as a three-component model--host, information on an attack and social network. We have proposed a mathematical model of panic and counter-measures as the function of time in a population exposed to a bioterrorist attack. The model comprises ordinary differential equations and graphically presented combinations of the equations parameters. Clinically, we have presented a model through a sequence of psychic conditions and disorders initiated by an act of bioterrorism. This model might be helpful for an attacked community to timely and properly apply counter-measures and to minimize human mental suffering during a bioterrorist attack.

Language: en