Bioterrorism is a conglomerate of two words “bio” means life and terrorism the act of intimidating governments or societies. It is the use of biological agents such as bacteria, viruses and other pathogens and toxins as bioweapons. It is otherwise known as biological warfare. They have the affect the human health and could cause allergic reactions to serious medical conditions, mild infection and in some cases death.
These biological agents are able to multiply and replicate in their host organism and can be transmitted in turn to new hosts, generating in this way with unpredictable effects on the population, both in terms of number of victims and geographical spread.
Biological agents produces toxins that be derived from biological material, including animals, microbes and plants. 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 spread into the environment .
In order to develop a biological attack towards sensitive targets or the population, large amounts of the microbes in question are required; it is important to have a large number of biological agents to particular a disease in population of interest.
The use of bioweapons in bioterrorism began in 14th century when Tartar forces used the plague-infected bodies of their own soldiers to create diseases and havoc in the walled city of Kaffa (now in Ukraine) which led to the downfall of Kaffa. While the UK and USA were in the pursuit of biological weapons, the Japanese military were the first to use them. This was masterminded by General Ishii Shiro who created several biological warfare programmes.
The most recent use of bioweapons occurred in the USA in 2001 where letters were sent to Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, Sen. Patrick Leahy, and the New York Post offices. The anonymous letters were containing Bacillus anthracis the agent responsible for anthrax disease. This attack is also generally called Amerithrax, and during the attack, five postal workers were reported died as a result of inhalation of anthrax and Seventeen other people sickened from cross contamination.
The goals of biological warfare is the destruction of stability and economic progress of the specific population . Biological agents may be used by terrorist because they may not cause illness for several days, they are extremely efficient, easy to disperse and can be very difficult to detect. Some bioterrorism agents, like the smallpox virus, can be spread from person to person and while anthrax cannot be transmitted through direct contact.
The following characteristics make a specific pathogen useful for bioterrorism
- A low infective dose is needed
- Ability to be aerosolized
- High contagiousness
- Survival in a variety of environmental conditions.
- Specialized equipment and huge infrastructure is not required for the production of biological warfare agents. A small microbiological laboratory can produce them because both literature and equipment are available in public domain without any distinction for use in offensive or defensive purposes etc
- The ideal bioweapon also must have a high capacity to incapacitate the affected or, alternatively, be highly lethal. It is appropriate to choose an agent with an incubation period depending on whether immediate or delayed effects are required.
- Finally, the stability of the agent must be assessed, especially when large quantities must be stored for indefinite period of time.
Why are bioweapons used in war?.
BIoweapons are used in war because of the following reasons:
- The weapons are attributed to their low production costs
- The easy access to a wide range of disease-producing biological agents,
- Their non-detection by routine security systems
- Their easy transportation from one location to another are other attractive features.
- The use of these weapons helps to end the war faster, because of the possibility of covering a larger population in a shorter period of time
How do these biological agents spread?
- Biological agents spread through the air, water, or in food (common source epidemic).
- Some can also spread from person to person and very hard to detect (propagated epidermic).
- In fact, most biological weapons (for example, toxins and bacterial spores) have a unique quality that other non-conventional weapons (such as chemical and radiological) do not have; they differ radically from other weapons available
How are these agents introduced into the population?
Biological agents could be introduced into populations by several routes, including aerosol, contamination of food, water, or medical products, fomites, or the release of infected arthropod vectors.
The most dangerous potential bioterrorism agents include the microorganisms that produce anthrax, plague, tularaemia, and smallpox. Diseases of interest to bioterrorism include glanders, melioidosis, brucellosis, Q fever, and viral encephalitis .
According to CDC (2006), bioterrorism agents can be divided into three categories, depending on the severity of the illness caused, ease and mode of transmission and death they cause. Category A are agents considered the highest risk, Category B are easy to spread and Category C are agent considered for emerging threats of diseases . Over the last 10 years, a clinical concept that was virtually non-existent has reached the forefront of emergency medicine .
The U.S. Centre for Diseases and Control (CDC) categorize biological agents into three.
Category A
Agents that can be easily transferred from person to person. They have the potential and ability to result in high death rates and the impact on the public is usually drastic. They might cause public panic and social disruption. They require special action for public health preparedness. Examples of microbes in this group includes* Bacillus anthracis*, Ebola virus, Clostridium botulinum, Francisella tularensis, etc.
Category B
- They are easy to spread.
- They result in low death rates and the degree of illness caused is moderate.
- The major Category B agents and infections are Coxiellaburnetti(Q fever),Brucella species (brucellosis), Burkholderia mallei (glanders),* alphaviruses* (Venezuelan, eastern, and western equine encephalomyelitis), the plant* Ricinuscommunis* (ricin), Staphylococcus enterotoxin B, Salmonella species (salmonellosis), Shigella dysenteriae (shigellosis), Escherichia coli O157:H7,Vibrio cholerae (cholera), and Cryptosporidium parvum(cryptosporidiosis) .
Category C
- They are easily available.
- They are easily produced and spread.
- They have potential for high morbidity and mortality rate and major health impacts.
- The major Category C agents include Hantavirus, tick-bornehemorrhagic fever viruses, yellow fever, and multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis .
Conclusively, it is important to note that bioterrorism involves the use of bioweapons, the use of biological agents and their associated toxins in warfare. Biological weapons have been implemented for years. The notion behind the implementation is the ability to cause disease and havoc, even death. Biological agents are bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganism. The toxins produced by these agents are used in warfare. They are categorized into three as regards their ability to cause and spread diseases into the environment. The ease dissemination of the agents with an appropriate method of delivery makes them to be preferred to other warfare agents. Infective doses of these organisms vary from one agent to another.
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