This document provides information about bioterrorism, including: - Defining bioterrorism as the deliberate release of biological agents to cause illness or death. - Discussing the history of bioterrorism dating back to ancient times and examples from the 20th-21st centuries. - Categorizing biological agents into 3 categories based on their ability to threaten public health and safety.

1. In the name of Allah the most
merciful and the most
beneficent

2. Course Title:
Diversity of Monera
Course Code:
BOT-301

4. OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of my presentation are:
To increase the awareness about;
How it develops?
● Why and How it is increasing alarming
high rate?
● Are they curable?
● How to prevent them?
● What we should do?
●

5. CONTENTS
Definition
● History
● Early use
th
● 20 Century
st
● 21 Century
● Types of Agents
● Category A
● Category B
● Category C
● Planning and Response
● Preparedness
● Biosurveillance
● Response to Bioterrorism incident or Threat
●

6. Have you ever noticed this Sign

7. What is Bioterrorism

8. DEFINITION:-
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

9. These agents are typically found in
nature, but it is possible that they
could be changed to increase their
ability to cause disease, make them
resistant to current medicines, or to
increase their ability to be spread into
the environment.

10. Terrorists may use biological
agents because they can be
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, can not.

12. HISTORY
Early use
Biological terrorism dates as far back as Ancient Rome ,
when feces were thrown into faces of enemies.This
early version of biological terrorism continued on into
the 14th century where the bubonic plague was used to
infiltrate enemy cities,both by instilling the fear of
infection in residences, in hopes that they would
evacuate, and also to destroy defending forces that
would not yield to the attack. The use of disease as a
weapon in this stage of history exhibited a lack of
control aggressors had over their own biological
weapons. Primitive medical technology provided
limited means of protection for the aggressor and a
battle's surrounding geographical regions.

13. After the battle was won, the inability to
contain enemies who escaped death led to
widespread epidemics affecting not only the
enemy forces, but also surrounding regions'
inhabitants. Due to the use of these biological
weapons, and the apparent lack of medical
advancement
necessary
to
defend
surrounding regions from them, widespread
epidemics such as the bubonic plaguequickly
moved across all of Europe, destroying a large
portion of its population.

14. th
20 Century
By the time World War I began, attempts to use
anthrax were directed at animal populations. This
generally proved to be ineffective. Shortly after the
start of World War I, Germany launched a biological
sabotage campaign in the United States, Russia,
Romania, and France.At that time, Anton Dilger lived
in Germany, but in 1915 he was sent to the United
States carrying cultures ofglanders , a virulent disease
of horses and mules. Dilger set up a laboratory in his
home in Chevy Chase, Maryland . He used stevedores
working the docks in Baltimore to infect horses with
glanders while they were waiting to be shipped to
Britain.

15. Dilger was under suspicion as being a
German agent, but was never arrested.
Dilger eventually fled to Madrid, Spain,
where he died during the Influenza
Pandemic of 1918.In 1916, the Russians
arrested a German agent with similar
intentions. Germany and its allies infected
French cavalry horses and many of
Russia’s mules and horses on the Eastern
Front. These actions hindered artillery and
troop movements, as well as supply
convoys.

16. 1984­USA­Rajneeshee
bioterror attack
In Oregon in 1984, 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.

17. st
21 Century
2001 USA Anthrax attack
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. Still 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

18. Types of Agents
Under current United States law , bio­agents
which
have
been
declared
by
the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
or the U.S. Department of Agriculture to have
the "potential to pose a severe threat to public
health and safety" are officially defined as "
select agents ". The CDC categorizes these agents
(A,
B
or
C)
and
administers
the
Select Agent Program , which regulates the
laboratories which may possess, use, or transfer
select agents within the United States.

19. Category A
These high­priority agents 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 A includes:
● Tulameria
● Anthrax
● Small pox
● Botulinum toxin
● Bubonic plague
● Viral hemmoragic fever

20. TULAREMIA:
Tularemia, or rabbit fever,
has a very low fatality rate
if treated, but can severely
incapacitate. The disease
is caused by the
Francisella tularensis
bacterium, and can be
contracted through
contact with the fur ,
inhalation, ingestion of
contaminated water or
insect bites.

21. Francisella tularensis is very infectious. A small
number (10­50 or so organisms) can cause
disease. IfF. tularensis were used as a weapon,
the bacteria would likely be made airborne for
exposure by inhalation. People who inhale an
infectious aerosol would generally experience
severe respiratory illness, including life­
threatening pneumonia and systemic infection,
if they are not treated. The bacteria that cause
tularemia occur widely in nature and could be
isolated and grown in quantity in a laboratory,
although manufacturing an effective aerosol
weapon would require considerable
sophistication

22. ANTHRAX
Anthrax is a non­
contagious disease
caused by the spore­
forming
bacterium Bacillus
anthracis. An
anthrax vaccine does
exist but requires many
injections for stable
use.

23. When discovered early anthrax can be cured by
administering antibiotics (such as ciprofloxacin).Its
first modern incidence in biological warfare were when
Scandinavian "freedom fighters" supplied by the
German General Staff used anthrax with unknown
results against the Imperial Russian Army in Finland
in 1916.In 1993, the Aum Shinrikyo used anthrax in an
unsuccessful attempt in Tokyo with zero
fatalities.Anthrax was used in a series of attacks on
the offices of several United States Senators in late
2001. The anthrax was in a powder form and it was
delivered by the mail.Anthrax is one of the few
biological agents that federal employees have been
vaccinated for. The strain used in the 2001 anthrax
attack was identical to the strain used by the
USAMRIID.

24. Small pox
Smallpox is a highly contagious virus . It is transmitted easily
through the atmosphere and has a high mortality rate (20­
40%).Smallpox was eradicated in the world in the 1970s, thanks to
a worldwide vaccination program.

25. Small pox
However, some virus samples are still available in Russian and
American laboratories. Some believe that after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, cultures of smallpox have become available in other
countries. Although people born pre­1970 will have been vaccinated
for smallpox under the WHO program, the effectiveness of
vaccination is limited since the vaccine provides high level of
immunity for only 3 to 5 years. Revaccination's protection lasts
longer.As a biological weapon smallpox is dangerous because of the
highly contagious nature of both the infected and their pox. Also, the
infrequency with which vaccines are administered among the
general population since the eradication of the disease would leave
most people unprotected in the event of an outbreak. Smallpox occurs
only in humans, and has no external hosts or vectors.

26. Category B
Category B agents are moderately easy to
disseminate and have low mortality rates.
● Q fever
● Typhus
● Styphylococcal
● Brucellosis
● Psittacosis
● Racin toxin from Ricinus communis (castor
beans)

27. CATEGORY C
Category C agents are emerging pathogens
that might be engineered for mass
dissemination because of their availability,
ease of production and dissemination, high
mortality rate, or ability to cause a major
health impact.
● Nipah Virus
● Hanta Virus
● SARS
● H1N1 a strain of Influenza
● HIV/AIDS

28. H1N1

30. Planing and Response
Planning may involve the development of
biological identification systems.Until
recently in the United States , most biological
defense strategies have been geared to
protecting soldiers on the battlefield rather
than ordinary people in cities. Financial
cutbacks have limited the tracking of disease
outbreaks. Some outbreaks, such as food
poisoning due to E. coli or Salmonella , could
be of either natural or deliberate origin.

32. PREPAREDNESS
Biological agents are relatively easy to
obtain by terrorists and are becoming
more threatening in the U.S., and
laboratories are working on advanced
detection systems to provide early
warning, identify contaminated areas
and populations at risk, and to
facilitate prompt treatment.
●

34. Methods for predicting the use of
biological agents in urban areas as well as
assessing the area for the hazards
associated with a biological attack are
being established in major cities.
●In addition, forensic technologies are
working on identifying biological agents,
their geographical origins and/or their
initial son.
●Efforts include decontamination
technologies to restore facilities without
causing additional environmental
concerns.
●

36. BIOSURVEILLANCE
In 1999, the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Biomedical
Informatics deployed the first automated bioterrorism
detection
system,
called
RODS (Real­Time Outbreak Disease Surveillance) .RODS is
designed to draw collect data from many data sources and use
them to perform signal detection, that is, to detect a possible
bioterrorism event at the earliest possible moment. RODS, and
other systems like it, collect data from sources including clinic
data,laboratory data, and data from over­the­counter drug
sales.a subcontractor, conceived the idea of obtaining live data
feeds from "non­traditional" (non­health­care) data sources.
The RODS laboratory's first efforts eventually led to the
establishment of the National Retail Data Monitor, a system
which collects data from 20,000 retail locations nation­wide

38. Response to Bioterrotism
Incident or Threat
Government agencies which would be called on to
respond to a bioterrorism incident would include
law enforcement, hazardous materials or
decontamination units and emergency medical
units. The US military has specialized units,
which can respond to a bioterrorism event;
among them are the US Marine Crop's Chemical
Biological Incidence Response Force and the US
army's 20th Supprot Command(CBRNE), which
can detect, identify and neutralize threats and
decontaminate victims exposed to bioterror
agents.

39. In Pakistan no proper vaccination is
available......Recently
many
children
nearly 210 has died due to Measles in
Karachi.
Govt. should take major steps against such
diseases that spread out in our country.
Because nothing is precious than
Health......!!!

40. COCNLUSION
National level mass awareness
programs should be arranged.
● Practical steps should be taken.
● Every person must take care of
himself and his dear ones.
● Legislation should be made.
● Improve conditions of urban areas.
●

41. This is Black Biology
This is Black Biology