Infectious Diseases in Critical Care Medicine

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Table 2

A Brief History of Biological Warfare and Bioterrorism (

Continued

)

Dates

Biological agent(s)

Method of delivery

Comments

WWII

Killed

Proteus

OX19

Polish physicians, Dr Eugeniusz Lazowski (1913–

2006) and Dr Stanislav Matulewicz, inject thepeople of Rozvadow and Zbydniowie in Polandwith dead

Proteus

OX19.

When blood samples from these individuals were

sent for testing, they were interpreted as“positive” for antibodies indicating typhusinfection. German officials became convincedthat a typhus epidemic was raging and theWehrmacht would not enter the town.

WWII

R. prowazekii

,
R. mooseri

,

hepatitis A,

Plasmodium

spp.

German experiments on prisoners in concentration

camps.

WWII

B. anthracis

England conducts animal and environmental

experiments on Gruinard Island off the coast ofScotland.

The spores were found to be long-lived and the

island was quarantined. In 1986, 280 tons offormaldehyde was sprayed. The quarantine waslifted in 1990.

WWII

B. anthracis

,
Botulinum

toxin,

F. tularensis

,

Brucella suis

,
C. burnetti

,

Staphylococcusenterotoxin B,Venezuelan equineencephalitis, rice blast,rye stem rust, wheat stemrust

U.S. Offensive Biological Program (War Reserve

Service) stockpiles agents but does notweaponize them.

Programs are terminated in 1969 and 1970 by

President Nixon’s two executive orders.

1960s

Pungi sticks smeared with

feces

Traps or pits.

Utilized by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.

1970

Reports of Weather Underground attempting to obtain agents from Fort Detrick. Not confirmed.

1972

Salmonella typhi

, diphtheria,

dysentery, meningitis

R.I.S.E. radical organization stockpiles cultures

Cultures discovered. No attack

September 7, 1978 at

Waterloo Bridge, London

Ricin

The Darzhavna Sigurnost and the KGB use an

umbrella gun with a ricin-containing pellet toassassinate Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov.He dies September 11.

It was not raining. It was not an accident.The first time ricin was used as a biological

weapon.

436 Cleri et al.

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