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BIOTERRORISM: is it a real threat?
Zofia Piotrowska-Seget
Department of Microbiology
University of Silesia
Bioterrorism
The unlawful use of microorganisms or toxins derived from
living organisms to produce death or disease. The act is
intended to create fear and/or intimidate governments or
societies in the pursuit of political, religious, or ideological
goals.
•Microorganisms that infect and grow in the target host
producing a clinical disease that kills or incapacitates the
targeted host.
•Biologically Derived Bioactive Substances (BDBS)
products of metabolism (usually, but not always, of microbial
origin). These include biological toxins, as well as substances
that interfere with normal behavior, such as hormones,
neuropeptides and cytokine.
Targets of bioterroristic attack
• people
• animals
• plant
• food
• water
History of bioterrorism
//www.zoetecnocampo.com/Documentos/cornezuelo
Ancient times
Poisoned arrows
Solon poisoned the water supply with hellebore (skunk cabbage),
an herb purgative (battle of Krissa).
184 B.C.
During the naval battle against King Eumenes of Pergamon, Hannibal's
forces hurled pots filled with serpents upon enemy decks.
1346
During the siege of Kaffa, the Tartar army hurled
its plague-ridden dead over the walls of the city.
The defenders were forced to surrender.
History of bioterrorism
15th Century
During Pizarro's conquest of South America, he
improved his chances of victory by presenting to the
natives, as gifts, clothing laden with the variola virus
http://faculty1.coloradocollege.edu/~cneel/h
y105/Black_.jpg
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/native30/photo
s/bbTrade.gif
1763
Captain Ecuyer of the Royal Americans, under the
guise of friendship, presented to the native Americans
blankets and the handkerchiefs contaminated with
smallpox
1915
Dr. Anton Dilger, grew cultures of Pseudomonas mallei
supplied by the German government, in his home. The
agents and an inoculation device were given to
sympathetic dockworkers in Baltimore to infect 3000
horses, mules, and cattle, destined for the Allied
troops in Europe
History of bioterrorism
http://www.appaloosa.com.br/mormo/
World War I
Germany used Burkholderia mallei to
infect horses and mules on the Eastern
Front
http://www.fotoinf
o.pl/fil_41e.jpg
Due to contact with the infected animals
people also became ill
1914-1917
Germans attempted to spread cholera in
Italy, plague in St. Petersburg, and
biological bombs over Britain
http://www.first-world-war.com/images/dhm1361.jpg
International law
Protocol for the prohibition of the use in war of
asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and of
bacteriological methods of warfare on June 17, 1925,
• This protocol does not prevent the stockpile or
development of such weapons and many state parties,
reserved the right to strike against non-member states
using such weapons or to retaliate when such weapons
were used in a first strike,
• Geneva Protocol is the first multilateral agreement that
extends the prohibition of chemical agents to biological
agents.
http://images.google.pl/imgres?imgurl=http://w
ww.pilsudski.org/images/Sosnkowski.jpg
Unit 731
http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/thth/project
s/thth_projects_2003_parkeun.htm
http://www.z-files.de/paranormal/
verschwoerung/ishii.jpg
1932
As Japanese troops invaded Manchuria, Shiro Ishii, a physician &
army officer, began experiments on biological warfare.
1936 Unit 731 was formed. Ishii constructed a 150 building
complex just outside of Harbin, Manchuria for experimental
purposes. Over 9000 test cases eventually died there. Ishii
tested biological warfare on the Chinese, soldiers and civilians.
Tens of thousands died as a result of plague, cholera, anthrax,
etc.,
1941 - plague was introduced by the Japanese in Suiyuan and
Ninghsia provinces. A serious epidemic followed.
II World War
1941
The British experimented with
anthrax off the Scottish coast.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1457035.stm
Despite attempts to disinfect Gruinard
Island, the spores left by the experiments
kept the island for 48 years.
The island was totaly disinfected in 1986
year.
http://www.gifte.de/B-%20und%20C-Waffen/gruinard_island_bild01.htm
Cold war
1942: The U.S. begins an offensive biological weapons program at
Camp Detrick. After the war, efforts were continued at the renamed
Fort Detrick and Pine Bluff.
Both USA and Soviet Union explored the use of hundreds of
different bacteria, viruses, and biological toxins.
Each program devised sophisticated ways to disperse these agents
in fine-mist aerosols, to package them in bombs, and to launch
them on missiles.
In 1979, a rare outbreak of anthrax disease in the city of Sverdlovsk
killed nearly 70 people. The Soviet government publicly blamed
contaminated meat, but U.S. intelligence sources suspected the
outbreak was linked to secret weapons work at a nearby army
laboratory.
Cold war
1969: President Richard Nixon ended the U.S. biological
weapons program, and pledged the nation will never use
biological weapons under any circumstances.
The entire arsenal was destroyed by 1973, except for seed
stocks held for research purposes.
1972: The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and
Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction is signed by more than
100 countries, going into effect in 1975. Signatories include Iraq
and all permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council.
Classification of biological agents
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta
Category A
Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)
Microorganisms that pose a special risk to
national security
Yersinia pestis (plague)
• can be easily disseminated or
transmitted from person to person;
• result in high mortality rates and
have the potential for major public
health impact;
• might cause public panic and
social disruption;
• require special action for public
health preparedness.
Variola major (smallpox)
Francisella tularensis (tularemia)
Botulin toxin
(Clostridium botulinum)
Viral hemmorrhagic fevers: Ebola,
Marburg (filovirusy), Lassa
(adenovirus)
http:// www.bt.cdc.gov/agentlist-category.asp
Category B
Coxiella burnetii (Q fewer)
• Brucella (Brucellosis)
• Burkholderia mallei (Glanders)
• Staphylococcal enterotoxin B
• Epsilon toxin Clostridium perfringens
• Ricin toxin (Ricinus communis)
• Viral encephalitis (e.g Venezuelan equine
encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis)
• Food safety threats: Salmonella
• Shigella dysenteriae
• Escherichia coli O157:H7
• Water safety threats: Vibrio cholerae
Cryptosporidium parvum
Category C
• virus Nipah
• virus Hanta
• yellow fever virus
Bacillus anthracis
www.textbookofbacteriology.net
Robert Koch (1876 year) isolated
and described this rod
Aerobe, spore-forming
bacterium :
3 – 8 μm
1 – 1,5 μm
Anthrax: basics
 Zoonotic disease in herbivores (e.g., sheep,
goats, cattle) follows ingestion of spores in soil
 Human infection typically acquired through contact with
anthrax-infected animals or animal products or atypically
through intentional exposure
 Three clinical forms
 Cutaneous
 Inhalational
 Gastrointestinal
Virulence factors
• poly-D-glutamic acid capsule
• anthrax toxin composed of three proteins
pXO1
pXO2
http://www.theoptimists.org.uk/authors/mark_g/graphics/full/anthrax-toxin.gif
Smallpox
1979 - eradication of smallpox
• Smallpox is a serious, contagious, and sometimes
fatal infectious disease caused by virus Variola major
• Overall mortality rates were approximately 30%
• Now the disease is eradicated after a successful worldwide
vaccination program.
Officially, the only remaining stocks of smallpox virus are held
at the VECTOR institute in Koltisovo in Russia and at the
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia, USA
http://www.innovationsreport.de/html/berichte/biowissenschaften_chemie
Botulin toxin (A)
Neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium
Clostridium botulinum
It is possibly the most acutely toxic substance
known, with a lethal dose of about 200-300
pg/kg
Zn2+
HN
S S
HN 1
NH2
HN 2
This toxin is rapidly destroyed by heat, such
as in thorough cooking
COOH
Arnon S. et al. 2001. Botulinum toxin as a biological weapon.JAMA,
285:1059-1070.
IRAQ
Al-Hakam
Missiles:
13 with botulin
toxin
10 with aflatoxin
2 with anthrax
spores
Bombs:
100 with botulin
50 with anthrax
spores
7 with aflatoxin
In the early 1990's it was discovered that Iraq had
produced 8,000 liters of anthrax spores.
8,000 liters is a sufficient amount capable of killing
every man, woman, and child on earth.
Zilinskas RA . Iraq's biological weapons: the past as future?
JAMA.1999;278:418-424.
Ebola virus
Zoonotic virus
4 biotypes Ebola: Zair, Sudan, Reston, Ivory Cost
Ebola haemorrhagic fever
Symptoms: high fever, headache, abdominal pain,
severe organ damage (especially the kidneys, spleen and
liver) as a result of disseminated systemic necrosis.
Among humans, the virus is transmitted by direct contact
with infected body fluids or to a lesser extent, skin or
mucus membrane contact.
From CDC collection
Ricin toxin
The seeds from the castor bean plant, Ricinus
communis, are poisonous to people, animals and
insects
Ricin toxin inhibits protein sythesis by specifically
and irreversibly inactivating eukaryotic ribosomes.
The symptoms of human poisoning begin within a
few hours of ingestion.
The symptoms are:
• abdominal pain
• vomiting
• diarrhea, sometimes bloody
• decrease in blood pressure
Lethal dose – 1 mg can kill adult
Features of the perfect biological weapon
 Highly infectious; requiring only a few organisms to cause the desired
effect (e.g. smallpox) or highly effective; requiring a small quantity of
material to cause the desired effect (e.g. botox),

Efficiently dispersible, usually in the air; contagious or effective on
contact,

Readily grown and produced in large quantities,

Stable in storage; preferably in a ready-to-deliver state,

Resistant enough to environmental conditions so as to remain infectious
or operational long enough to affect the majority of the target, but not so
persistent as to affect the occupying army.
Bioterrorism: a real threat
• Most agents relatively easy to produce
– Availability of information on the Internet
– Access to dual use equipment
• Relatively inexpensive
cost of 50% casualty rate per km2
• conventional - $2,000
• nuclear - $800
• anthrax - $1
• Many casualties but preserves structures
Bioterrorism: a real threat
• Dissemination may cover large area
• Difficult to detect release
• Symptoms occur days or weeks later
• Some have secondary spread
• Use can cause panic
• Users able to protect selves
• Users can escape before effect
World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee estimated that casualties
following the theoretical aircraft release of 50 kg of anthrax over a developed
urban population of 5 million would be 250,000 - 100,000 of whom would be
expected to die without treatment
Inglesby T.V et al. 1999. Anthrax as a biological weapon. Medical and public health management. JAMA, 281: 1735-1745.
Can we stop bioterrorism?
• Clarifying the cause of suspicious disease outbreaks
• Increasing cooperation among international agencies,
• Improving peaceful cooperation between scientists to make
their activities more "transparent,"
• Looking for bio-weapons specialists from the former Soviet
Union or Iraq who disappear, stop publishing, or suddenly get
rich,
• Controlling international trade in biological equipment useful for
military and civilian purposes,