BIOTERRISOMSuthar HarshilS.Y.B.sc(bio-tech)

DEFINITION

The use of infectious agents or other harmful biological substances as weapons of terrorism.

.

A• Easily

Transmitted• They result in

high Death rates

• They require special action

B• These agents

are the second highest priority

• They are moderately easy to spread

C• These third

highest priority agents

• Easily available produce, and spread.

CATEGORY A

Anthrax• Bacillus anthracis

Plague• Yersinia pestis

Ebola• Ebola virus

CATEGORY B

Shigellosis•Shigella spp.

Ricin•Castor beans

West nile fever•West Nile virus (WNV)

CATEGORY C

Swine flu•H1N1 Influenza

Tuberculosis (TB)•Mycobacterium tuberculosis

THE ORIGIN OF BIOLOGICAL WEAPON

The German army was the first to use weapons of mass destruction during the First World War.

Sir Frederick Banting created first private biological weapon research centre in 1940.

Japanese embarked on a largescale programme to develop biological weapons during the Second World War.

1972-Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC),

Administration let the verification protocol fail in 2002.

HOW TO USE AS A BIOLOGICALWEAPONS?

The Biological weapons system is comprised of four components.

1. Payload - The payload is the biological agent itself.

2. Munition - protection and carries the payload to maintain its potency during delivery.

3. Delivery system - it can be a missile, vehicle or an artillery shell.

4. Dispersion system - The dispersion system ensures dissemination of the payload at the target site. Potential methods of dispersion are aerosol sprays, explosives, and food or water contamination.

In 1984, The Rajhneeshees osho who attempted to influence local elections in Dallas, Oregon by contaminating salad bars with Salmonella typhimurium.

REFERENCE http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.

asp#c http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17127625 http://www.immed.org/illness/bioterrorism.html http://

www.nhpf.org/library/background-papers/bp_emergprep&bioterr_10-01.pdf

http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/conditions/bioterrorism/start/1

http://www.siumed.edu/medicine/id/bioterrorism.htm#threat

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/biodefenserelated/biodefense/pages/cata.aspx