Abstract
Objective: To compare responses of practicing military and civilian primary care physicians to a series of standardized inhalational anthrax cases. Methods: A series of three randomly selected case vignettes adapted from the 2001 anthrax attack along the East Coast of the United States were mailed to a convenience sample of community-based primary care physicians. Respondents were asked to list differential diagnoses along with initial management and treatment plans. Results: The response rate was 55% (n = 164). The most common diagnoses were pneumonia and influenza. Few (n = 6) physicians included anthrax in their differential diagnosis. Conclusions: Anthrax remains low on the list of differential diagnoses in the setting of community-acquired respiratory illness.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 671-675 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Military medicine |
Volume | 175 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2010 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health