L3- Biowarefare

Question 1

What are examples of early bioterrorism?

Answer 1

• 184BC- Hannibal and the poisonous snakes
• 1345/1710- Catapulted corpses
• 1763- Infected blankets
• 1462/1860/1945- Poisoned reservoirs

Question 2

Who carried out biowarfare from 1914?

Answer 2

• States
• Organised groups (cults and terrorist groups)
• Criminals

Question 3

What was the Japanese Weapons Programme?

Answer 3

• Organisms such as anthrax, botulinum, plague, typhoid and cholera
• Delivered via porcelain bombs, shrapnel, chocolate
• Battlefield use against Chinese and Russians

Question 4

What did the UK use in WW2?

Answer 4

• Botulinum and anthrax
• Botulinum toxin may have killed Reinhard Heydrich
• Operation vegetation- one million infected cattle cakes for delivery by aircraft to kill humans and animals (anthrax)

Question 5

What are bacterial toxins?

Answer 5

• Mainly small and large protiens

* Attack key functions in cell- cell membrane, disrupts cell membrane signalling, enters cell and disrupts function

Question 6

What are neurotoxins?

Answer 6

Botulinum and tetanus toxin
• Attack signalling between nerve cells
• Proteins that are proteases that prevent docking, they specifically cut proteins involved in docking

Question 7

What is anthrax?

Answer 7

• Toxin with two types
• Lethal factor= protease that cuts a signalling protein
• Edema factor= enzyme that makes a small signalling molecule

Question 8

What are non-toxin diseases?

Answer 8

Novel delivery of potent molecules
• Plague- yersinia pestis
• Typhoid- salmonella typhi
• Shigella flexneri- shigellosis

Question 9

How does toxin delivery of plague bacteria occur?

Answer 9

• Bacterium binds to the cell surface and injects various proteins and substances into the cell to disturb the cells function
• Six proteins injected that affect cellular signalling

Question 10

What is an example of a cult using biowarfare?

Answer 10

• Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1931-1990) poisoned commissioners with Salmonella
• Poisoned 10 salad bars in 1984

Question 11

Why is biowarfare bad?

Answer 11

• Difficult to control- impacting own troops or cult members, leakage at plant
• Difficult to deploy effectively
• Difficult to separate attack from normal disease
• Fear factor

Question 12

How is biowarfare detected?

Answer 12

• Microbial forensics
• Microscopy (electron, classical)
• Classical microbiology
• Molecular methods