bioterrorism

• Biological Warfare


  Use of a living organism to do harm to others
• Biological Terror


  Use of a living organism to do harm to others
• Biological terrorism is the threat or use of biological agents by individuals or groups motivated by political, religious, ecological, social or for other ideological objectives to instill fear or cause illness or death to achieve their objective
• Bioterrorism attacks have been historically rare but have the ability to inflict large-scale, mass casualty events
• Anthrax has been most commonly used in previous bioterrorism events with the vast majority of reported attacks occurring in the United States by a single suspected perpetrator
• With new advances in microbiology and synthetic biology, it is becoming increasingly possible for individual or small groups of rogue actors to develop and disseminate advanced bioweapons
• Why would a terrorist use germs?


  • Inexpensive
  • Unlike explosives, it doesn't destroy property
  • Populations have no immunity
  • Incubation period
  • Can disseminate long distances
  • Huge $$$ impact, even if hoax
• Why be worried about bioterrorism?


  • Invisible
  • Very effective
  • Easy delivery
  • 1 kilo of anthrax = potential to kill 100,000's
  • Recipes online
  • Accessible
  • Detection difficult
  • Defense against BT difficult
  • Few understand it
• Melinda and Bill Gates have both repeatedly warned that the world is unprepared for an infectious disease outbreak, and experts agree that the risk is high
• CDC Category A Pathogens


  • Pathogens that are those organisms that pose the highest risk to national security. And public health because they...

  
  

  • Can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person
  • Result in high mortality rates and have the potential for major public health impact
  • Might cause public panic and social disruption
  • Require special action for public health preparedness
• 90% of biowarfare agents are zoonotic diseases
• The destructive power of biological weapons is no less than that of nuclear weapons
• Biological weapons are considered the least complicated and the easiest to manufacture of all weapons of mass destruction
• Iran has a secret anthrax factory called the Shahid Bahonar Microbial Bomb plant
• ISIS has a 19-page document in Arabic on how to develop biological weapons and how to weaponize the bubonic plague from infected animals
• 1984/1985 Salmonella attack

  • Contaminated salad bar
  • 751 people suffered food poisoning; no fatalities
  • Purpose was to kill people that would vote against them
  • Served 29 months in prison
  • Only a short amount of time because at the time no bioterrorism laws were in place
• Ancient World

  • Scorpions (insects) in vases used as weapons
  • Fleas: to transmit diseases
  • beehive: to damage crops
• Military Biological Warfare

  • well-organized
  • large scale
  • incapacitating
• Non-military Warfare

  • Unorganized
  • small scale
  • not successfull
• Early Delivery Systems

  • Sythians arrows dipped in manure 400BC
  • Hannibal hurled venomous snakes in clay pots 150 BC
  • Barbarrosa dead bodies in wells 1155
  • Spaniards put blood from lepers in wine of French 1495
  • Polish Artillery General used saliva from rabid dogs into hollow spheres 1650
  • Russians hurled plague-infected bodies at Swedes in Estonia 1710
• 1346 Siege of Caffa in Crimea

  • Mongol army hurled plague-infected cadavers over the wall of the city of Caffa
• Military Biological Warfare Programs

  • Japan
  • Soviet Union
  • UK and Canada
  • United States
• Japan Biological Warfare

  • Ishii Shiro
  • "disease to kill enemies"
  • Led inhumane research (Unit 731)
  • Never went to trial for crimes
  • USA pardoned him in exchange for his research
  • Pathogens like plague, anthrax, typhoid and Cholera
• Unit 731

  • Horrific experiment on humans
  • kidnapped healthy specimens from little towns
  • Sick and alive -> vivisection: alive while dissected
  • Frostbite, bomb exp.
• Biological Weapons Deployed

  • Airplanes
  • water wells
  • fake vaccines
  • feathers
  • balloons
  • cookies
  • fleas
  • ceramic bombs
  • w/ fleas infected w/ plague (didn't work)
  • instead, they added corn to attract rats since they are host of fleas (worked)
• Japanese Balloons

  • paper balloons
  • started fires when landing
  • Wanted to burn down forests and provoke US
  • Some balloons ended up back in Japan because of the weather
• UK and Canada Anthrax Test

  • 1942 test sanctioned amid fears the Germans might attack UK w/ biological/chemical weapons. (German had already attacked Romania)
  • Bought Gruinard Island of Scotland
  • Got sheep on islands and dropped bioweapons on them, including anthrax
  • Anthrax accidentally got to mainland
  • Tests proved successful! Island was inhabitable for gens
  • 1986- cleaned island; 6 inches of soil removed
  • Island recently caught on fire
  • Today, the island is visitable.
• Soviet Unions Weapons

  • Anthrax, toxin, plague, leprosy, glanders, tetanus, variola, cholera, tuberculosis
  • Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov (now Ken Alibek)
  • forced to continue working for S.U., ran away to US
• Vozrozhdeniye Island

  • Island of Secret Soviet Biological warfare program.
  • abandoned, but there are cown
  • used to be secret b/c of the sea, but not anymore.
  • mysterious black/chicken pox
• Anthrax 836- very powerful strain

  • resistant to (US) vaccines
  • resistant to (US) antibiotics
  • Cocktail
  • ebola and smallpox
• Dr. William C. Patrick

  • U.S. equivalent to Ken Alibek
  • US Army Microbiologist, Bioweaponeer
• U.S. Biological Weapons

  • Anthrax
  • Botulism
  • Melioidosis
  • Plage
  • Tularemia
• US biological warfare project was the second largest wartime scientific project in American history, second to the Manhattan Project for the atomic bomb.
• William C. Patrick experimented with

  • feather bombs
  • chopped plant materials
  • bugs
  • leaflets
  • garden sprayers
  • "bombs that dont explode"
• Nixon shut down biological warfare program b/c of nuclear bomb success.
• Operation Red Cloud 1967

  • determined dry power 100x more effective than slurry Tularemia, M143 Bomblets
• A terrorist is...

  • somebody who has allowed their anger to get out of control
  • motivated
  • not a nation state
  • if it was nation it would be warfare
• Goals of terrorist

  • media attention
  • agenda
  • terror, fear, panic
  • vengeance
  • agenda
  • free political prisoners
  • destroy confidence in government
  • destroy country's position in world affairs
• CDC Category A

  • Plague
  • Anthrax
  • Tularemia
  • Smallpox
  • Botulism
  • VHF
  • 90% are zoonotic disease
• Route of exposure is relevant


  • Yersinia pestis:
  • Bubonic plague (flea bite) 40-60% mortality
  • Pneumonic plague (aerosol) 100% mortality
  • Bacillus anthracis:
  • Skin/Subcutaneous rarely fatal
  • Inhalational anthrax (aerosol) 100% mortality