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| Bioterrorism - The Next Frontier |  |
Initial
signs and symptoms are quite mild -- people showing up at doctors' offices or
emergency rooms with teary eyes, runny noses, and headaches-
typical flu-like symptoms. Only the numbers keep growing, and
these symptoms worsen over time. Patients start dying after a few days.
Other problems including bleeding, ulcer type lesions, difficulty breathing
alert medical personnel to the possibility of the unthinkable: an attack on
a civilian population with biological weapons.
Likely biological weapons
The two most likely biological agents are
anthrax and small pox.
Anthrax is a deadly bacterial
disease spread by spores and generally confined to sheep, cattle, horses, goats
and pigs. The
lethal dose of anthrax spores can be as little as one-billionth of a gram.
If 50 pounds of it were disbursed in a city of half a million people, about
100,000 would die within a few days to a week.
It kills about 90% of those it infects. It does not spread from
person to person.
Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980.
While not as lethal, it
kills only about 30% of those it infects but
is highly infectious. Since its eradication, little vaccine is saved.
Whatever is available is in small quantity. Since vaccination no longer occurs,
an entire generation is open and susceptible to attack.
All is needed to cause a heavy death toll is a small private plane with a bag of
powdery bacterial spores. The spores are distributed while in flight.
A small cloud of bacteria or viruses could easily and silently infect thousands
of people, triggering fatal outbreaks of anthrax, smallpox, pneumonic plague and
many unimaginable diseases. Due to the highly contagious nature of these
microbes, victims infected easily pass on to others. No hostage is required, and
the terrorist can be home in time for dinner instead of ending it all in a
suicidal inferno.
The two most likely chemical agents, experts said, would be
nerve gases such as sarin or VX, which attacks the nervous system,
and
mustard gas, which causes death by deadly internal and external
blistering
Biological warfare is not new. After the Iran-Iraq war, U.N. weapons inspectors
discovered that Iraq had stockpiled warheads containing anthrax spores and the
toxin that causes botulism. Obviously someone has already thought through the
most destructive way to take lives aside from missiles alone. In 1995, Aum
Shinrikyo, the Japanese religious cult, released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo
subway system, killing and injuring hundreds. Of course that is only the tip of
the iceberg.
It is known that at least five countries
that are known to sponsor international terrorism have acquired the capacity to
produce biological weapons.
If attacks do occur they will most certainly happen in densely populated
metropolitans.
What can you do:
a.
Stay clear of major urban centers and malls.
b. Have a good supply of basic essentials such as water, can goods to last at least
30 days.
c. Know how to get to a nearby hospital.
d. Study ways to deal with toxic gases. Certain types of gas mask
have limited effect. The good ones usually run around us dollar 200 . It is unlikely
that toxic gas will be used, because the yield is far lower than germ warfare. Nevertheless
it is good to have ready protection on hand.
e. Make sure you are protected from germ warfare. This is relatively simple to do.
A good surgical mass to filter the air you breath, and a gas mask will not do the job. Get surgical mask
that can filter organisms down to 0.1 micron. The prices is
low ,about us 20 cents a piece. For further protection, apply tape around the edge of the mask to have a
better seal.
e. In case of attack, go west ( wind usually blows from east to west)
Related Links:
30 minute audio link on
Anthrax
MEDICAL ASPECTS of CHEMICAL and BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AND ITS CUTANEOUS MANIFESTATIONS
The spector of Biological Warfare
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