Biological agents in war and terror Andreas Suhrbier • Queensland Institute of Medical Research • Principle Research Fellow National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia
The human body – loaded with bacteria, fungi, archaea, viruses Bacteria >500 species, 1,000,000,000,000,000 of them (10 14 ) Viruses – 1000s of species Human body 10 13 cells 10 9-10 per litre in sea water Nature Reviews Genetics 13, 260-270 Translational Research 2012;160:283–290
Historical vignettes of Biowarfare Hittite-Arzawan war 1320 &1318 BC Modern day Turkey. Hittites sent tularemia infected donkeys into Arzawa Tularemia is a bacterial infection 5-15% death rate
•14th C Kaffa (Crimea). Tatar army catapulted 1000s of Y. pestis infected bodies into the town occupied by Italians (Genoese) . It was the beginning of the BLACK DEATH Black Black death probably the greatest public health disaster in death recorded history. Europe lost an estimated one quarter to one Yersinia third of its population, and the pestis , mortality in North Africa and the principal Near East was comparable. reservoir is wild rodents
• USA civil war. Confederates polluted wells with animal corpses. • 18 th C. English gave smallpox infected blankets to American Indians. • WWII. Japanese dropped plague ( Yersinia pestis ) infected fleas in clay bombs on Manchuria (China), ≈ 200,000 killed. Clay bomb - 30,000 fleas under oxygen
?1942. German panzer troops infected with tularemia. Backfired >100,000 Volga Russians also infected. ?1982-84. Soviets use glanders ( Burkholderia mallei ) against mujahedin. (Melioidosis is caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei ) ?1997 foot & mouth. Taiwan's pigs (US $4 billion economic loss) Chinese bioattack?
1984 Bhaghwan Shree Rajneesh contaminate salad bars Oregan USA with salmonella hoping to rig elections Rajneesh greeted by sannyasins on one of his daily "drive-bys" in Rajneeshpuram, 1982 Four of the restaurants affected by the attack on salad bars Salmonella bacteria were purchased from a medical supply company in Seattle and cultured in labs located 751 people infected, inside the commune. 45 hospitalizations
2001. Anthrax spores sent to Senate majority leader, Thomas Daschle. •The spores were weaponised; i.e. treated with a highly sophisticated chemical additive so they are more easily inhaled. • Feds declared biodefence scientist Bruce Ivins, at Fort Detrick to be the culprit. Ivins committed suicide. 5 deaths http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks
Countries with known bioweapons programs Bioweapons for mass extermination
Epidemic Prevention and Water Japan Purification Department (1937- 1945). Unit 731 Harbin, China Imperial Japanese Army germ warfare and human experiments killed around 580,000 people
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, >60,000 people involved in biological weapons research, development & production. • 100’s of tons of stockpiled bioweapons From Ken Alibek’s Biohazard
The Sverdlovsk anthrax leak - "biological Chernobyl". March 1979 Violation of the 1972 (Yekaterinburg). Military Biological Weapons Compound Convention? 19 Russian authorities blamed contaminated meat. All cases in a narrow band down-wind of Military Compound 19. ≈100 cases Science. 1994 Nov 18;266(5188):1202-8. At least 64 deaths Worker removed old and failed to replace a new filter.
USA . Possible agents (former): Human ; Anthrax, brucellosis, botulinum toxin, Eastern and Western equine encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis, Argentinean hemorrhagic fever, Korean hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, tularemia, Q fever, Lassa fever, glanders, melioidosis, plague, yellow fever, psittacosis, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever, chikungunya disease virus, ricin. Crop and livestock weapons Rice blast, rice brown spot disease, late blight of potato, stem rust of cereal, rinderpest virus, Newcastle disease virus, fowl plague virus Materials Hydrocarbon-loving bacteria that bore holes in asphalt, leading to the deterioration of road and runway surfaces. Fuel and plastics also targeted.
Between 1956-1975 >6,720 soldiers, civilians and prisoners were used to test 254 psychochemicals Super-soldier & messing w ith the enemies minds LSD • Phencyclidine/angel dust/PCP • Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) • Quinuclidinyl-benzylate (BZ) In 1015 King Eirik Bloodaxe (Eric I) of Norway outlawed berserkers. (probably used Ergot or fly agaric mushroom or bog-myrtle/alcohol)
IRAQ Produced Anthrax, aflatoxin, botulinum toxin, gas gangrene, ricin, and wheat smut, Working on cholera, mycotoxins, shigellosis, and viruses (including camelpox, infectious hemorrhaghic conjunctivitis and rotavirus). Mainstream opinion is that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction as of late 2002 Iraq was invaded in 2003
North Korea Signatory state to the Biological Weapons Convention Bioweapons status: Known to be researching biological agents for offensive use Possible agents: Anthrax, cholera, plague, smallpox, botulinum toxin, hemorrhagic fever, typhoid, yellow fever
Syria Syria has worked on: anthrax, plague, tularemia, botulinium, smallpox, aflotoxin, cholera, ricin and camelpox, and has used Russian help in installing anthrax in missile warheads. Syria has not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention - reportedly manufactures Sarin, Tabun, VX, & mustard gas Jane's Defence Weekly US warhead Sept 2007 Accident at Aleppo. with Sarin Explosion released Mustard gas and bomblets Sarin – dozens dead. c1960 SARIN GAS CH 3 P(O)F 2 + (CH 3 ) 2 CHOH → [(CH 3 ) 2 CHO]CH 3 P(O)F + HF
Biological Weapons Convention Signed April 10, 1972 Location London, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. Effective March 26, 1975 Parties 165 as of October 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BWC_Participation.svg
Category B Category A • Burkholderia pseudomallei • Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) • Coxiella burnetti (Q fever) • Clostridium botulinum • Brucella species (brucellosis) • Yersinia pestis • Burkholderia mallei (glanders) • Variola major (smallpox) and other pox viruses • Ricin toxin (from Ricinus communis) • Francisella tularensis (tularemia) • Epsilon toxin of Clostridium perfringens • Viral hemorrhagic fevers • Staphylococcus enterotoxin B o Arenaviruses • Typhus fever (Rickettsia prowazekii) o LCM, Junin virus, Machup virus, Guanarito virus • Food and Waterborne Pathogens o Lassa Fever o Bacteria o Bunyaviruses o Diarrheagenic E.coli o Hantaviruses o Pathogenic Vibrios o Rift Valley Fever o Shigella species o Flaviruses o Salmonella o Dengue o Listeria monocytogenes o Filoviruses o Campylobacter jejuni o Ebola o Yersinia enterocolitica) o Marburg o Viruses (Caliciviruses, Hepatitis A) o Protozoa o Cryptosporidium parvum Category C Emerging infectious disease threats such as Nipah virus o Cyclospora cayatanensis and additional hantaviruses. o Giardia lamblia NIAID priority areas: o Entamoeba histolytica • Tickborne hemorrhagic fever viruses o Toxoplasma o Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic fever virus o Microsporidia • Tickborne encephalitis viruses • Additional viral encephalitides • Yellow fever o West Nile Virus • Multi-drug resistant TB o LaCrosse • Influenza o California encephalitis • Other Rickettsias o VEE • Rabies o EEE o WEE o Japanese Encephalitis Virus NIAID Category A, B & C Priority Pathogens o Kysanur Forest Virus
Smallpox virus. Has killed Case fatality >1 billion rate ≈30% people globally
Smallpox is an infectious disease!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 1970 epidemic in Meschede , Germany - tourist returning from Pakistan isolated in Hospital - 19 cases. Disease contained. - only two from direct contact. - 9 individuals who worked 3 floors away. - 1 person simply spent less <15mins in the building. - >100,000 people were promptly vaccinated. Outbreak contained
SMALL POX OUTBREAK ! ………………….NOT CONTAINED ! 1972 outbreak in Yugoslavia 175 cases, 35 dead. Infected people travelling all over the country. THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE ! - Yugoslavia closed its borders. - Forced vaccination of 19 million people. - Forced quarantine of 10,000 people for 2 weeks or more.
GLOBAL SMALLPOX VACCINATION CAMPAIGN Thanks to vaccination October, 1 9 7 7 Ali Maow Maalin of Som alia The last person in the w orld to contract sm allpox naturally. Vaccination removed smallpox from the natural world Fenner - no animal reservoir
Ebola virus Q50, the quantity of a BW required to kill half the people in a 1 km area, Smallpox - Q50 of 3-5 Kg/km2. Ebola/Marburg - Q50 1 kg/km2. Filoviruses -Ebola hemorrhagic fever -Marburg hemorrhagic fever
Ebola and Marburg viruses present the most horrible way to die. Ebola attacks every tissue in the body except skeletal muscle and bone. It begins with a fever about a week after infection. Blood begins to ooze from under the skin. The skin begins to tear, followed by blood flowing from every pore. The skin, including Germ Missiles That Could End the World. The Nation (Nairobi) November 4, 2001 . Posted to the web November 4, 2001 Dennis Onyango that on the tongue, can peel off and the eyes fill with blood - and there is no known vaccine or cure. allafrica.com/stories/200111040009.html 4 Nov 2001 Natural transmission usually by contact with body fluids (Eg Funerary rites) Ebola has killed 10,000’s of the great apes in central Africa
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