Bioterrorism

BIOTERRORISM

Jennifer Salvo

Troy State University

Professor O'Reilly-Dickerson

SCI 2233

February 15, 2005

Abstract

Throughout time, the quest to dominate another is limited only to the imagination of one man poised against the other. From feces smeared arrows to poisonous snakes, from infected blankets to super bugs created in a lab. Sometimes common flu symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, coughing, and shortness of breath are the first signs of bioterrorism. For some reason, the more we search for answers to counter the effects of bioterrorism the worse is gets. The road to detection is not a narrow path, but a wide-open journey.

Throughout history, warriors and terrorists have used a wide range of tactics and

techniques to help defeat their enemy on and off the battlefield. These weapons of war

have evolved from throwing rocks and sticks at each other to the unthinkable weapons of

mass destruction called bioterrorism. You may ask yourself, what is bioterrorism? The

Center for Disease Control defines bioterrorism as the intentional or threatened use of bacteria, fungi, or toxins from living organisms to produce death or disease in humans, animals, or plants and involves intimidation of nations or people to accomplish political or social ends. (CDC 2005) In ancient times, archers shot arrows at their enemies that were dipped in blood from dead and decomposing bodies, while others had the feces of animals smeared onto the tips to cause severe infection after entering the body. During sea battles, the great Hannibal would have venomous snakes thrown onto enemy ships causing enemy shipboard personnel to get bitten and die, further allowing Hannibal and his men to board the ships and gather the bounty. Numerous stories are in text about the dead bodies of contaminated victims that were catapulted over walls in an effort to regain or overtake whatever was inside those walls. Since no one wanted to touch the dead bodies that flew over the walls of a fort or city, the disease quickly spread to the people, ultimately, forcing them to surrender. Some historians believe this was the initial technique used to cause the plague epidemic that swept across Europe, killing over 25 million people. (Mayor 2003) Russian troops also thought the idea of using infected corpses was a good technique of war when they also used disease-ridden bodies of plague victims in order to take a city in Sweden. It has been said that the Spanish secretly infected French wine with blood from leprosy patients that made the troops too sick to fight. During the French and Indian War, the British thought the Indians could not be trusted and were loyal to the French. Because of this distrust, the British gave the Native Americans who were inside a French fort blankets previously used by smallpox victims in order to regain that strategic Fort. Allegations were made throughout the Civil War by both sides not only because horses and cattle were killed and left to rot in watering holes and wells causing sickness to both human and animal, but especially against the Confederate Army and Luke Blackburn, the future governor of Kentucky, for using this same bioterrorism technique as the British during the Civil War when he tried to infect clothing with smallpox and yellow fever he sold to unsuspecting Union troops. (Phillips, n.d.)

Over the years, with no real means of biological agent detection except to observe the typical signs and symptoms of a particular agent, townspeople and military commanders assumed that anyone showing any sign of a biological agent must be infected and had them either quarantined or burned to death in order to prevent the spread of the disease. The children's nursery rhyme "Ring around the Rosie" comes from the Bubonic Plague outbreak in Europe around 1347. The only means of detection was to observe the signs and symptoms of friends and family members who could no longer hide it from others. The initial symptoms of the Plague began as little rings around a red colored sore (Ring around the Rosie). Shortly afterwards, the red sores would spread and darken or become black causing a putrid smell on the body letting everyone know they had the plague. If others found out someone had the plague whether it was friends, family members or a simple passerby, they would either burn them alive or send them away from their family. In order to hide the sickening smell so others would not know; people would try to disguise the smell by wearing heavy clothing and attaching different things such as garlic or sweet smelling flowers to their body (Pocket full of Posies). As the disease progresses, the sores and skin of the victims would turn a grayish coloring (Ashes, Ashes). There was no cure for the Plague and sooner or later, (We all fall down).

It wasn't until the 1930's that the real science of bioterrorism really began to blossom. Because the international law known as the Geneva Protocol of 1925 was signed by many different nations banning the use or testing of biological agents for warfare, the Japanese government reasoned that it must be a great weapon of war since the whole world wanted to ban it. Because of this signing, the Japanese established two biological warfare units in Manchuria known as Unit 100 and Unit 731. At Unit 731, in addition to using men, women, children, and the unborn fetus for bacterial warfare testing, they also performed human experiments on the effects of burns, freezing temperatures, high-pressure impacts, bullets, and explosive effects on the human body. At this unit, they would take human prisoners and infect their bodies with certain biological agents such as Anthrax, cholera, typhoid, plague, etc, and observe their signs and symptoms. To assist with their science experiments and live human dissection, several former members of Unit 731 testified they watched as unknown doctors infected healthy prisoners with various biological agents. Once the prisoner's began showing symptoms of varying stages, they cut them open to see what the disease does to a man's inside. They accomplished this by tying the prisoner to a table and without administering any pain reliever; cut them open from the chest to just above the groin area and began to peel them open. As this happened, they screamed and twisted in agony until the sound of death overcame them. With several operations each day, this was all in a routine day's work

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