Biological warfare and bioterrorism involve using biological agents like bacteria, viruses and toxins to harm humans, animals or plants. Throughout history, various groups have attempted biological attacks by poisoning wells or using infected bodies. Modern bioweapons development accelerated during World War I and II by nations including Germany, Japan and the US. Biological agents can be cheap and difficult to detect but controlling their spread once used is challenging. The 1975 Biological Weapons Convention banned development and stockpiling of bioweapons but threats still exist from rogue groups. Ongoing challenges include rapid detection, public education and international cooperation to prevent bioterrorism.

1. BIOTERRORISM
ZARREENA SIDDIQUI
MSc. IV SEMESTER
2015 MBM-07
D/O AGRICULTURAL
MICROBIOLOGY

2. Biological warfare (BW) — also known as germ warfare —
is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria,
viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or
plants as an act of war.
Bio-terrorism:
Intentional or threatened use of biological agents to cause fear in or
actually inflict death or disease upon a large population for political,
religious, or ideological reasons.
Bio-crime:
The intentional introduction of biological agents into food or water or air
to harm or kill a number of individuals
INTRODUCTION

3. Ancient history:
6th century BC – Assyrians poisoned
wells with decomposing rye ergot
(Claviceps purpura)
400 BC – Scythian archers dipped
arrows in decomposing bodies and
faecal matter.
300 BC – Greeks and Romans – dead
animals in wells.
190 BC – Battle of Eurymedon –
Snakes in earthenware pots fired on
ships by Hannibal.
HISTORY

4. •Medieval period
• 1155 – Battle of Tortona,
Italy – Barbarossa put human
corpses in enemy water
supply.
• 1346 – Battle of Kaffa –
Plague outbreak in Tartar
army – corpses of infected
soldiers hurled back –>
epidemic  Christian
Genoese sailors fled to Italy
Resulted in the European
Plague of Black Death

5. 1767 - French and Indian War
Indians greatly outnumbered the British and were
suspected of being on the side of the French
Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Commander of British Forces, directs
that small-pox bearing blankets be given to Indians in the
Ohio River Valley.
Smallpox decimated the Indians
World War 1:
Germany
Developed anthrax, glanders, cholera
and wheat fungus.
Attempted to spread Cholera in Italy and
Plague in St. Petersburg.
Infected horses in US ( Baltimore) with
anthrax developed by Dr. Anton Dilger.
France
Planned biological sabotage programme
against German livestock – pigs and
cattle.

6. World War 2:
Japan –
Unit 731 in Manchuria, China. Dr. Ishii Shiro.
Human experiments.
Used typhoid warheads against Russians in 1939.
Contaminated wells with typhoid in Harbin, China
(1939-40)
Caused cholera outbreak in Changchun (1940).
Used plague infested rats in Nanking (1941).
Operation Sei-Go (Scorched Earth)
Unit 371 headquarters : The

8. 2001 Anthrax attack
2003 and 2013 Ricin
letter incidents
Recent incidents
This is the letter that was sent to NBC anchor
Tom Brokaw with cutaneous anthrax and that
infected Brokaw's assistant, Erin O'Connor.
The envelope is postmarked September 18
from Trenton, N.J. The handwriting is identical
to the one sent to the New York Post below
postmarked on the same date and sent from
the same place.

9. CHARACTERISTICS OF
BIOAGENTS

10. Effective and Cheap
- 1 gram botulinum intoxication can kill 10
million people.
- Purified Botulinum is 3 million times more
potent than our best chemical weapon.
- SCUB Missile filled with Bolulinum Toxin
would affect an area 16 times greater than our best
chemical weapon.
To Affect 1 Square Kilometer of Area
- Conventional Weapons $2000
- Nuclear Weapons $ 800
- Chemical Weapons $ 600
- Biological Weapons $ 1
Cost Comparison
Biologics are the “Poor Man’s Atomic Bomb”

11. Not Easily Detectable
They cannot be detected by x-rays and most devices,
making them easy to transport.
Infected humans can serve as transport devices
Easy to Hide Production.
Little is Required.
Natural.

12. TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL
AGENTS

13. Category A agents
1. Smallpox virus
2. Anthrax
3. Plague
4. Botulism
5. Viral hemorrhagic fevers
1. Smallpox virus
2. Anthrax
3. Plague
4. Botulism
1. Smallpox virus
2. Anthrax
3. Plague
4. Botulism
5. Viral hemorrhagic fevers
This Can be easily transmitted from person to
person.
Might cause public panic and social disruption

14. Category B agents
1. Glanders
2. Melioidosis
3. Psittacosis
4. Q fever
5. Ricin
Are moderately easy to disseminate
Result in moderate morbidity rates and low mortality
rates

15. Category C agents
1. Multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis
(MTB)
2. Nipah Virus
3. Hantavirus
Category C agents are pathogens.
These might be engineered for mass dissemination
They are easy to produce and have potential for high
morbidity or mortality.

16. WHO HAS BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
•Algeria
•Canada
•China
•Cuba
•Egypt
•Ethiopia
•France
•Germany
•India
•Iran
•Iraq
•Israel
•Italy
•Japan
•Libya
•Myanmar
•N. Korea
•Pakistan
•Former Soviet
Union
•South Africa
• S. Korea
•Sudan
•Syria
•Taiwan
•U.K
•USA
•Viet Nam
•Yugoslavia

18. DELIVERY METHODS:-
•Gas release and aerosol
releases via airplanes,
submarines, bombs, artillery
and missiles
HCN missiles and central burster
missiles
•Poisoned arrows
•Poisoned bullets
•Poisoned hand grenades
•Poisoned letters
•Food delivery: food, coffee,
water, creams, juice

19. TYPES OF BIOWEAPON

20. SMALLPOX
•Smallpox is a highly contagious viral disease caused by the virus
Variola. Considered to be an ancient killer
•It has been eradicated through worldwide vaccination.
Known stocks of virus exist in only two World Health
Organization (WHO) laboratories but may be in the hands of
terrorists.
Signs and symptoms include high fever, tiny pus-filled blisters on
the face, arms and legs. There is no proven treatment and the
disease can kill within weeks, fatal in about 30% of cases.
However, a vaccine is available which can lessen the severity of
the disease.

21. ANTHRAX
.Bacillus anthracis is a rod-shaped Gram-
positive spore-forming and non-motile
facultative aerobe.
It is also highly resistant to heat, cold,
radiation, dessication, and disinfectants.

22. There are three forms of anthrax:
Cutaneous anthrax - the bacterium enters through a cut
in the skin, resulting to skin sores with characteristic black
center.
Intestinal anthrax - bacterium ingested from meat of
infected animal causes inflammation of the intestines,
vomiting of blood and severe diarrhea.
Inhalation anthrax - infects the lungs; cold or flu-like
symptoms develop initially, with fatigue, low grade fever and
dry cough, later developing into high fever and pneumonia.

23. PLAGUE
•Also known as the "Black Death" in the Middle
Ages, spread across Asia and Europe and killed a
third of the world's inhabitants at that time,
about 20-30 million people.
• It is caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium found
in rats, squirrels and wild dogs. Antibiotics can be
used to prevent it unlike before

24. There are three types of
plague:
Bubonic plague - most common type
of plague caused by biting of rats,
squirrels and other rodents, which kills
within 4-6 days.
Pneumonic plague - type of plague
wherein the infection moves to the
lungs.
Septicemic plague - type of plague
wherein the bacterium grows in the
blood. This type of plague is the most
deadly
BUBO
ULCER

25. BOTULISM
• Botulism is a muscle paralyzing disease
caused by the toxin made by the
bacterium Clostridium botulinum that
can kill within 24 hours.
• Symptoms include abdominal cramps,
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, double
vision and difficulty to swallow. The
Center for Disease Control (CDC) keeps
an antidote to botulinum toxin in
storage; a penicillin treatment can also
be use.

26. TULAREMIA
•Also known as "Rabbit Fever".
•It is caused by the bacterium Francisella
tularensis.
•It is acquired by coming in contact with
blood or body fluids from infected animals
such as rabbits and squirrels mostly, and
from the bite of a fly or tick that carries
blood of an infected animal or from
contaminated food.
•Symptoms: fever, headache, chills,
weakness, and ulcerated sore, resulting in
enlarged and tender nodes. Also the
disease can be obtained through
contaminated water resulting to mouth and
throat sores, vomiting and diarrhea; it can

27. •This is a class of biological carcinogens,
produced by certain molds, that induce liver
cancer. Man and many other animals are
susceptible to this material. The molds that
produces this material grows well on grain,
peanuts and other rich nutrients .
•The onset of the cancer is uncertain and clearly
dose dependent. As there are no known human
tests on the toxicity of this material, it is
impossible to assign a minimal lethal dose
AFLATOXIN

28. RICIN•Ricin is a poison derived from castor
bean plants, the same beans used to
make castor oil.
•Ingestion of poisoned food or
contaminated water supply can cause
intestinal bleeding and organ damage.
•
•It can be turned into an aerosol and can
contaminate by inhalation causing
severe respiratory problems and
damaged lungs.
• No anti-ricin vaccine or antidote exists,
possessing a serious threat as a
biological weapon.

29. Clostridium perfringens
•It enters the body through wounds
where it cause gas
gangrene
.•Gas gangrene is an especially nasty
disease that eats away the body
t
•Treatment involves antibiotics and
exposure of the patient to pure oxygen
which inhibits
growth of the Bacillus.

30. ADVANTAGES TO THE USE OF
BIOWEAPONS IN WAR:
because it reproduces in the host, theoretically
produce the desired detrimental outcome in a target
host.
Biological toxins are among the most toxic agents
known. For example, the quantity of botox in the dot of
an ‘i’ is, when delivered properly, enough to kill ~10
people.
Most bioweapons grade microbes are relatively
easy and inexpensive to grow.
Large quantities of biological weapons can, be

31. DISADVANTAGES TO THE USE OF
BIOWEAPONS IN WAR
Difficulty of protecting the workers at all
stages of production, transportation,
loading of delivery systems and final
delivery
Difficulty in maintaining quality control and
sufficient containment during growth and
harvesting of agents
Effective delivery problems
Poor storage
survival
Difficult to control once
released

32. PROTOCOLS FOR BANNING
BIOWEAPON

33. International response
The 1925 Geneva Protocol
 Prohibits the use of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other
gases and all analogous liquids, materials or devices
inwarfare
 Bans use not possession
1972 Biological Weapons Convention
Prohibits development, production, stockpiling and
acquisition of biological weapons
 Does not obstruct non-hostile use of biological agents but
still covers future weaponisation of agents.
 First treaty to ban an entire class of weapons

34. Prevention
•Development of rapid detection and Public
education and awareness campaign.
•Initiation of immediate therapy, supportive
care provides the best chance for survival from
these devastating infections.
•A high index of suspicion must be maintained,
in cases with what are often relatively
nonspecific symptoms.

35. •The threat of BT is real and significant. It is neither In the realm of
science fiction nor confined to aparticular nation.
• The increased threat of BT and the risk posed by various
microorganisms as BW needs tobe evaluated and should be better
understood.
•Planning and training involving all organizationspotentially involved
in responding from emergencymanagers to public health officials to
hospital administrators and staffs is essential.
• Educational programs fordentists should be developed to prepare
them for providing services they may be recruited to performin an
emergency.
CONCLUSION

36. • http://www.cdc.org . Website of the Centre for
Disease Control and Prevention, Dept. of Health and
Human Services, USA.
Hunger I. Bioweapons Monitor 2011, 1st ed: 2011.
National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats;
National Security Council of USA, 2009.
• http://www.emedicinehealth.com/script/main/art.a
sp?articlekey=58836
• www.mapw.org.au ; website of the Medical
Association for Prevention of War Australia
(MAPW).
• http://www.proliferationnews.org ;
website of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace.
REFERENCES

37. THANK YOU