Back in the 6th century BC, peoples at war with each other noticed that it is much more effective to destroy the enemy not on the battlefield, but through some kind of disease. The pathogenic bacteria left on objects and clothes were delivered to the enemy camp and waited for the disease to manifest itself. Their modern followers also resorted to similar practices, throwing deadly viruses into enemies, until the Geneva Protocol was adopted in 1925, prohibiting the use of chemical warfare agents. Nevertheless, viruses and bacteria that can cause a bacteriological apocalypse are still stored in modern genetic laboratories. We decided to consider in detail 10 different types of bacilli and other infections that can destroy the population of an entire country.
anthrax
Vaccine: exists
The causative agent of anthrax is the bacillus anthracis. A stick with a size of 5-10 × 1-1.5 microns under certain conditions forms spores. In a latent state, the bacillus can persist for years, but under favorable circumstances, it opens and reproduces. People get anthrax from animals. There are three forms of the disease: cutaneous, intestinal and pulmonary, of which cutaneous occurs in 98-99% of cases.
Due to its resistance to environmental changes and high mortality, anthrax is classified as a class A biological weapon. The first tests of infection as a weapon, including the deliberate infection of prisoners, thousands of whom died, were carried out by the 731st unit of the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria in the 1930s. … One of the latest cases of the use of bacteria as an invisible weapon was postal terrorism: in 2001, letters with bacteria were sent across the United States to media offices and senators, as a result of which 5 people died.
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Smallpox
Vaccine: exists
Smallpox is transmitted through contact with a sick person or through objects infected by him. The development of the disease is provoked by two specific viruses: Variola major and Variola minor. The pathogens are very resistant to external influences, in particular to conditions with low temperatures and drying out.
Smallpox is classified as a class A biological weapon. It is believed that in the French and Indian War of 1756-1763, Britain destroyed its enemies with the help of this disease. During the American Revolutionary War, smallpox was also used as a weapon. The last case of natural smallpox infection was recorded in 1977. Currently, the variola virus is stored only in two laboratories: in the State Research Center of VB "Vector" (Russia) and in the CDC (USA).
Bubonic plague
Vaccine: exists, but does not provide 100% protection; the disease is milder.
In medieval Europe, this disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, claimed the lives of 25 million people. The plague pathogen tolerates low temperatures well and remains in sputum. Fleas, rodents and other infected animals carry the disease. Along with other types of plague, bubonic plague is characterized by a high degree of infectiousness and very high mortality. If you do not start treatment in a timely manner, then in the first 24 hours up to 70% of those infected die.
People with severe infectious diseases were used as a weapon against enemies by the inhabitants of ancient China and medieval Europe. Infected corpses were placed in water supply sources, and during the siege of cities, they were thrown into an impregnable fortress using catapults. During World War II, a group of Japanese researchers developed a plague strain that was 60 times more virulent than the original strain.
Cholera
Vaccine: exists
Cholera vibrios cause acute intestinal infection. The temperature regime in the region of 30-40 ° C is the most favorable environment for its reproduction. Infection usually occurs through the consumption of contaminated water or food.
In a short period of time, cholera can develop into an epidemic with a 50% mortality rate if left untreated, which is why it is considered a biological weapon. Similar experiments were carried out during World War II as part of the Japanese Unit 731 program, when more than 100 Chinese wells were infected with cholera and typhoid bacteria.
Tularemia
Vaccine: exists
An infectious disease is provoked by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. It is quite stable in the external environment, and its main carriers are hares, mice and gophers. Transmission of infection occurs through contact with animals or through contaminated food and water.
Despite the fact that the death rate from tularemia is only 5%, it is considered as a possible biological weapon. This is due to the possibility of rapid mass infection: a few grams of sprayed bacteria can lead to infection of several thousand people. During the Cold War, the causative agent of the disease was stored in warehouses in the United States and the USSR. The test of bacteria as a weapon was also carried out by Japanese troops during the Second World War.
Botulinum toxin
Vaccine: does not exist
These high molecular weight polypeptides are produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. The same, in turn, can develop in the absence of oxygen in individual products. Spores can withstand boiling for more than 30 minutes, tolerate table salt concentrations up to 18% and are not destroyed in products with spices. Human infection occurs when food contaminated with a toxin enters the gastrointestinal tract.
Botulinum toxins are classified as one of the most highly toxic substances and biological weapons of class A. It is especially effective in the form of an aerosol, which, when sprayed, lasts up to 12 hours. According to one version, botulinum toxin was used in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by the troops of the Czechoslovak resistance. In 1990, the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo sect used the toxin by spraying it in protest.
Nipah
Vaccine: experimental
The virus was first discovered in 1999 during an epidemic in Malaysia. The natural carrier of the virus is considered to be the volatile frugivores of the Pteropodidae family. The exact chain of transmission remains unknown. According to assumptions, infection can occur in several ways: either by airborne droplets, by contact with secretions from the nasopharynx of pigs, or by contact with tissues of sick animals, the saliva of infected fruit-eating flying dogs, or by consuming food contaminated with the saliva of infected animals.
The virus was classified as a class C biological weapon. Whether anyone from the countries is experimenting with the virus as a weapon is not known for certain, but the high mortality rate makes it a potentially dangerous biological weapon.
Ebola
Vaccine: no clinical-ready vaccine exists
The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans through close contact with blood. The source of the virus is the filovirus family; in nature, African green monkeys and some species of blood-sucking bats are its carriers. Infection occurs through contact with an infected animal or body fluids, and then the virus is secreted with the nasal mucus and urine of the patient himself. Blood is also contagious. The virus is resistant to high temperatures.
The researchers suggest that the virus has already been adopted by terrorist organizations. According to experts, terrorists can conserve the virus and use it as a bomb by detonating it in a crowded place. The mortality rate in case of infection with the virus is 90%. The death toll from Ebola in West Africa has reached 2,887 this year.
Chimera
Vaccine: does not exist
In the late 1980s, scientists seriously wondered what would happen if smallpox and Ebola viruses were combined. The supervirus development project was named Chimera. In addition to the combination of viruses, options were considered for creating strains that can be activated using triggers, or by acting on the bacterium with two components at once. Such a biological attack would have unpredictable catastrophic consequences.
Ricin
Vaccine: does not exist
The plant toxin is 6 times more toxic than potassium cyanide. It is obtained from castor beans and castor bean seeds. They can be poisoned only if the substance enters the bloodstream or lungs.
Since even in small doses ricin can kill a person, the military departments of different countries studied it as a weapon of mass destruction. It is known that the special services use ricin. Traces of ricin and instructions on how to make it have been repeatedly found during the capture of terrorists at bases in Kabul, London and Paris. With the help of ricin, the murder of the Bulgarian dissident Georgiy Markov was carried out, who was killed by an umbrella prick.