Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
D
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deliverability of the agent that is a function of technical
capabilities of the user and biological characteristics of the agent
Currently, availability of essential data and the necessity to make assumptions
for terms in the equation limit the applicability of the equation for its intended
purpose.
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Natural pathogens and even normally nonpathogenic agents, earmarked as
potential terror weapons, may be genetically altered to improve virulence, nullify
protection of the individuals that may have been immunized against terror agent,
resist chemotherapy (antibiotic or antiviral treatments) applied to attack victims,
and, possibly, alter the bodily regulatory functions of victims.
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Following the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001,
letters containing
Bacillus anthracis
(anthrax) spores were mailed to various
locations in the United States. This led to 11 inhalation and 7 cutaneous cases of
anthrax, resulting in the death of 5 individuals due to inhalation anthrax. DNA
sequencing of the anthrax DNA has led to the conclusion that the origin of
the infectious material contained in the letters was a U.S. military laboratory.As
such, the possibility existed that an employee of the laboratory was involved
and that the laboratory harboring anthrax was in violation of the Biologic and
Toxin Weapons Convention.
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It remains to be determined whether these terrorist
attacks were related and to identify the perpetrators. As of early 2008, 9,100
persons were interviewed and the Department of Justice had not named any
suspects.
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More recently, four suspects were placed under watch by the FBI,
and the source of the anthrax used in the letters of 2001 was narrowed to the U.S.
Army's biological weapons research facility at Ft. Detrik, Maryland. On August 6,
2008, it was concluded by the Justice Department, based on documents provided
by federal investigators, that a mentally disturbed microbiologist employed at the
U.S. Army biological weapons laboratory and who committed suicide one week
earlier, acted alone in the 2001 anthrax letter attacks.
Critical microbiological agents in the United States are endemic but of low
incidence in disease manifestation, and each new case reported should serve as
an alert for investigation, especially in areas were the disease is nonendemic.
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Several of the major agents will be briefly discussed next. Due to the significant
pathogenicity of each of these agents, individuals seeking to employ their use,
especially in large amounts, would require substantial knowledge, expertise, and
laboratory equipment as well as protection against accidental exposure (e.g.,
vaccination or antibiotics).
Smallpox
Smallpox, a disease that has killed approximately 300 million people worldwide
in the twentieth century alone, and is now globally nonexistent, may have been
one of the first microbial agents to be used as a weapon. During the 1800s, North
American Indians were deliberately given blankets contaminated with the virus
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by European settlers. Smallpox virus comprises two strains: variola major, a
highly virulent form that produces a high mortality among cases of the disease
