Microbiology in the service of war and terror

Proven content

We live in a time of constant terrorist threats. There is a constant race between them and the services responsible for the security of citizens and civilians. Terrorists are developing newer and smarter ways and methods to bypass security procedures to accomplish their deadly intentions. In the era of globalization and the network of political and economic ties, terrorist activities may concern virtually every corner of the world. Basically, conventional weapons in the form of explosives are “most willingly” used in acts of sabotage or terror. However, one should not doubt the lack of inventiveness or knowledge of terrorist organizations and exclude the use of other types of mass destruction media.

In addition to the so-called conventional weapons (explosives, firearms of various caliber) there are also non-conventional measures, such as nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and biological weapons. While the use of nuclear or chemical weapons requires significant costs and is very labor-intensive, the acquisition and use of biological weapons is relatively cheap and simple.

Biological weapons are nothing more than the use of biological agents for combat or terrorist purposes, the role of which is to destroy or reduce the size of the enemy army or the attacked city or other area. The most common biological weapon is the use of microorganisms in the form of bacteria or viruses or toxins to kill people on a massive scale. Biological weapons can also be those microorganisms that will destroy agricultural crops (e.g. some fungi that are pathogens of crops) or livestock herds.

Access to biological weapons is surprisingly simple. Without much exaggeration, it can be said that any high school student with a biological flair and having access to even a primitively equipped microbiological laboratory could independently grow some microbes classified as components of biological weapons. If so, there is no obstacle for terrorist groups and organizations to possess these weapons.

Biological weapons are not a modern invention. Historical sources report attempts to use pathogenic microorganisms for military purposes (of course, at that time it was not known what bacteria or viruses were). Examples include the use of the bodies of people who died of the plague as carriers (vectors) of the plague. In the XNUMXth century, during the Battle of Kaffa, the Tatars tossed the dead of this disease to enemy territory, catapulting the corpse there to start an epidemic and thus weaken the enemy army. Another example of the use of biological weapons in the XNUMXth century was when the British army “gifted” North American Indians with blankets previously used by people suffering from smallpox. The Indians, who had not known this disease before, were completely immune to it and died en masse.

Nowadays, the use as well as storage and research on biological weapons are prohibited under the Geneva Convention. Nevertheless, many countries, including those considered as democratic, such as the US, have conducted or secretly conduct research on biological factors that can be used for military purposes. In 1972, in Sverdlovsk (Yekateringurghurg, present day Our Country), an accident occurred, as a result of which large amounts of anthrax bacilli were released into the atmosphere – 66 people died. In Iraq, in the years 1990-1991, during the Operation “Desert Storm” large reserves of botulinum toxin, ready for use, were discovered. This toxin is one of the deadliest substances known to mankind. As you can see, despite the generally accepted and officially respected international legal acts, some countries have biological weapons or even conduct research on them in order to increase their effectiveness.

There are three main categories of agents that can be used as biological weapons.

Category A: highly infectious, causing high mortality, very easily spread between people: Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Francisella tularensis (tularemia), Yersinia pestis (plague), bolulin toxin, Variola maior (smallpox), hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Marburg) and others

B category: moderate infectivity and low mortality, and the average ability to transmit between humans: Brucella sp. (brucellosis), Burkholderia mallei (glanders), Salmonella (salmonellosis), Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin, etc.

Category C: pathogens that may be used in the future as biological weapons due to high mortality, ease of production and availability: Hanta virus, Nipah virus, etc.

Biological weapons, although effective and cheap to produce, must nevertheless have certain characteristics to be effective. The basic features include:

1. a biological factor should be difficult to identify to make its quick identification as difficult as possible
2. it should be stable in water, air and food, and resistant to temperature changes
3. it should be able to be produced on a large scale and in stock
4. its virulence should be as high as possible to cause maximum mortality
5. it should be dispersible in aerosols to be easily transported by air
6. it should be resistant to most of the antibiotics, antiviral or antifungal drugs used

One of the infamous biological warfare traditions is Bacillus anthracis. It has been a big deal in recent years, when in the US some people picked up letters containing a powder that was actually anthrax disputes. This bacterium lives naturally in the soil and from there it can be grown without any problems – which is why any microbiologist can have access to it. The bacterium itself, although it can cause a fatal infection, is not suitable for a biological weapon, but its large size (a form of bacterial spores) is. Such spores are very resistant to many bactericides and can survive for years without losing any of their lethal properties, which allows them to be stored. They are very small, so they are perfect to be pulverized and sprayed in the air. When inhaled, they enter the lungs, where they infect nearby lymph nodes and become fatal. Treatment is difficult due to the fact that at the beginning it is difficult to say that we are dealing with anthrax. Antibiotics are used in therapy – they are also effective as a prophylaxis when we suspect an attack with Bacillus anthracis spores.

Another pathogen on the list of potential biological agents is the smallpox virus (Variola major). Once upon a time, the disease caused by this microorganism was the fear of mankind and was called black pox. The mortality caused by it was high, so the world was relieved to welcome the vaccine invented by Edward Jenner in 1796. As a result of WHO’s mass vaccination campaign in 1980, smallpox was declared completely eradicated (completely eradicated) – and vaccination was stopped at the same time. Officially, all virus samples in the world were destroyed, except for two sites: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA and the Mechnikov in Moscow, where the last samples were deposited. Unfortunately, it is not certain that strains of this virus have not been preserved anywhere in the world. There are concerns that if this microbe is used as a biological weapon, there will be a massive disease and the death rate will be enormous. The human population has not been exposed to this virus for over 30 years, so immunity to it is minimal. Vaccination has now been discontinued, so vaccine stocks are far from sufficient, and there is no effective antiviral drug.

These are just two of the “most popular” biological agents that can be used as a biological weapon. Contemporary microbiology in conjunction with genetic engineering is also able to create completely new, previously unknown pathogens, the infectious potential of which will be much greater than that of naturally occurring prototypes. The actions of countries which favor terrorists must be carefully monitored to prevent the production, storage and use of biological weapons. Each country should have plans and procedures in place in the event of an attack using this type of weapons of mass destruction. Efforts are needed to create laboratories prepared on a continuous basis to detect and diagnose cases of contamination with microbiological agents that may be components of biological weapons. Appropriate supplies of drugs and vaccines, if any, should be built up.

Biological weapons, in addition to nuclear and chemical weapons, pose a real threat that should not be underestimated. Appropriate actions of state services are necessary, as well as international cooperation to reduce, combat and control arsenals of this type of weapon.

Text: Tomasz Gosiewski, MD, PhD