BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

1. BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

2. Do Now • What do you understand by • Biological warfare • Genetic engineering • What is the connection between science and ethics.

3. objective • Describe how biological warfare has been used • Explain the procedures used to stop dangerous diseases from spreading. • Discuss the ethics of biological warfare.

4. Biological warfare • Also known as germ warfare — is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. • Historical accounts from medieval Europe detail the use of infected animal carcasses, by Mongols, Turks and other groups, to infect enemy water supplies.

5. Group Activity • Form groups of three • Task: • research 2 examples of biological warfare • 10 mins • Report your examples

6. Historical cases • Scythian archers infected their arrows by dipping them in decomposing bodies or in blood mixed with manure as far back as 400 BC. • Persian, Greek, and Roman literature from 300 BC quote examples of the use of animal cadavers to contaminate wells and other sources of water. • In 190 BC, at the Battle of Eurymedon, Hannibal won a naval victory over King Eumenes II of Pergamon by firing earthen vessels full of venomous snakes into the enemy ships

7. Recent cases • During World War II, the Japanese operated a secret BW research facility in Manchuria and carried out human experiments on Chinese prisoners. They exposed more than 3000 victims to plague, anthrax, syphilis, and other agents. Victims were observed for development of disease, and autopsies were performed. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgtIyNRv3g8

8. Why biological warfare • Biological agents are easy to acquire, synthesize, and use. • The small amount of agents necessary to kill hundreds of thousands of people in a metropolitan area make the concealment, transportation, and dissemination of biological agents relatively easy. • In addition, BW agents are difficult to detect or protect against; they are invisible, odourless, and tasteless, and their dispersal can be performed silently

9. Anthrax

10. Anthrax

11. Salmonella

12. Salmonella

13. Indications of possible BW agent attack include the following • Disease entity that is unusual or that does not occur naturally in a given geographic area or combinations of unusual disease entities in the same patient population . • Multiple disease entities in the same patients, indicating that mixed agents have been used in the attack • Large numbers of both military and civilian casualties when such populations inhabit the same area

14. High morbidity and mortality rates relative to the number of personnel at risk • Illness limited to fairly localized geographic areas • Low attack rates in personnel who work in areas with filtered air supplies or closed ventilation systems • dead animals of multiple species.

15. discussion • The threat that biological agents will be used on military forces and civilian populations is now more likely than at any point in all of history. • Discuss protective measures that can be taken to help protect you from bio-terrorism. • Homework: P.43 Question 8