Types of Biological Weapons

There are five categories for biological weapons. These five are toxins, viruses, rikettsiae, bacteria and anti-plant. These should be feared greatly. The reason for this is that unlike chemical weapons, some of these can be spread from person to person or animal to person. The area of the weapons release maybe small, but because the spread of infection is very likely. By doing this, it is able to capitalize on this and multiply.

In the category of toxins, botulism is most well-known. Botulism is a nerve toxin that targets the respiratory functions. This can be fatal in large doses. Even in small doses it can be fatal if not treated in time. The treatment takes months to rid the body of infection. If it is to be used as a weapon, it would target food sources. This toxin carries the tittle of being the most poisonous material known to man. If used in an aerosol disbursement method, one gram of this toxin has the ability to kill up to one million people.

Most viruses used as biological weapons are spread after airborne dispersal methods by mosquitos. Two viruses that are commonly known are yellow fever and Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis. The Venezuelan virus is also known as west nile virus and is related to the biological agent Japanese encephalitis, which is a culmination of many similar viruses into one more potent virus. These viruses cause high fever, aches and vomiting. These viruses have .03 to sixty percent chance for fatality in severe cases. But the idea is to incapacitate the enemy for an easier siege. Many of these symptoms are similar to rikettsiae Q fever. The only difference is the chance of mortality without treatment is much lower, about two percent.

Bacterial agents that are most commonly known are plague, anthrax and cholera. I would like to talk about anthrax specifically. This bacterium has an extremely high mortality rate if used correctly in airborne dispersal, about seventy-five percent. This is due to the fact that there is currently no medicine to counteract the inhalation of anthrax spores. If inhaled, it produces flu like symptoms, followed days later by death from pulmonary complications and blood poisoning. The spores that cause the sickness also have a very large half-life lasting of decades in a contaminated area.

Anti-plant agents are used in biological warfare to specifically target enemy food sources in order to cause starvation. Two examples are rice blast and wheat stem rust. Rice blast is a fungus that destroys the rice plant. It is estimated that enough rice crops are destroyed every year by this fungus to feed sixty million people.