(Bacillus anthracis, Vibrio cholerae, Bacillus hareus fever, Bacillus typhi, smallpox virus, yellow fever virus, eastern equine encephalitis virus, western equine encephalitis virus, rickettsia bancroftii, botulinum toxin, etc., can be biological weapons )
Terrorist organizations do not have to build large-scale industrial-scale laboratories in order to produce biological weapons on a small scale, which will lead to horrible consequences. The anthrax letters case in the United States showed that a few grams of the anthrax pathogen can have a serious impact on a huge country. What is frightening is that a single person, with only a basic knowledge of biology at the university level, a small room and some necessary equipment, can easily produce 5 grams of anthrax. In contrast, there are few effective measures to prevent a bioterrorism attack, and generally there are only two preventive mechanisms, namely timely and efficient intelligence detection and better biological protection systems. Intelligence can prevent attacks, and protective systems can minimize the negative effects of similar attacks when they occur.
A biological attack can paralyze any country, even the most developed. In addition to the huge human and economic losses, it can cause panic among the population and create a serious emotional threat. The international community should take the reality of bioterrorist attacks seriously, because the twenty-first century will be the century in which biological weapons are most likely to be used for terrorist purposes. Moreover, such an attack would be the most difficult to prevent. First, it is difficult to identify people or institutions engaged in similar activities; second, after a terrorist organization or individual carries out a biological attack, it may go unnoticed for quite some time; and third, such an attack is not only highly covert, but also protracted and often lasts for a considerable period of time.
Imagine that every day there is information about a new disease and a new infected person, that the process may continue for several weeks, that society begins to be disturbed by it, that many people no longer leave their homes to go to work, that they do not dare to open their envelopes, that companies close their doors, that there is a decrease in the number of tourists, that the tourism industry is hit hard, that there is a decrease in social and political activities. This results in economic damage to the country, in addition to human casualties. This is why terrorists are particularly attracted to biological weapons. There is considerable evidence that Al-Qaida may have acquired biological weapons. The scariest thing is that they don't need much investment to produce such weapons at all, as long as they have the basic knowledge of biology and the room to produce them.
Regarding the response to a bioterrorism incident, its intelligence, crime detection, and public security are consistent with other types of attacks, and some of the response processes and techniques are also close to the proliferation of chemical and radioactive substances, but the response to a bioterrorism incident is still special in other ways, including:
(1) there are many kinds of pathogens, and the pathogens need to be examined in cases or at the scene of the incident, in order to be diagnosed experimentally. The first step is to identify the pathogens through experimental diagnostics, and then to decide on the subsequent medical intervention measures.
(2) A period of incubation is required between infection and onset of disease, so once a possible case is detected, the pathogen may have already spread, and a large-scale investigation is needed to identify possible victims who have not yet developed the disease.
(3) The effects are not immediate, and the incubation period must be tracked at least once for all potential exposures, and even more so if the pathogen can be transmitted from person to person.
(4) The possible forms of spread are quite diverse, and detailed epidemiologic investigations are needed to identify possible routes of exposure and risk factors, in order to make decisions about subsequent public **** health interventions.
(e) The treatment and care of the victims will require the allocation of vaccines, medications, and other limited medical resources, which may involve ethical issues.
(6) The spread of the pathogen is not visible to the naked eye, so the general public needs to be provided with the correct information on protection and, if necessary, areas where the pathogen may spread need to be cordoned off.
(7) The general public is often overly concerned about the possibility of contracting an infectious disease, so in order to deal with the large number of panicked patients, it is necessary to plan in advance the criteria for patient triage.
In principle, the response to a bioterrorism incident and the handling of infectious disease epidemics have **** in common. Moreover, a bioterrorism incident may not always be recognized in the first instance, and if relevant information is not received, it may be treated as a general infectious disease outbreak.
Bioterrorism is an anti-social and anti-human activity carried out by terrorists using the pathogenic effect of infectious agents or the toxins produced by them, which can not only achieve the purpose of killing or disabling the target population, but also psychologically cause panic among the population and the society, so as to realize their ulterior and ugly purposes. There is no essential difference between bioterrorism and biological warfare, they use biological weapons, only the occasions of use are different and the purpose of use is different, the use in the battlefield is called biological warfare, while the use in terrorist activities is called bioterrorism.
(Bacillus anthracis, Vibrio cholerae, Bacillus hareus fever, Bacillus typhi, smallpox virus, yellow fever virus, eastern equine encephalitis virus, western equine encephalitis virus, rickettsia bancroftii, botulinum toxin, etc., can be used as biological weapons )
Terrorist organizations do not have to build large-scale, industrial-scale laboratories in order to produce biological weapons on a small scale, which would cause horrific consequences.