Biological warfare

smallpox had a major impact on human health dating back to around 10,000 BC. Hundreds of thousands of people died due to this disease and the fact that nobody knew a cure. Smallpox had a major impact on society and trade and there were not many treatments for it for a long while. So many causes, so many deaths, only one treatment. smallpox is caused by infection with the variola virus, this can be transmitted in many ways. The virus can be transmitted directly from person to person through…

Marburg is an infectious virus that hinders the lives of many people, often occurring in the most rural regions of Africa (35). The Hot Zone by Richard Preston and “Stalking a Killer” by David Quammen both explain Marburg’s severity, among the other filoviruses, and the proper precautions that occurs when handling this agent. “Stalking a Killer” is an article that touches on Marburg and the different types of Ebola; it tells short accounts of infected victims. The Hot Zone is a study about the…

Ebola can have a fatality rate of up to ninety percent. In his novel, The Hot Zone, Richard Preston describes Ebola as, “a kind of obscenity you see only in nature, an obscenity so extreme that it dissolves imperceptibly into beauty.” The virus spreads through all bodily fluids, including blood, vomit, feces, saliva and sweat. Male patients who have recovered from the virus can even pass it on through their semen up to seven weeks after recovery (Elliot). The current outbreak in West Africa has…

The infected bioterrorist, could check into a resort hotel and await the onset of the fever that would indicate that their Zaire ebolavirus is now contagious. The next phase of the attack would begin with the infected, and contagious, terrorist making visits to Walt Disney World, restaurants, or other areas with crowds of people. The Florida heat and humidity would provide perfect cover for the feverish and sweating terrorist as they make physical contact by way of casual brushing up against…

backgrounds to study and understand systems that can be used to counteract chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. It was incredible to see and work on various projects that allowed for counter-terrorism. One of the biggest projects I worked on was our "Spray Knockdown System" it is a massive, almost 20-foot-tall, decontamination structure. It was a system that could easily counteract the effects of a biological weapon on large objects by rapidly releasing a specialized…

Sadly, terrorism continued to occur almost 60 years later in 2001. Not only did 9/11 occur, but there was a chemical war on America's hands as well. The anthrax attacks occurred shortly after 9/11 in September, eighteen victims of the attacks were identified between October 3 and November 20. This was caused by dried spores of B. anthracis that were sent through letters by the public mail. Five people are known to have died from anthrax and The 2001 Anthrax Deception: The Case for a Domestic…

Ethics is an incredibly complex area of knowledge. Each individual holds a unique perspective, influenced by their personal experiences and emotions. The view of ethics held by a society is, to a large extent, the most commonly held view among its citizens, sometimes with large influences from leaders. It is important to examine ethics because they are pivotal in many of the choices we make, and individuals and as a society. We need to try to understand what is right, and what is wrong. That is,…

A disease outbreak is the occurrence of cases of a disease in excess of what would normally be expected in a defined community or geographical area. The Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 during the outbreaks in Sudan. Since then there have been an additional ten outbreaks of the virus worldwide. As of 2014, The West African Ebola outbreak was the largest and deadliest recorded in history, killing over 11,000 people. The Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) is responsible for the global…

A way for terrorists to target a large group all at once is by spreading a concentration of toxic chemicals. An efficient way of doing this is by crop duster, and would be able to kill mass casualties at once. Anthrax Al-Qaeda has been believed in the past to have shown interest in using agricultural aircraft, or crop-dusters as a way of spreading chemical agents, specifically anthrax.[1] Very few people are actually vaccinated for anthrax, which makes anybody an easy target to be infected.…

When studying information about hot viruses, such as Ebola, one will find a rather small collection of resources to choose from. The limited amount of research that has been done could be an influential factor of why little is known about these predators of mankind. Furthermore, medical professionals require more knowledge about hot viruses in order to better contain them. Throughout the years, researchers have been able to gain more information with the advancements in technology and have even…