BIOTERRORISMBy: David Gonzales

What is Bioterrorism? A bioterrorism attack is the deliberate release of viruses,

bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. These agents are typically found in nature, but it is possible that they 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. Biological agents can be spread through the air, water, or in food. Terrorists tend to use biological agents because they are extremely difficult to detect and do not cause illness for several hours to several days. Some bioterrorism agents, like the smallpox virus, can be spread from person to person and some, like anthrax, cannot.

-According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Why do people use bioweapons

They are easy to obtain They are inexpensive

They cause more fear and panic then deaths

They are easy to transmit from person to person

Biological Attack Indicators

An unusual number of sick or dead people and animals within an area or location

Large numbers of ill persons with a similar disease or syndrome Large numbers of cases of unexplained diseases or deaths Unusual illness in a population Higher morbidity and mortality in association with a common disease or

syndrome or failure of such patients to respond to usual therapy Single cases of disease caused by an uncommon agent Several unusual or unexplained diseases coexisting in the same patient

without any other explanation Disease with an unusual geographic or seasonal distribution Illness that is unusual for a given population or age group No illness in persons who are not exposed to common ventilation systems

(have separate closed ventilation systems) when illness is seen in persons in close proximity with a common ventilation system

Unusual pattern of death or illness among animals that precedes or accompanies illness or death in humans

Early History of Bioterrorism

In Ancient Rome, feces were thrown into faces of enemies as an early form of bioterrorism.

In the 14th century the bubonic plague was used to infiltrate enemy cities by instilling the fear of infection in people.

20th Century Bioterrorism

1942 - Soviet Union- Battle of Stalingrad Soviet troops used a Tularemia bioweapon on the German troops.

1984 - USA - Rajneeshee bioterror attack. In Oregon, followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh attempted to control a local election by incapacitating the local population. This was done by infecting salad bars in 11 restaurants, produce in grocery stores, doorknobs, and other public domains with Salmonella typhimurium bacteria in the city of The Dalles, Oregon. The attack infected 751 people with severe food poisoning. However, there were no fatalities. This incident was the first known bioterrorist attack in the United States in the 20th century.

1993 - Japan - In June the religious group Aum Shinrikyo released anthrax in Tokyo. Eyewitnesses reported a foul odor. The attack was a total failure, infecting not a single person. The reason for this was that the group used the vaccine strain of the bacterium. The spores recovered from the attack showed that they were identical to an anthrax vaccine strain given to animals at the time. These vaccine strains were missing the genes that cause a symptomatic response.

1995 – USA - In Ohio a member of a white supremacist group, named Larry Harris, ordered 3 vials of plague from the American Type Culture Collection catalog. Harris designed his own stationery for the order but the company officials grew suspicious and turned him in to the police.

1998 – USA – In Pomona, California 750 people were quarantined after police received a call claiming that anthrax had been released in the Glass House a nightclub. It was a hoax.

21st Century Bioterrorism

2001 - USA - In September and October 2001, several cases of anthrax broke out in the United States in the 2001 anthrax attacks, caused deliberately. Letters laced with infectious anthrax were delivered to news media offices and the U.S Congress. The letters killed 5. Tests on the anthrax strain used in the attack pointed to a domestic source, possibly from the biological weapons program. Yet the attacks provoked efforts to define biodefense and biosecurity, where more limited definitions of biosafety had focused on unintentional or accidental impacts of agricultural and medical technologies.

Types of Bio-agents

The CDC has three Categories for Bio-agents

Category A High-priority agents that pose a risk to national security, can be

easily transmitted and disseminated, result in high mortality, have potential major public health impact, may cause public panic, or require special action for public health preparedness.

Category B Category B agents are moderately easy to disseminate and have low

mortality rates.

Category C Category C agents are emerging pathogens that might be

engineered for use as bioweapons.

Category A type Bio-agents

Tularemia Anthrax Smallpox Botulinum Toxin Bubonic plague Ebola Virus Marburg Virus Lassa Virus Machupo Virus

Category B type Bio-agents

Q Fever Glanders Brucellosis Salmonella E coil Ricin Toxin Psittacosis Melioidosis

Abrin Toxin Typhus

Category C type Bio-agents

Nipah Virus Hantavirus SARS H1N1 HIV/AIDS