American biological weapons as a terrible threat to humanity

People have always used every opportunity to find new ways to destroy each other: they cut down forests, plundered valuables, destroyed religion, philosophy, science and art, wanting bloodshed. Along this path, the most terrible types of bacteria, fungi and viruses were discovered. The use of biological weapons dates back to the ancient world. As early as 1,500 BC. The Hittites of Asia Minor appreciated the power of infections and began to send plague victims to enemy tribes. With the advent of armies, the importance of bioweapons (not yet knowing what they were - Medach's note) also did not remain underestimated: troops catapulted infected corpses into besieged fortresses and poisoned enemy wells. Some historians even argue that the biblical 10 plagues of Moses against the Egyptians may have been a large-scale biological warfare campaign rather than the actions of a vengeful god. Since then, advances in medicine have led humanity to a much better understanding of the action of harmful infectious agents and the ways in which our immune system fights them. However, these advances have led not only to the development of vaccines and drugs, but also to the further arming of armies with some of the most destructive biological agents on the planet. The first half of the 20th century was marked by the use of anthrax as a biological weapon by the Germans and Japanese, and the subsequent development of biological weapons programs in the United States, Great Britain and Russia. Today, biological weapons are illegal under the Biological Weapons Treaty (1972) and the Geneva Protocol. But despite the fact that many countries have destroyed their stockpiles of bioweapons and officially curtailed research, the threat remains relevant today. In this article we will look at some of the most dangerous types of biological weapons.

Tenth place. Smallpox.

The term "biological weapon" tends to conjure up images of sterile government laboratories and colorful test tubes filled with liquid apocalypse. Historically, however, biological weapons often took much more mundane forms: bags of plague fleas, ordinary blankets used by those who died of infections. Under the orders of Commander Sir Jeffrey Amherst, British troops delivered smallpox-infected blankets to Indian tribes in Ottawa. Native Americans were particularly susceptible to the disease; they had not previously encountered smallpox and therefore lacked adequate immunity. The disease wiped out the tribes like wildfire. Smallpox is caused by the Variola vera virus. This virus has a 30% mortality rate, symptoms of smallpox: high fever, body pain and rashes, which in the initial stage are fluid-filled scabs, in the final stage lead to non-absorbable heterogeneous, “pockmarked” scars. The disease is transmitted through direct contact with an infected person's skin or body fluids, but can also spread through the air if one is close to a source of infection. In 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) set the goal of eradicating smallpox through mass vaccination. As a result, already in 1977 (wasn’t it 1972?) the last case of the disease in the world was noted. The disease has been effectively eradicated from the environment, but laboratory strains of smallpox still exist. Both Russia and the United States have WHO-authorized stockpiles of the virus. The CDC classifies smallpox as a Class A biological weapon due to its high lethality and the fact that it can be transmitted through airborne transmission.

Protection against weapons of mass destruction

Protection against weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is represented by a set of measures aimed at minimizing the impact of the enemy’s bacteriological (nuclear, chemical, biological) weapons on residents, military formations, economic facilities, and the environment.

The events involve:

• reconnaissance units of all military branches;
• engineering, motorized rifle units;
• military (civilian) doctors;
• chemical, veterinary and other services;
• management of administrations and enterprises and other officials where their responsibilities are related to the population.

Protection of the population.

It provides:

• training in the basics of weapons of mass destruction;
• construction of protective structures;
• preliminary preparation of food and basic necessities;
• evacuation of the population to suburban areas;
• timely notification;
• emergency rescue work;
• providing medical care to victims;
• provision of personal protective equipment;
• monitoring of terrain conditions, reconnaissance and change control.

Farm animal protection

includes:

• dispersal of livestock across farms equipped with air filtration equipment;
• preparation of feed and water;
• treatment with veterinary drugs;
• organizing work to suppress relapses of infections;
• vaccination, other means of preventing infection;
• monitoring the condition and timely detection of deviations from the health norm.

Plant protection

presented:

• growing crops resistant to harmful environments;
• measures to preserve the seed fund;
• carrying out preventive measures;
• destruction of areas where crops could have received pathogenic effects due to the use of chemical agents and biological weapons.

Food protection:

• equipment of storage facilities, taking into account the possible use of weapons of mass destruction;
• dispersal of existing food supplies;
• travel in specially equipped carriages;
• use of special packaging;
• carrying out activities for decontamination (disinfection) of food products and containers.

Protection of water sources

presented:

• when organizing centralized water supply, take into account the likelihood of using weapons of mass destruction;
• open water sources are deepened;
• systems are equipped with additional special filters;
• preparation of reserve watercourses is carried out;
• 24-hour security is provided;
• The condition of the water is constantly checked with in-depth analysis.

Timely receipt of intelligence information about weapons of mass destruction, which include all types of biological weapons, from the enemy significantly reduces the onset of possible consequences and gives time to carry out comprehensive protective measures.

Ninth place. Anthrax (Anthrax).

In the fall of 2001, letters containing a strange white powder were sent to US Senate offices and news agencies. When a rumor spread that the envelopes contained spores of the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax, panic began. The anthrax letters infected 22 people and killed five. Seven years later, the FBI finally narrowed the suspect down to one candidate: anthrax scientist Bruce Evans, who committed suicide before an investigation could be conducted. Due to its high mortality rate and excellent persistence in the environment, anthrax bacteria are also classified as Class A biological weapons. The spores are found in soil and may be ingested or inhaled by grazing animals while foraging for food. A person can become infected with anthrax by touching surfaces contaminated with spores (animal skins, soil) or by accidentally inhaling spores. In most cases, anthrax infection occurs through skin contact with the spores. The deadliest form of infection is inhalation, in which spores enter the lungs and are then carried by immune system cells to the lymph nodes. There, bacteria begin to multiply and release toxins, which lead to the development of symptoms such as fever, respiratory failure, fatigue, muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Inhalational anthrax has the highest mortality rate among those infected with inhalation anthrax, and it is what all five victims of the 2001 letters contracted. The disease is extremely difficult to catch under normal conditions; it is not transmitted from person to person. However, healthcare workers, veterinarians and military personnel are routinely vaccinated. Along with the lack of widespread vaccination, "longevity" is another characteristic of anthrax. Many harmful biological agents can only survive under certain conditions and for a short period of time. However, anthrax spores can remain dormant for 40 years and still pose a deadly threat. These properties have made anthrax the "favorite" biological weapon among related programs around the world. Japanese scientists conducted human experiments using aerosolized anthrax bacteria in the late 1930s in occupied Manchuria. British troops experimented with an anthrax bomb in 1942, and managed to contaminate the Greenard Island test site so thoroughly that 280 tons of formaldehyde were needed to disinfect the soil 44 years later. In 1979, the Soviet Union accidentally released anthrax spores into the air, killing 66 people. Today, anthrax remains one of the best known and most dangerous types of biological weapons. Numerous biological weapons programs have worked over the years to produce and improve the anthrax bacterium, and a vaccine exists, but mass vaccination will only become relevant if there is a massive attack. .

Everything is lost: the failure of Aum Shinrikyo

Of course, any type of weapon is bad because it takes someone’s life. How this happens is, I think, the tenth thing. But the point is that biological weapons are sometimes not at all as deadly as they are made out to be.

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Another proof of this thesis is the activities of the banned Japanese sect “Aum Shinrikyo”. They committed many illegal activities, some of which were related to potential biological weapons. On the morning of July 1, 1993, they tried to repeat the conditions of the Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak in the capital of Japan, Tokyo. But Supotnitsky’s version was unknown to the members of the sect, so they tried to infect people with a single release of an aerosol with spores from the cooling tower of one of the office buildings. There was no epidemic, but residents of a neighboring house that day complained of a disgusting smell. However, some of them claimed that they had seen a “gelatin-like oily mist” emanating from the tower before. The fact is that no one got sick.

Since the attack failed, the sect's founder, Shoko Asahara, promised that his people would stop using the tower and the roof would be cleaned. He has since switched to poison attacks. Unfortunately, this method of fighting the “infidels” turned out to be much more effective: just remember the incident with sarin in the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995.

Probably, the attempt at a biological attack on the sect would have been more successful if the “oily fog” contained more anthrax pathogens. Bacteriological analyzes showed that bacteria similar to Bacillus anthracis were no more than ten percent of the total number of microorganisms in the “exhausts” of the tower. In addition, judging by the composition of their DNA, it was a weakened strain, which was usually used by Japanese doctors to vaccinate the country's residents against anthrax. In addition, this strain was not very resistant to solar radiation. Thus, “Aum Shinrikyo”, not having sufficient knowledge of microbiology (by the way, their scientist who worked with the Ebola virus died very quickly), accidentally carried out “under-vaccination” for the residents of one house - only it was very smelly.

This is interesting: Climate weapons

Eighth place. Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

Another well-known biological agent is the Ebola virus, which causes one of the infectious hemorrhagic fevers - diseases accompanied by excessive bleeding. The Ebola virus was discovered in the late 1970s. The first epidemics occurred in Zaire and Sudan, claiming hundreds of lives. In the decades that followed, the virus maintained its deadly reputation, spreading in deadly outbreaks across Africa. Since its discovery, there have been at least seven outbreaks in Africa, Europe and the United States. Named after the region of Congo in which it was first discovered, the virus is believed to typically live in a single African animal host, but the specific host, origin and range of the disease remain unknown. Thus, experts were able to detect the virus only after it had infected humans and great apes. The virus is transmitted from a sick person through biological fluids and contact with them. In African countries, it is especially often transmitted when visiting hospitals and clinics. The incubation period of the virus lasts from 2 days to 3 weeks. Typical symptoms of the disease: headache, muscle pain, sore throat, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting. Most patients suffer from internal bleeding. Approximately 60-90 percent of infections are fatal after the onset of illness within 7-16 days. Although many researchers worked to develop treatments for the fever and prevent its outbreaks, a group of Soviet scientists turned the virus into a biological weapon. At first they were faced with the problem of growing Ebola in laboratory conditions, but they achieved greater success in this field by cultivating the Marburg hemorrhagic fever virus. However, in the early 1990s they managed to solve this problem. While the virus usually spreads through physical contact with the secretions of an infected person, the researchers observed it spreading through the air in a laboratory setting. The ability to “release” weapons in aerosol form only strengthened the virus’s position in Class A.

Lower forms

These include various insects. They can pose a greater danger to humans than a lack of food or water. The threat is manifested in their ability to transmit infectious disease through their bite. This group of biological hazards is characterized by the following characteristics:

• The ability to survive and reproduce in certain conditions. These processes occur especially well in sunny places at positive temperatures. This suggests that in a certain area at a specific period of time a person will be surrounded by biological hazards in limited quantities.
• Often the pathogen passes through one or a large number of specific carriers. However, as a rule, this occurs with the help of an organism that feeds the parasites. If it is absent, then the causative agent of the disease will also not be present. In such cases, a person becomes a specific organism (for example, with malaria).

Seventh place. Plague.

The Black Death wiped out half of Europe's population in the 14th century, a disease that continues to plague the world even today. Today, some researchers believe that the world's first pandemic may have been a hemorrhagic fever, but the epidemic name "plague" continues to be associated with another Class A biological weapon - the bacterium Yersinia Pestis. Plague exists in two main forms: bubonic and pneumonic. Bubonic plague is usually spread through the bites of infected fleas, but can also be spread from person to person through contact with someone who is sick. This species is named after the symptoms of the disease - lymph nodes enlarged to the size of a chicken egg in the groin area, armpits and neck. The disease is accompanied by fever, chills, headache and fatigue. Symptoms appear after two to three days and usually last from one to six days. If treatment is not started within 24 hours of infection, death occurs in 70 percent of cases. The pneumonic form of plague is less common and spreads primarily through airborne droplets. Symptoms of this species include high fever, cough, bloody sputum and difficulty breathing. Plague victims, dead or alive, have historically served as effective biological weapons. In 1940, a plague outbreak occurred in China after the Japanese dropped bags of infected fleas from airplanes. Scientists in some countries are still investigating the possibility of using the plague as a biological weapon, and since the disease is still found in the world, a strain of the bacterium is easy to obtain. With appropriate treatment, the disease has a fatality rate of less than 5 percent.

Details of the investigation in Kazakhstan

“DTRA has been conducting research in Kazakhstan for more than 15 years, using the capacities of six local research institutes. From open sources we know about at least 28 projects of American military biologists on the territory of the republic. More than 30 foreign specialists took part in them, mainly officers and contractors of the armies of the USA, Great Britain and Germany. The total cost of the programs is hundreds of millions of dollars.

Among the main facilities used are the Center for Particularly Dangerous Infections in Almaty (CEOI) and the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems (IPBP) in the Zhambyl region.

In June 2022, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, decided to withdraw foreigners from the Center, but it was ignored by the United States. The head of the CDC Office, Air Force Commander Daniel Singer, publicly stated that the American side will continue work indefinitely, and in the DTRA budget, planned projects in the CDC reference laboratory are planned for 2022 and even beyond 2022.

Experts point out that research in US laboratories in the CIS coincides with abnormal outbreaks of diseases.

Abnormal outbreaks of diseases.

© Oksana Viktorova/Collage/Ridus.ru
Former European Commission expert biologist Grigor Grigoryan in his recent report draws attention to outbreaks of tularemia, anthrax and African swine fever in Armenia and Georgia. According to him, they could not be caused by natural causes and coincided in time with work on the study of these diseases in local American laboratories. Among specific examples, he cited the outbreak of swine fever in 2007 and anthrax in 2012.

Studying the work of US biological laboratories in Kazakhstan suggests the presence of similar incidents.”

Nikita Mendkovich proves this, in particular, using the example of an outbreak of brucellosis in Southern Kazakhstan in 2009. It occurred just during the implementation of DTRA projects to study brucellosis in Kazakhstan (KZ-2) and Uzbekistan (UZ-4).

“These events were preceded by a long decline in the incidence of brucellosis in Kazakhstan (2004-2007), and after that there was a sharp increase in the number of outbreaks of brucellosis among domestic animals (2009-2013), recorded by local veterinary services. More recent genetic studies of brucellosis strains in the republic have documented significant differences between brucellosis samples from the Zhambyl region, where the IPBB (contractor US DTRA) is located, from samples from other regions of Kazakhstan. Among the studied Kazakh materials, strains related to the USA and Western European countries were identified. DTRA and ISPB specialists do not provide any explanations for these discoveries.

The research team of the KZ-2 project included Mikeljon Nikolic, a researcher at the Institute. Walter Reed US Army, Jason Blackburn, director of the DTRA-funded Spatial Epidemiology Laboratory (University of Florida), and Philip Elser, a biologist and longtime participant in NATO programs. That is, a group of American military biological warfare specialists was associated with an outbreak of brucellosis in Kazakhstan.”

Another example is the 2014 Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. N. Mendkovich said: “A year earlier, in 2013, DTRA launched the KZ-29 project in Kazakhstan, aimed at studying the spread of CCHF, specifically by ticks. The research was led by Allen Richards, now a Navy lieutenant commander, and Navy lieutenant Christina Farris of the U.S. Naval Medical Center (Maryland). The team also included Kenneth Yeh of MRIGlobal, a US Department of Defense contractor, and Roger Hewson, who conducts research for the UK Army and is based in Salisbury, home of the Army Microbiology Centre. Again a familiar picture. That is, we are again talking about the developments of military biologists.”

Sixth place. Tularemia.

Death from infection with this infection is recorded in five percent of cases. The small gram-negative bacillus Francisella tularensis is the causative agent of tularemia. In 1941, 10,000 cases were reported in the Soviet Union. Later, when German troops advanced deeper into the country in 1942, this number increased to 100,000. Most cases of infection were recorded in the ranks of the German army. Former Soviet bioweapons researcher Ken Alibek argues that this surge in infection was not an accident, but the result of biological warfare. Alibek continued to develop a vaccine against tularemia with Soviet scientists until his escape to the United States in 1992. Francisella tularensis occurs naturally in no more than 50 organisms and is common among rodents, rabbits and hares. Humans usually become infected through contact with infected animals, insect bites, or consumption of contaminated food. Symptoms usually appear within 3-5 days depending on the method of infection. The patient may experience fever, chills, headache, diarrhea, muscle pain, joint pain, dry cough and progressive weakness. Symptoms similar to pneumonia may also develop. If left untreated, respiratory failure and death develop. The illness usually lasts no more than two weeks, but during this time infected people are usually unable to work. Tularemia is not spread from person to person, is easily treated with antibiotics, and can be prevented by using a vaccine. However, this zoonotic infection spreads very quickly from animals to humans, and it is also easy to become infected when spread in the form of an aerosol. In this form, the infection is most dangerous. In this regard, after the end of World War II, the United States, Great Britain, Canada and the Soviet Union began to develop options for using tularemia in the form of biological weapons.

General classification of biological hazards

Disease carriers can be:

• Animals and plants.
• Pathogenic microorganisms.

Poisons, which are waste products of some animals, act as a biological and chemical hazard at the same time. There are many examples of the use of such compounds at all stages of evolutionary development. Dangerous animals include:

1. Spiders. When some species attack a person, headaches, impaired consciousness, weakness, tachycardia, convulsions occur, and blood pressure increases. There is a high probability of death.
2. Pisces. The most dangerous include stingrays, sea dragons and others. After an attack by such fish, diarrhea, weakness, convulsions appear, blood pressure decreases, and breathing is impaired. In some cases, the person loses consciousness or dies.
3. Reptiles (frogs, snakes). The poison secreted by these animals causes paralysis of the respiratory and skeletal muscles, apathy, lethargy, depression of the central nervous system, and inhibition of reflexes.

Fifth place. Botulinum toxin.

Take a deep breath. If the air you just breathed contains botulinum toxin, you won't know it. Deadly bacteria are colorless and odorless. However, after 12-36 hours the first symptoms will appear. The toxin will cause disturbances in the functioning of the cranial nerves, skeletal muscles, and nerve centers of the heart. Ocular symptoms are characteristic (fog, spots before the eyes, mydriasis), later bulbar symptoms will join (impaired speech and swallowing, mask-like face). Death will occur from hypoxia caused by disruption of oxygen metabolic processes, asphyxia of the respiratory tract, paralysis of the respiratory muscles and cardiac muscle. Without breathing support, death is likely within 24-72 hours. For this reason, the deadly toxin is classified as a Class A biological weapon. However, if the patient is on artificial ventilation, then the mortality rate drops from 70 percent to 6, however, it will take time for the nervous system to recover, since the poison paralyzes nerve endings and muscles. It will take several months for the patient to fully recover. It is worth noting that this neurotoxin can be found anywhere in the world, especially in soil and marine sediments. Clostridia botulinum, being strict anaerobes, can reproduce only in conditions of complete absence of oxygen. As a rule, these are canned and sausage products (especially canned fried mushrooms and meat and fish prepared in large pieces with damage on the surface). Its power and availability have made botulinum toxin a favorite among biological weapons programs in many countries. As a result of many years of research, botulinum toxin was adopted by the US Army in 1975 under the code XR; its reserves are stored in the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. Inhalation toxicity for humans LDt50 0.00002 mg min/l for dry XR and 0.0001 mg min/l for its formulations. Death can occur within three days. In 1990, members of the Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyo sprayed the toxin to protest government policies, but failed to cause mass deaths. But when cultists switched to sarin gas in 1995, dozens of people died and thousands were injured.

Conference participants addressed the international community

The resolution calls on various organizations and departments to inform the world community about the activities of the US program to reduce biological threats.

1. “To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation - with a proposal to bring to the UN Security Council and the OSCE the issue of non-compliance by the US program to reduce biological threats with the provisions of the BTWC and its uncontrolled activities on the territory of Armenia.
2. To FAO, OIE and WHO - with a proposal to cease cooperation with the US program to reduce biological threats until the UN adopts an official mechanism for mutual monitoring of the activities of biomedical facilities in UN member states and their implementation of the provisions of the BTWC.
3. To the CSTO and NATO - with a proposal to jointly raise the problem of the US program to reduce biological threats as a factor threatening the regional security of the CSTO and NATO member states.

The conference participants call on scientists, subject matter experts, experts, public figures and journalists concerned about the problem of American biological laboratories to join our appeal to the UN Security Council and the OSCE on the need for an international investigation into the activities of the US program to reduce biological threats.”

Fourth place. Rice blast.

Many biological organisms attack food crops. A number of countries, especially the United States and Russia, have devoted much research to diseases and insects affecting food crops. The fact that the country's modern agriculture tends to focus on single-crop production only complicates matters. One such type of biological weapon is rice blast, a disease caused by the fungus Pyricularia oryzae. The leaves of the affected plant become grayish in color and become filled with thousands of fungal spores. These spores multiply quickly and, spreading from plant to plant, significantly infect or even destroy the crop. Although breeding plants resistant to the disease is a good protective measure, rice blast poses a serious problem because it is not just one resistant variety that needs to be developed, but 219 different varieties. This type of biological weapon does not work for sure. However, it can lead to nutritional problems in poor countries, as well as financial and other losses and problems. A number of countries, including the United States, use this rice disease as a biological weapon. At the moment, the United States has a huge supply of this mushroom to carry out potential attacks on Asia.

Classification of biological weapons

The main difference between different types of biological weapons is the pathogen used to defeat the enemy. It is he who determines the basic properties and characteristics of weapons of mass destruction. Causative agents of various diseases can be used: plague, smallpox, anthrax, Ebola fever, cholera, tularemia, tropical fever, as well as botulism toxins.

Various means and methods can be used to spread infections:

• artillery shells and mines;
• special containers (bags, packages or boxes) scattered from the air;
• aerial bombs;
• devices that disperse aerosols containing infectious agents from the air;
• contaminated household items (clothing, shoes, food).

Separately, entomological weapons should be highlighted. This is a type of biological weapon that uses insects to attack the enemy. At various times, bees, scorpions, fleas, Colorado potato beetles and mosquitoes were used for these purposes. The most promising are mosquitoes, fleas and some types of flies. All these insects can carry various diseases of humans and animals. At various times, there were programs to breed agricultural pests in order to damage the enemy’s economy.

Third place. Rinderpest.

When Genghis Khan invaded Europe in the 13th century, he inadvertently introduced a terrible biological weapon. Rinderpest is caused by a virus related to the measles virus. The severe infectious disease affects cows and several other species of artiodactyls, including African buffalo, antelope, deer, giraffe, wildebeest and African warthogs. The disease is characterized by fever, oral erosion, diarrhea, lymphoid necrosis and high mortality. Symptoms persist for approximately 6-10 days, after which the animal usually dies from dehydration. For centuries, people have continually brought “sick” animals to various parts of the globe, thereby infecting millions of healthy cattle, as well as other domestic and wild animals. At times, outbreaks of the disease in Africa were so severe that they turned starving lions into man-eaters and forced herders to commit suicide. However, thanks to a massive vaccination program, rinderpest has been brought under control in most countries of the world. The last outbreaks of the disease were noted in 2001. Although Genghis Khan "acquired" this virus by accident, many modern countries, such as Canada and the United States, are actively researching it as a type of bioweapon.

Second place. Nipah virus.

Viruses adapt and evolve over time. New strains emerge, and sometimes close contact between humans and animals allows life-threatening diseases to mutate into entirely new forms. With the constant increase in the number of people on earth, the emergence of new diseases is inevitable. And every time a new outbreak appears, someone is bound to start looking at it as a potential biological weapon. The Nipah virus falls into this category because it only became known in 1999. The outbreak occurred in a region of Malaysia called Nipah, infecting 265 and killing 105 people. It is assumed that the virus develops naturally in the body of fruit bats. During the first outbreaks in Malaysia and Singapore, most human infections occurred through direct contact with sick pigs or infected pig tissue. It is believed that transmission of the infection occurred either through airborne droplets as a result of contact with secretions from the nasopharynx of pigs, or as a result of contact with tissues of sick animals. The most likely source of infection during outbreaks in Bangladesh and India was consumption of fruits or fruit products (eg, fresh date palm sap) contaminated with urine or saliva from infected frugivorous flying dogs. During recent outbreaks in Bangladesh and India, Nipah virus was spread directly from person to person through close contact with human secretions and excrement. In Siliguri, India, transmission of the virus was also reported in a health care facility, with 75% of all cases there occurring among hospital staff or visitors. From 2001 to 2008 about half of the reported cases in Bangladesh were due to human-to-human transmission. Infection in humans occurs in various forms, from asymptomatic to fatal encephalitis. First, people who become ill develop flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headaches, muscle pain, vomiting and sore throat. Next, dizziness, drowsiness, changes in consciousness and neurological signs may appear that indicate acute encephalitis. Some people may also develop atypical pneumonia and severe respiratory symptoms, including acute respiratory failure. In severe cases, encephalitis and convulsions develop, leading to coma after 24-48 hours. The incubation period lasts from 4 to 45 days. The Nipah virus, along with other emerging pathogens, is classified as a Class C biological weapon. Although no country is officially researching the virus for possible use as a biological weapon, its potential is wide and its 50 percent mortality rate makes Nipah virus a must-watch.

Definition and classification of biological weapons

What distinguishes biological weapons from other types of mass destructive agents is the following:

• Biological bomb causes epidemics
  . The use of BW is accompanied by massive contamination of living beings and territories in a short amount of time;
• Toxicity
  . Small doses of the pathogen are required for defeat;
• Speed ​​of propagation
  . The transfer of BO components is carried out through the air, direct contacts, mediation by objects, etc.;
• Incubation period.
  The appearance of the first signs of the disease may occur after a long period of time;
• Conservation
  . In certain conditions, pathogens have a long latent period before activation conditions arise;
• Area of ​​infection
  . Simulation of the spread of biological weapons showed that even aerosols in limited quantities can infect targets at a distance of up to 700.0 km;
• Psychological action
  . In areas where weapons of this nature were used, panic, people's fear for their own lives, as well as the inability to carry out everyday tasks were always recorded.