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Biological Terrorism - History

The Middle Ages

• In Europe, during the Middles Ages, infected cadavers were catapulted over walls into cities that were under siege. Cadavers and animal carcasses were also used to contaminate enemy water supplies (4).

• Small pox was used as a biological weapon during the French and Indian Wars. The British provided the Indians with blankets infected with smallpox with the hope that it would reduce the number of Native American tribes.

• Germany used Bacillus anthracis to infect livestock that would be exported to the Allied forces. In 1916, the Bucharest Institute of Bacteriology and Pathology identified B. anthracis in cultures from the German Legation in Romania. Sheep from Romania were to be infected and then exported to Russia. Horses and mules of the French cavalry were also infected (4).

• Biological warfare witnessed further development during World War II when the Japanese conducted biological weapons research on prisoners of war in Manchuria (3). Unit 731 was the biological weapons research facility where prisoners were infected with B. anthracis, Neisseria meningitidis, Shigella spp, Vibrio cholerae, and Yersinia pestis. The experiments resulted in 1000 deaths. The Japanese conducted large-scale field studies on 11 Chinese cities by contaminating the water supplies and food items with B. anthracis, Shigella spp, V. cholerae, Salmonella spp, and Y. pestis. The Japanese also released fleas that had fed on plague-infected rats to initiate epidemic of plague in the Chinese cities. Such field studies ended in 1942. Many Japanese scientists were granted immunity from war crime prosecution upon disclosure of their test results to the United States (4).

 
• The Allies also developed biological weapons during this time. The British military conducted explosives testing with anthrax spores on Gruinard Island near the coast of Scotland. The spores remained viable for 36 years following the British tests. The contamination of the island with viable anthrax spores was so great that in 1986 it had to be decontaminated with 280 tons of formaldehyde and 2000 tons of seawater. The island is now declared fully decontaminated (4 and 6).

• In 1942, the United States began an offensive biological program at Camp Detrick, Md. 5000 bombs filled with B. anthracis spores were produced there (4).

 
• In 1953, the United States began developing countermeasures such as vaccines, to protect troops from biological attacks (4).

• North Korea and China have made allegations that the US had engaged in biological warfare using anthrax. Although Chinese leaders continue to believe this, there is no evidence supporting the allegations (2).

The Sverdlovsk Incident: April 2, 1979

• Less than one gram of anthrax spores were accidentally released from a military bioweapons production facility in Sverdlovsk. Sverdlovsk, which is now known as Ekaterinburg, is a Soviet city in the Ural Mountains. The invisible cloud of anthrax spores traveled as far as three miles from the site of release and killed at least 70 individuals (1). Only one fifth of those who contracted the disease survived (7). The Sverdlovsk outbreak is the only known case of an inhalation anthrax epidemic. The Russians attributed the anthrax infections to the consumption of contaminated meat. US intelligence analysts, however, were suspicious, and in 1992 they were finally allowed to visit Sverdlovsk and investigate the cause of the anthrax epidemic. Although most of the data related to the epidemic had been confiscated by the KGB, American scientists were able to find the pathologists who had performed the autopsies. 42 of the autopsies were associated with classical inhalation anthrax. The discovery was also made that the incubation period for inhalation anthrax was two to forty-five days. This finding was in vast contrast to the animal studies that indicated that the incubation period was between two to six days. These findings imply that antibiotics might be administered. Boris Yeltsin finally admitted that the anthrax epidemic had been a result of an accidental release of anthrax spores from the biological weapons production facility (1).

The Persian Gulf War

• Intelligence officials believed that Iraq had been sponsoring an offensive biological weapons program. In preparation of biological warfare, approximately 150,000 US troops were given the anthrax vaccine and 30 million 500-mg oral doses of ciprofloxacin were stockpiled to provide a 1-month course of chemoprophylaxis for the troops in case anthrax spores were used. Although no biological weapons were used during the war, Iraqi officials admitted to having a biological weapons program that included research on and production of B. anthracis (4).

 
• In the early 1990's it was discovered that Iraq had produced 8,000 liters of anthrax spores. 8,000 liters is a sufficient amount capable of killing every man, woman, and child on earth (10).

The terrorist group, Aum Shinrikyo released sarin in a Tokyo subway station. The cult was conducting reserach on B. anthracis, Clostridium botulinum, and C. burnetii. Further investigation also revealed that the cult had made unsuccessful attacks in Japan using aerosols of anthrax (4).