BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

Introduction
Biological warfare is also known as ‘germfare’.
• It refers to the deliberate use of biological agents as
weapons for mass destruction.
Agents of biological warfare

Agents of biological warfare

Biological weapons

Biological Toxins
Replicating entities
 bioweapons
• DEFINITION:
Biological agents which are deliberately used
as weapons to kill or incapacitate human or
other living forms are called bioweapons.
• EXAMPLE:
1.These are living organism such as bacteria,
protozoa, fungi or protists.
2. Replicating entities such as viruses
 Biotoxins
• Apart from bio-weapons, certain toxins produced by
living organisms can also be used.
• Use of toxins produced by living organisms is
considered under the provisions of both the Biological
Weapons Convention  and the Chemical Weapons
Convention
• Hence,
Biological warfare overlaps with chemical warfare
However bio-toxins differ from bio-weapons as these
 do not reproduce in their host and are typically
characterized by shorter incubation periods.
Few examples
Fungal agents that have been studied includeCoccidioides spp..[5][6]
Potential biological weapon agents
 Characteristics of biological weapons
Anti-personnel:
• Ideal characteristics of a biological agent to be used as a
weapon against humans are :
1. High infectivity .
2. High virulence.
3. Non availability of vaccines.
4. Availability of an effective delivery system
• The primary difficulty is not the production of the biological
agent, as many biological agents used in weapons can often
be manufactured relatively quickly, cheaply and easily. Rather,
it is the weaponization, storage and delivery in an effective
vehicle to a vulnerable target that pose significant problems.
Anti-agriculture
Biological warfare can also specifically target plants to destroy
crops or defoliate vegetation. The United States and Britain
discovered plant growth regulators (i.e., herbicides) during the
Second World War, and initiated an herbicidal warfare
 program that was eventually used inMalaya and Vietnam in
counter insurgency.

In 1980s Soviet Ministry of Agriculture had successfully

developed variants of foot-and-mouth disease, and 
rinderpest against cows, African swine fever for pigs,
and psittacosis to kill chicken. These agents were
prepared to spray them down from tanks attached to
airplanes over hundreds of miles. The secret program
was code-named "Ecology".
 Realities of biological warfare and terrorism

• 1.They are more threatening than the conventional weapons.

• 2.They are easy to obtain and are inexpensive.
• 3.Their detection and prohibition are very difficult.
 Why countries and terrorists choose bio weapons

1. Bio weapons are very cheap.

2. They kill large number of people.Example: 10 gms of

anthrax can kill 1.3 million people.

3. They are invisible, odorless, tasteless when released.

 History
• Biological warfare has been practiced repeatedly throughout history. Before the
20th century, the use of biological agents took three major forms:
1. Deliberate poisoning of food and water with infectious material
2. Use of microorganisms, toxins or animals, living or dead, in a weapon system
3. Use of biologically inoculated fabrics.

ANTIQUITY:
Ancient written texts from the Middle East may reveal that the use of biological
weapons dates back more than 3300 years, according to a new review.
• Hittites - whose empire stretched from modern-day Turkey to northern Syria -
sent diseased rams to their enemies to weaken them with tularemia, (also
known as rabbit fever ) a devastating bacterial infection that remains a potential
bio-terror threat even today
• The bacterium responsible for tularemia, Francisella tularensis, causes
symptoms ranging from skin ulcers to respiratory failure.
 20TH CENTURY
• E120 bomblet
The E120 biological bomblet was one of a number of spherical biological
bomblets that were developed before the United States discontinued its
offensive program in the 1970s. The vaned outer shell of this spherical
bomblet was designed to provide rotation during flight. On impact, the
outer shell would shatter; the bomblet was asymmetrically weighted so
that agent would then be sprayed from the top of the bomblet. The E120
bomblet was developed in the early 1960s, 11.4 cm diameter, carried 0.1
kg of liquid biological agent.
Anthrax
A popular example of such bio-war is Anthrax. It was recently used by
followers of Osama Bin laden on American population in response to their
attack on Afghanistan. Number of diseases - which can be easily spread by air,
water or contact have the potentiality to infect large section of population in
such bio - wars, unscrupulous and antisocial people engage in large-scale
production of spores responsible for such diseases and use them to wage bio
wars.
 Biodefense
• Role of public health departments and disease surveillance
1. Public health workers must be aware of the threat of bio war and
terrorism to minimize the effects of the biological attack.
2. Physicians have to recognize the diseases resulting from bio weapons.
3. Public has to adopt safety measures against bio war.

• Identification of bioweapons

• http://www.azonano.com/Details.asp?ArticleI
D=1337
 NEW UN GROUP LAUNCHED TO CURB BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
THREAT

• 20 August 2007 – The United Nations inaugurated a new unit today to

further bolster its efforts to reduce the threat to the international
community posed by weapons of mass destruction. 
The Convention entered into force in 1975, and is the first multilateral
disarmament treaty which bans an entire category of weapons.