Bioterrorism: What You Need to Know

Bioterrorism refers to the utilization of microorganisms such as fungi, viruses and bacteria, or toxins by extremists or terrorist groupings for producing weapons that result in diseases and death amongst humans, plants and animals. Terrorism is the illegal use of violence of force against people, property, or animals as a way of intimidating a government or the general public to attain social or political objectives ( Pal et al., 2017) . Using bioweapons or biological agents to harm people or kill is not a novel conception – nations have been involved in bioterrorism for centuries. Moreover, bioterrorism can be traced back to the fourteenth century when dead bodies were put in enemy wells for poisoning the drinking water. Also, bioterrorism took place in the Indian and French conflicts, after Native Americans were issued with blankets loaded with smallpox. This act is thought to have introduced smallpox in this formerly unexposed people and led to a mortality rate of 40%. More recently, notable events of bioterrorism have occurred ( Pal et al., 2017) . One of them is the deliberate contamination of Dalles’s of salad bars in Oregon, through the use of Salmonella. Another event is the 2001 attack through the use of anthrax-laden letters mailed to politicians and media companies.

The potential effect of bioterrorism is determined by the agent utilized, the quantity being released, the technique of dispersion, the dispersion or weather situations, the exposed population’s preexisting immunity, and how fast the attack was detected. There are various potential agents of bioterrorism such as toxins, viruses and bacteria. Common features of these agents comprise: they are dispersible in aerosols of between 1mm and 5mm particles that can penetrate the distal bronchioles, the aerosols can be delivered using simple technology, they can spread fear, panic, or disease, and they can feasibly infect masses of people. Bioterrorism can potentially lead to high mortality and morbidity since aerosolized bio-weapons could affect or kill a large number of individuals within a short period ( Pal et al., 2017) . Besides, non-aerosolized attacks like the anthrax attack could lead to mortality and mobility. The bio-weapons are hard to identify as they are odorless and tasteless, and can be spread through the air. Due to the potential impact bioterrorism can have on the humans and animals, there is the need to understand it better – its historical background, the different categories of biological weapons, the characteristics of an ideal bioweapon, delivery and dissemination methods of bioweapons, the exposure routes of biological weapons, the impact of bioterrorism on humans and animals, and the general measures of protecting and preventing against bioweapons.

Reference 

Pal, M., Tsegaye, M., Girzaw, F., Bedada, H., Godishala, V., & Kandi, V. (2017). An overview on biological weapons and bioterrorism.  Am J Biomed Res ,  5 (2), 24-34.