PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jonathan L. Temte
AU  - Andrew R. Zinkel
TI  - The Primary Care Differential Diagnosis of Inhalational Anthrax
AID  - 10.1370/afm.125
DP  - 2004 Sep 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 438--444
VI  - 2
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/2/5/438.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/2/5/438.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2004 Sep 01; 2
AB  - PURPOSE Inhalational anthrax is an extremely rare infectious disease with nonspecific initial symptoms, thus making diagnosis on clinical grounds difficult. After a covert release of anthrax spores, primary care physicians will be among the first to evaluate cases. This study defines the primary care differential diagnosis of inhalational anthrax. METHODS In May 2002, we mailed survey instruments consisting of 3 randomly chosen case vignettes describing patients with inhalational anthrax to a nationwide random sample of 665 family physicians. Nonrespondents received additional mailings. Physicians were asked to provide their most likely nonanthrax diagnosis for each case. RESULTS The response rate was 36.9%. Diagnoses for inhalational anthrax were grouped into 35 diagnostic categories, with pneumonia (42%), influenza (10%), viral syndrome (9%), septicemia (8%), bronchitis (7%), central nervous system infection (6%), and gastroenteritis (4%) accounting for 86% of all diagnoses. Diagnoses differed significantly between cases that proved to be fatal and those that proved to be nonfatal. CONCLUSIONS Inhalational anthrax resembles common diagnoses in primary care. Surveillance systems for early detection of bioterrorism events that rely only on diagnostic codes will be hampered by false-positive alerts. Consequently, educating front-line physicians to recognize and respond to bioterrorism is of the highest priority.