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.