NCJ Number
192090
Date Published
2002
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes in-depth more than 40 biological agents.
Abstract
Biological weapons dispense, project, or disseminate disease-causing and poisonous agents for use in war or terrorism. While thousands of microbial pathogens and toxins occur in nature, only some 160 of these have the capacity to harm humans; only about 30 of these are considered likely biological warfare (BW) agents. Viruses that have been mentioned in a BW context or actually weaponized include smallpox, yellow fever, Marburg (a close cousin to Ebola), and foot-and-mouth disease virus for use against livestock animals. The most important of these viruses is smallpox, which would be "an unmitigated disaster" were it to reemerge. While some biological toxins can be synthesized artificially, the practical method for producing these poisonous substances is to extract them from living organisms. For example, botulinum toxin is the active poison in the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Trichothecene or T2 toxin is derived from species of Fusarium mold. Biological warfare agents include bacteria, viruses, and biological toxins, poisons extracted from biological sources previous to their use as weapons. Bacteria are the causative agent of anthrax, plague, tularemia, glanders, Q-fever, and cholera. Viruses cause smallpox, hemorrhagic fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, and foot-and-mouth disease. Biological toxins include mycotoxins, fungi, botulinum toxin, staphylococcal enterotoxin Type B, ricin, saxitoxin, and trichothecene mycotoxins. Notes