History Of Bioterrorism

“Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Soviet Union and the United Kingdom were among many countries that investigated how to wage biological war.” (pg. 38) Some of these countries have biological weapons programs and even some biological weapons have been used in the past. A Russian program “known to the Soviets as “the Concern Bioreparat”, supposedly a series of laboratories and plants that manufactured vaccines and other medicinal products, was in fact a vast network of secret cities, production plants of Moscow’s germ effort. Bioreparat studied and perfected germs as weapons. President Richard Nixon’s administration became the “world’s leading advocate for a treaty banning germ warfare. Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention- prohibited the possession of deadly biological agents except for research…for vaccines, detection and protective gear. It was the world’s first treaty to ban an entire class of weapons.” (pg. 63) April 1979, an explosion at a secret military base near Soviet city of Sverdlovsk, sent a cloud of Bacillus anthracis fanning over a nearby village, leaving thousands dead. Although the Soviets, had signed the treaty, they denied allegations that this was “nothing more nefarious than tainted meat.” (pg. 77) During the Gulf War, for example, biological weapons developed by Iraq posed a threat and they might, if fact still pose a threat. While US went in search of nuclear

I feel that strong communication not only within your own county but from county to state has a lot to do with how things are gone about and dealt with. You have to have strong communication one with such a large issue that might be at hand and plus look at the amount of lives that you are taking care of. Everyone that is or gets involved throughout such a large issue such as anthrax needs to be in on “the know” about every little single detail that there is. Strong communication is what gets everyone through it and in a manner that is not hectic or chaotic. Granted there are those people that are going to be beyond beside their self because of what is happening but there should also be those people out there helping them calm down and letting them know that everything is going to be ok. It is sad to say but big events such as 9/11 bring people together and closer and makes us realize that it isn’t just about us there are other people involved and we need to be

These biological agents could be viruses, toxins, bacteria, etc. Agents could be used in war or terrorist attacks. Also, they could be modified to cause extreme diseases and disorders, according to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It makes bioterrorism even more tempting to use as it is easy and inexpensive to produce, disseminate and can cause a more widespread panic than other acts of terrorism (1).

One of the world’s most dreaded plagues for centuries, smallpox is now eradicated. Vaccination programs were pushed worldwide by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the disease was eliminated from the world. This push resulted in the last naturally occurring case in the world being almost 40 years ago. Once eradicated the once routine or mandatory vaccinations were stopped for the general public and it was deemed no longer necessary to prevent the disease. Although currently eradicated worldwide, two medical laboratory stockpiles still remain in Russia and the United States. With these stockpiles in existence the possibility of bio terrorism emerges and fear of these stockpiles getting into the wrong hands and being weaponized for

As far back as the American Civil War, allegations have been made regarding the use of biological weapons. During the Civil War, both sides accused the other of using the smallpox virus to cause disease among enemy forces. (Hooker, MD, emedicinehealth.com 2014).

Imagine this: you wake up hours before your alarm sounds to find your entire neighborhood in chaos; people running, robbing banks and stores, and bodies are littering the once calm streets. Over the night, a government-run biological experiment dealing with germ weapons had been released, infecting, destroying, and causing panic across the globe. As a single, globalized society, we need to heighten our security against biological weapons and biological terror to prevent the endangerment of mankind. It would be most beneficial to our species if we did not try to use or experiment with biological weapons, seeing as they are engineered specifically to create social, economic, governmental, military, and general fear and disruption. Bioterror

Bioterrorism is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents to cause illness or death in people, livestock, or crops. These agents are typically found in nature, but could be mutated or altered to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment. Bacillus anthracis is one of the most popular agents to be used in a bioterrorism attack. Anthrax could be used in many forms, for example, it can be placed into letters and mailed, much like the 2001 anthrax attack, anthrax can be released into the air where the spores can be easily blown by the wind and inhaled or can be carried around on objects such as people’s clothes to which it has

Of all these plague epidemics, the Black Death of 1346 is the most widely known. As an example of severity, China’s population alone dropped from 125 million to 90 million over the course of the fourteenth century due to plague (Boise state, p.1). In Europe, anywhere between 25% to 50% of Europe’s population had fallen victim to this pestilence. If a bioterrorist attack using plague does manage to occur today, the number of deaths will not be as dramatic but the loss will still be significant.

The Bioterrorisk simulation, which is developed by the Illinois Public Health Prepared-ness Center, is a case based mini course. The bioterrorism events of 9/11 and Anthrax epidemic in the United States have alarmed the nation’s capability to respond to the bioterrorism attacks. The Public Health role in bioterrorism preparedness and response is to plan and organize the medical and public health first response personnel to identify and investigate any disease outbreaks by using the surveillance systems, laboratory services and using the similar disease epidemic data available in

People will do almost anything to win or achieve their goals and that is sometimes a good thing. However, there have been instances where people have taken the idea to the extreme. So extreme that it was even banned at the end of World War 1 at the Geneva Convention. The topic is Biological Warfare. This type of warfare uses toxins or contagious agents instead of using guns and explosives. Toxins and agents such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. All of them are different things and have different effects but all have the same goal, and that is to disable or kill humans, animals, and plants to win the war. This warfare is cruel and inhumane and should never be used by anyone. If anyone did they should be punished severely. Why shouldn’t we use this? Well one example is World War 1.

Making proposals for inter alia, to strengthen global nuclear nonproliferation. Placing number of treaties of nuclear preventing. For example, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests In The Atmosphere, In Outer Space And Under Water, also known as the Partial Test Ban Treaty and The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty which, was signed in 1996 but has yet to enter into force. (United Nations, 2017) A second impact of a mass destruction weapon is microbial infections from different sources. Biological warfare can be used to diminish the capabilities and the organization of a population. Throughout history this warfare has been impacted with biological agents such as anthrax, plague, tularemia, Q fever, and smallpox. Each agent's biology, infectious route, and disease course will be discussed. Possible delivery systems and signs of outbreak will also be reviewed. There are few real neurosurgery-related implications in biological warfare. Neurosurgeons, as members and leaders of the healthcare community, must have the ability to recognize and initiate treatment when biological agents have been

A death by a biological agent is not a quick one; in most instances it is a slow and very painful death. A fear such a death would definitely incite panic, making it much more difficult for rescue crews and medical personnel to respond, causing the problem to grow out of control (Eitzen 445) With nuclear terrorism, most deaths are immediate due to the sheer force of the explosion of a bomb. This may be startling to think about but death would be swift with possibly very little suffering if any at all. Another possible effect of bioterrorism is the possible lowering of one’s immune system due to lack of sleep caused by fear or by sickness itself, therefore making the disease much harder to fight off. Nuclear terrorism is archaic and unlikely yet it is still in the public eye so often we no longer realize it, yet Bioterrorism is hardly ever mentioned and it much more likely a dirty bomb going off in the middle of a city is not as likely as a weaponized strain of ebola being realeased into the air in this day and age. The inexpensiveness of production, easy distribution and mental toll Bioterrorism takes; it is a very real and very potent threat to our society as a whole. And it is high time it was recognized as

Biological weapons have been around for many years. Some of the biological weapons being used today around the world are; Brucella, Brucellosis, Smallpox, and Anthrax, etc. These bio-agents are mostly being used in terrorism/warfare situations. The uses of these agents are extremely dangerous as they can easily be disseminated, or transmitted from person to person. Imagine a large city like New York City or San Francisco being infiltrated with a smallpox virus. In a matter of days, thousands of casualties would be infected and the spread of the disease would be almost uncontrollable. With that being said,

Before the 20th century, the use of biological agents took three major forms, Deliberate contamination of food and water with poisonous or contagious material using of microbes, biological toxins, animals, or plants (living or dead) in a weapon system, using of biologically inoculated fabrics and persons. Now a day sophisticated bacteriological and virological techniques allowed the production of significant stockpiles of weaponized bio-agents such as; Anthrax, Brucella, Tularemia, Smallpox, Viral hemorrhagic fevers, Botulinum, Ricin, (Legvold, 2012).The most likely route of dissemination is an aerosolized release of 1-5mm particles. Other methods of dissemination include oral, intentional contamination of food/water supply, percutaneous,

From European settlers gifting indigenous peoples blankets infected with smallpox, dead bodies being catapulted into cities during the Middle Ages (Hall), to extensive BOW research during the Cold War by both the Soviet Union and the U.S. Just as man has never not lived without pathogens, modern man has never lived without biological weapons. The ease of how something so small and undetectable -that is, undetectable until it is too late- can devastate thousands of people is to some degree attractive to humans. With this thrall comes humanity’s natural tendency towards a need for superiority, but also an intense curiosity. This is how BOW research became so extensive, and reached a climax in the mid 20th century. Even after World War II, the Cold War arms race extended past traditional weaponry to biological weaponry. The Soviet Union was particularly interested in the possibilities of Anthrax, and the U.S. in pathogens dispersed in aerosols. In an attempt to ease tensions and control the development of these weapons during detente, Britain began pushing for a global ban on BOWs (this was largely in part due the the fact that London’s location and population density would make them extremely vulnerable to a BOW attack). With SALT (a treaty between the Soviet Union and the US agreeing to limit nuclear weapons) negotiations nearing closure, Britain knew that suggesting the