4. Deliberate and strategic use of
Viruses, Bacteria, Germs or Chemicals/ Toxins (BIOWEAPON)
To promote terror For individual benefits As part of war
BIOTERRORISM BIOCRIME BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
Distress, illness or death in human, animals or crops of use
to cause
5. In comparision to conventional weapons, bioweapons are:
• Easy to acquire
• Difficult to detect
• Substantial damage
6.
7. • BIODEFENCE: mechanisms to protect from bioweapon
Medicines
Vaccinations
Medical research and preparations
11. Pre-20th-century use of biological weapons (before the
postulation of germ theory)
• In the middle ages, diseased carcasses and bodies were catapulted over
enemy walls in attempts to induce sickness in humans or animals in
Europe
• during the French and Indian Wars, the British supplied locals with
smallpox-infected blankets
12. World War I (1914–18)
• Germany initiated a program to infect horses and cattle owned by
opponents with glanders .
Geneva Protocol (1925)
• The horrors of World War I caused most countries to sign a protocol
banning the use of biological and chemical weapons in war
13. Limitation of the Geneva protocol
• No ban on the development, production, or stockpiling of bioweapon
Violation of the Geneva protocol
• World War II (1939 to 1945) Japan, used biological weapons against
China
• The Japanese also experimented on and killed more than 3,000
human subjects including Allied prisoners of war in tests of biological
warfare agents
14. Biological weapons in the Cold War (1946 -1991)
The Soviet Union, the United States and allies, had large-scale
bioweapon Research & Development programs.
Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) (1972)
Prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling
and use of biological and toxin weapons
15. Limitation of the BWC
• Many countries still
remain outside the
Convention
• No measures to check
for compliance
16. Violation of the BWC
• 1991: after the dissolution of soviet union, Russian
President Boris Yeltsin confirmed that the Soviet Union had
Soviet biological weapons program and thus violated the BWC
18. 1984
• Followers of the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh used Salmonella
bacteria for poisoning salad bars and other restaurants in Oregon to
influence local election by preventing residents from voting.
• 751 cases of gastroenteritis were reported with 43 hospitalization and
no deaths.
19. Amerithrax (2001)
• Seven days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, anonymous
letters laced with deadly anthrax spores began arriving at government
offices.
• This resulted in 5 deaths and 17 cases
• In 2010, FBI claimed that Dr. Bruce Ivins, government scientist alone,
mailed the anthrax letters.
• Ivnis had already committed suicide in 2008, after the allegations.
20.
21. Suspected acts of bioterrorism in India
There has not been a single confirmed case of bioterrorism in India to date.
22. • 1965 (Indo-Pakistan war): Scrub Typhus outbreak in northeastern India.
• 1994 (Surat): Bubonic plague in which caused several deaths
• 1996 (Delhi): Dengue hemorrhagic fever
• 1999 (Midnapur): Anthrax
• 2001 (Siliguri): Encephalitis
• 2001 (Mumbai): Anthrax scare
• 2018 (Kerala): Nipah Virus outbreak
23. Factors that make India vulnerable:
• Hostile neighbours
• High population density
• Subtropical climate
• Inadequate sanitation
• Inadequate medical facilities
25. Central departments which are involved:
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)
Providing directions and technical support for:
• Surveillance and early detection of an outbreak
• Deployment of Rapid Response Teams
• Human resources, logistic support, Capacity building
26. Ministry of home affairs (MHA):
• Assessment of the threat
• Intelligence inputs
• Implementation of preventive mechanisms.
• National Disaster Response Force (NDRF): specialised force to deal
with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) attacks
27. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA):
• NDMA approves biodefence strategies of different ministries.
• Has suggested participation of both government and private sectors
to defeat any bioweapon attack
National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC):
• Coordinates and monitors responses in crises especially in disasters.
28. Ministry of Defence (MOD):
• Manages the consequences of biowarfare.
• Rescue operations (ambulances, aircraft and ships)
• Clinical case management at army hospitals
• Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO): India's
biodefence industry’s core
• Defense Research and Development Establishment (DRDE): top
DRDO laboratory, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
29. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change:
• Evaluation of short and long-term consequences
Other bodies involved in prevention and management of
bioterrorism:
• Ministry of Agriculture
• Ministry of Urban and Rural Development
• Department of Drinking Water Supply
• The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries,
30. THE COUNTERMEASURES FOR BIOTERRORISM
• Stringent international and national laws
• Prevention (reducing the opportunity, enhanced intelligence,
awareness)
• Surveillance and assessment (early detection) by epidemiological
methods
• Appropriate Laboratory facilities for diagnosis and characterization of
the biological organism
31. • Prompt Medical management
• Disseminating best practices (public safety and law enforcing agencies)
38. Further reading:
• Koch L, Lopes AA, Maiguy A, Guillier S, Guillier L, Tournier JN, Biot F. Natural outbreaks and
bioterrorism: How to deal with the two sides of the same coin? J Glob Health. 2020
Dec;10(2):020317. doi: 10.7189/jogh.10.020317. PMID: 33110519; PMCID: PMC7535343.
• Rathish B, Pillay R, Wilson A, Pillay VV. Comprehensive Review Of Bioterrorism. 2021 Apr 7. In:
StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan–. PMID: 34033376.
• Glatter KA, Finkelman P. History of the Plague: An Ancient Pandemic for the Age of COVID-19.
Am J Med. 2021 Feb;134(2):176-181. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.019. Epub 2020 Sep 24.
PMID: 32979306; PMCID: PMC7513766.
