Where is biological warfare used

Utilizing such weapons holds a certain appeal to terrorists; they have the potential to cause great harm, of course, but they are also fairly cheap to produce when compared with missiles or other more hi-tech equipment.

Biological weapons can be difficult to control or predict in a battlefield situation, since there is a substantial risk that troops on both sides will be affected. However, if a terrorist is interested in attacking a distant target as a lone operant, bioterrorism carries much less risk to the person. Experts believe that today, the most likely organism to be used in a bioterrorism attack would be Bacillus anthracis , the bacteria that causes anthrax. It is widely found in nature, easily produced in the laboratory, and survives for a long time in the environment.

Also, it is versatile and can be released in powders, sprays, water, or food. Anthrax has been used before. In , anthrax spores were sent through the United States postal system. In all, 22 people contracted anthrax — five of whom died. And, the guilty party was never caught. Another potential agent of bioterrorism is smallpox , which, unlike anthrax, can spread from person to person.

Smallpox is no longer a disease of concern in the natural world — because concerted vaccination efforts stamped it out — and the last naturally spread case occurred in However, if someone were to gain access to the smallpox virus it is still kept in two laboratories — one in the U.

Once a human is infected, the resulting disease can either develop into bubonic plague, which is difficult to transmit among humans and fairly easy to treat with antibiotics , or — if the infection spreads to the lungs — it becomes pneumonic plague, which develops rapidly and does not respond well to antibiotics.

A paper written on the plague and its potential for use in biological terrorism says:. As a potentially severe and sometimes deadly gastrointestinal disease, cholera has the potential to be used in bioterrorism.

It does not spread easily from person to person, so for it to be effective, it would need to be liberally added to a major water source. In the past, the bacteria responsible for cholera, Vibrio cholerae, has been weaponized by the U. Some consider tularemia, an infection caused by the Francisella tularensis bacterium, as a potential bioweapon. It causes fever , ulcerations, swelling of lymph glands, and, sometimes, pneumonia. The bacterium can cause infection by entering through breaks in the skin or by being breathed into the lungs.

It is particularly infectious, and only a very small number of organisms as few as 10 need to enter the body to set off a serious bout of tularemia. Those pathogens are an abbreviated selection, of course. Others considered to have potential as biological weapons include brucellosis, Q fever , monkeypox, arboviral encephalitides, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

Although biological weapons are as old as the hills if not older , modern technology brings new worries. They generally consist of two parts — a weaponized agent and a delivery mechanism. In addition to strategic or tactical military applications, biological weapons can be used for political assassinations, the infection of livestock or agricultural produce to cause food shortages and economic loss, the creation of environmental catastrophes, and the introduction of widespread illness, fear and mistrust among the public.

Almost any disease-causing organism such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions or rickettsiae or toxin poisons derived from animals, plants or microorganisms, or similar substances produced synthetically can be used in biological weapons.

The agents can be enhanced from their natural state to make them more suitable for mass production, storage, and dissemination as weapons. Historical biological weapons programmes have included efforts to produce: aflatoxin; anthrax; botulinum toxin; foot-and-mouth disease; glanders; plague; Q fever; rice blast; ricin; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; smallpox; and tularaemia, among others.

Biological weapons delivery systems can take a variety of forms. Past programmes have constructed missiles, bombs, hand grenades and rockets to deliver biological weapons. A number of programmes also designed spray-tanks to be fitted to aircraft, cars, trucks and boats.

There have also been documented efforts to develop delivery devices for assassinations or sabotage operations, including a variety of sprays, brushes and injection systems as well as means for contaminating food and clothing. In addition to concerns that biological weapons could be developed or used by States, recent technological advances could increase the likelihood of these weapons being acquired or produced by non-state actors, including individuals or terrorist organizations.

If rogue politicians or terrorists were to get hold of the remaining supplies, "the consequences could be disastrous," he warns. He points to some two dozen conventional biological agents -- including anthrax, Ebola and typhus -- plus an unknown number of genetically engineered organisms that terrorists could unleash on an unsuspecting public. Block paints a disturbing picture of the international bioterrorist threat in an article published in the Jan.

His expertise in biological warfare stems from his work with JASON, an organization of primarily academic scientists who dedicate a portion of their time to solving national security problems. Block argues that the United States and other developed countries should be doing more to prevent the spread of biological weaponry, which he calls "a serious threat to peace in the twenty-first century. He saves his harshest criticism for his fellow biologists, most of whom have remained silent on the issue.

Biological weapons are "the poor man's atom bomb," writes Block in American Scientist. He argues that bioweapons offer terrorist groups and "rogue states" such as Iraq and North Korea an affordable way to counter the overwhelming military superiority of the United States and other nuclear powers.

The agent of choice for most biological warfare programs, writes Block, is anthrax. Anthrax bacteria produce extremely lethal spores, and breathing in large numbers can lead to inhalation anthrax -- a disease that usually is fatal unless treated with large doses of a penicillin-type antibiotic immediately after exposure. Anthrax spores are easy to produce and can remain viable for more than years if kept dry and out of direct sunlight.

Their long shelf life makes them "well suited to weaponization in a device that can deliver a widespread aerosol," Block notes. Moreover, a well-established vaccine exists that can prevent the onset of the disease, allowing it to be used safely by the aggressor. If anthrax, smallpox and other "conventional" biological agents aren't frightening enough, Block also raises the specter of "black biology" -- a shadowy science in which microorganisms are genetically engineered for the sole purpose of creating novel weapons of terror.

Block points out that genetic maps of deadly viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms already are widely available in the public domain. Last summer, for example, a leading scientific journal published the entire genetic code for the cholera pathogen. And legitimate researchers are now in the process of mapping the genomes of more than other microbes -- including the bacteria that cause anthrax, the plague and typhoid. Any scientist bent on destruction could use this information to attempt to clone extremely virulent strains of bacteria and viruses, Block contends.

He also points out that there are plenty of underpaid microbiologists in the world who might be eager to work for unscrupulous clients -- producing incurable "designer diseases," such as penicillin-resistant anthrax, or "stealth viruses" that infect the host but remain silent until activated by some external trigger, such as exposure to a normally harmless chemical.