Biological agents in war and terror Andreas Suhrbier Queensland - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Biological agents in war and terror Andreas Suhrbier Queensland Institute of Medical Research Principle Research Fellow National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia The human body loaded with bacteria, fungi, archaea,
and Medical Research Council, Australia
Nature Reviews Genetics 13, 260-270 Translational Research 2012;160:283–290
Bacteria >500 species, 1,000,000,000,000,000 of them (1014) The human body – loaded with bacteria, fungi, archaea, viruses
Human body 1013 cells
Viruses – 1000s of species
109-10 per litre in sea water
Hittite-Arzawan war 1320 &1318 BC Modern day Turkey. Hittites sent tularemia infected donkeys into Arzawa Historical vignettes of Biowarfare
Tularemia is a bacterial infection 5-15% death rate
Black death probably the greatest public health disaster in recorded history. Europe lost an estimated one quarter to one third of its population, and the mortality in North Africa and the Near East was comparable.
pestis infected bodies into the town occupied by Italians (Genoese) . It was the beginning of the BLACK DEATH
Yersinia pestis, principal reservoir is wild rodents
corpses.
American Indians.
fleas in clay bombs on Manchuria (China), ≈200,000 killed. Clay bomb - 30,000 fleas under oxygen
?1942. German panzer troops infected with
also infected. ?1982-84. Soviets use glanders (Burkholderia mallei) against mujahedin.
(Melioidosis is caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei)
?1997 foot & mouth. Taiwan's pigs (US $4 billion economic loss) Chinese bioattack?
Four of the restaurants affected by the attack on salad bars
751 people infected, 45 hospitalizations
Rajneesh greeted by sannyasins on
Rajneeshpuram, 1982 Salmonella bacteria were purchased from a medical supply company in Seattle and cultured in labs located inside the commune.
1984 Bhaghwan Shree Rajneesh contaminate salad bars Oregan USA with salmonella hoping to rig elections
leader, Thomas Daschle.
treated with a highly sophisticated chemical additive so they are more easily inhaled.
Bruce Ivins, at Fort Detrick to be the
5 deaths
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks
Countries with known bioweapons programs Bioweapons for mass extermination
Japan Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department (1937- 1945). Unit 731 Harbin, China Imperial Japanese Army germ warfare and human experiments killed around 580,000 people
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, >60,000 people involved in biological weapons research, development & production.
bioweapons
From Ken Alibek’s Biohazard
The Sverdlovsk anthrax leak - "biological Chernobyl". March 1979 Violation of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention? Russian authorities blamed contaminated meat. All cases in a narrow band down-wind of Military Compound 19.
(Yekaterinburg). Military Compound 19
Worker removed old and failed to replace a new filter. ≈100 cases At least 64 deaths
botulinum toxin, Eastern and Western equine encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis, Argentinean hemorrhagic fever, Korean hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, tularemia, Q fever, Lassa fever, glanders, melioidosis, plague, yellow fever, psittacosis, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever, chikungunya disease virus, ricin. Crop and livestock weapons Rice blast, rice brown spot disease, late blight of potato, stem rust of cereal, rinderpest virus, Newcastle disease virus, fowl plague virus Materials Hydrocarbon-loving bacteria that bore holes in asphalt, leading to the deterioration of road and runway
Between 1956-1975 >6,720 soldiers, civilians and prisoners were used to test 254 psychochemicals Super-soldier & messing w ith the enemies minds
LSD In 1015 King Eirik Bloodaxe (Eric I) of Norway outlawed berserkers.
(probably used Ergot or fly agaric mushroom or bog-myrtle/alcohol)
Mainstream
Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction as of late 2002
Produced Anthrax, aflatoxin, botulinum toxin, gas gangrene, ricin, and wheat smut, Working on cholera, mycotoxins, shigellosis, and viruses (including camelpox, infectious hemorrhaghic conjunctivitis and rotavirus).
IRAQ
Iraq was invaded in 2003
North Korea Signatory state to the Biological Weapons Convention Bioweapons status: Known to be researching biological agents for offensive use Possible agents: Anthrax, cholera, plague, smallpox, botulinum toxin, hemorrhagic fever, typhoid, yellow fever
Syria Syria has worked on: anthrax, plague, tularemia, botulinium, smallpox, aflotoxin, cholera, ricin and camelpox, and has used Russian help in installing anthrax in missile warheads. Syria has not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention
Jane's Defence Weekly
Sept 2007 Accident at Aleppo. Explosion released Mustard gas and Sarin – dozens dead.
CH3P(O)F2 + (CH3)2CHOH → [(CH3)2CHO]CH3P(O)F + HF US warhead with Sarin bomblets c1960
SARIN GAS
Biological Weapons Convention Signed April 10, 1972 Location London, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. Effective March 26, 1975 Parties 165 as of October 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BWC_Participation.svg
Category B
Category C Emerging infectious disease threats such as Nipah virus and additional hantaviruses. NIAID priority areas:
NIAID Category A, B & C Priority Pathogens
Category A
Case fatality rate ≈30%
Smallpox is an infectious disease!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 1970 epidemic in Meschede, Germany
Outbreak contained
175 cases, 35 dead. Infected people travelling all over the country.
THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE !
Thanks to vaccination October, 1 9 7 7 Ali Maow Maalin of Som alia The last person in the w orld to contract sm allpox naturally.
GLOBAL SMALLPOX VACCINATION CAMPAIGN
Vaccination removed smallpox from the natural world Fenner - no animal reservoir
Ebola virus
Q50, the quantity of a BW required to kill half the people in a 1 km area, Smallpox
Ebola/Marburg
Filoviruses
Ebola and Marburg viruses present the most horrible way to die. Ebola attacks every tissue in the body except skeletal muscle and bone. It begins with a fever about a week after infection. Blood begins to ooze from under the skin. The skin begins to tear, followed by blood flowing from every pore. The skin, including that on the tongue, can peel off and the eyes fill with blood - and there is no known vaccine or cure.
allafrica.com/stories/200111040009.html 4 Nov 2001
Germ Missiles That Could End the World. The Nation (Nairobi) November 4, 2001 . Posted to the web November 4, 2001 Dennis Onyango
Natural transmission usually by contact with body fluids (Eg Funerary rites)
Ebola has killed 10,000’s of the great apes in central Africa
Shoko Asahara Aum Supreme Truth cult (Re-formed as Aleph in 2000) Sarin attack Tokyo 1995. 12 dead, 5000 injured
The Japanese Aum sect, allegedly attempted to get hold of Ebola samples by sending cult members to Zaire during an Ebola outbreak. Promed; 27 Nov 2012 Ebola virus disease - Congo (44 dead) Hard to grow. Hard to weaponise.
Botulinum toxin A potent neurotoxin. 1 kg if injected would kill most of the world’s population (Available on e Bay) 'Botox parties' have become popular among the champagne set and not all injections are carried
Bootleg Botox: a new terror threat? David Hoffman14 May 2010
Anthrax spores
Less effective as a terror weapon as not contagious
Bacillus anthracis culture
Advantage as a bioweapon as not easily spread to your own troops.
http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/whocc/mp_world.htm
Australian Anthrax belt, NSW & Gippsland VIC Sheep/goats 1999 400 cases 2000 80 cases Humans 1990 5 cases 1998 1 cases Cattle 2008 Hunter Valley 53 cases
Emerg Infect Dis. 2009 May; 15(5): 840–842.
Quick Facts about Anthrax
Information adapted from the CDC and Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Center.
bacterium Bacillus anthracis.
Incubation period; between 1 and 7 days, but may be as long as 60 days. Symptoms; Early stage; Sore throat, Muscle aches, Fever, Headache, chest
Meningitis, delirium. Case fatality w/o treatment is 97% Diagnostic tests; Gram stain, Culture, Chest X ray. Spread; direct person-to-person spread of anthrax is extremely unlikely . There is no need to immunize or treat contacts of persons ill with anthrax. Postexposure prophylaxis: In persons exposed to anthrax, infection can be prevented with early antibiotic treatment (Ciprofloxacin). Delay lessens chances for survival. Vaccination against anthrax is not recommended for the general public to prevent disease and is not currently available except for military use.
Cutaneous anthrax
Weaponising infectious agents – the hard part
Problems Agents inactivated by storage, drying, UV, humidity etc Agents do not disperse and clump Agents swept away by wind or temperature inversions Solutions Encapsulate agents Specific aerosol and powder formulations Delivery modalities (eg bomblets) Simple spraying from aeroplanes will result in rapid loss of infectivity and rapid dissipation.
The Bush administration launched an unprecedented biodefence effort. To date it has spent US $44 billion The centrepiece of the administration's biodefence effort is Project BioShield. Launched in 2004, it is designed to turn drug companies into defence contractors.
Biodefence special: Fortress America? New Scientist 06 October 2006
Project BioShield
Is the world safer? Money well spent?
Artist: Albrecht Durer Born: 1471 Died: 1528 Style: Renaissance Title: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Year: 1498 Medium: Woodcut War Famine Pestilence Death
Bioterror killed five in US;
The only lethal biological attack in the United States was carried out in 2001, using a supply of anthrax that came from a US source and killed five people.
In 2001 - 42,443 motor vehicle accident deaths in USA In 2004 - 1,598 in Australia
In 2002 10 million died from Infectious Diseases
1.5 m TB, 2.8 m HIV, 1.2 m malaria, 1.8 m diarrheal diseases
*Chikungunya virus 2004-11. 1.5 – 6 m cases of chronic arthritis HIV 40 – 50 million HIV infected. Influenza – ¼ to ½ m deaths p.a. globally. Pandemic 1918-19, 20-40 m deaths. *SARS – 8,096 known infected cases, 774 deaths. $30 billion loss for tourism.
*Hendra virus – Australia from 1994, 7 human cases, 4 died.
*Foot & Mouth Disease UK 2001, 6 m animals culled, £3.1 billion loss to
agriculture; tourism losses much larger
*Avian Influenza 2003. H5N1. 258 cases. 60% mortality. * Unexpected
naturally occurring infectious diseases (WHO).
Flu inspectors checking incoming aeroplane passengers
HUMAN MADE Global Climate Change and Human Disease Mosquito borne diseases – Ross River, West Nile, dengue, malaria. Enteric diseases – Crytosporidium, cholera, coxsackie virus, hepatitis A, E. coli Mental illness – mental and behavioural disorders rise >27°C. – ≈300 mm less rainfall increases suicide rates by ≈8%.
http://www.internationalnewsservices.com/articles/1-latest-news/17833- climate-change-spreads-infectious-diseases-worldwide http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/climatechangechap6.pdf Climate Commission: THE CRITICAL DECADE:CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH. 2001 2011-13 Queensland Mental Health Natural Disaster Recovery Plan (Queensland Health, 2011).