Biological Weapons Logistics

1
Biological Weapons Logistics

• Session 4

2
Biological Weapons

• Bacteria
• Viruses
• Other microorganisms
• Biological by-products

3
The Dalles, Oregon

• Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
• 1984
• Illness from 10 Restaurants
• S. enterica (Typhimurium)
• Supplies
• Bactrol disks, freeze dryer, incubator,
  refrigerator, culture medium

4
Other Organisms Examined

• S. typhi
• Giardia lamblia
• HIV
• Hepatitis

5
What Does it Take

• Intent
• Equipment
• Expertise
• Time
• Target

6
Intent

• Political
• Religious
• Armageddon
• Disruptive Aspects
• Hatred
• Homicide

7
Equipment (Production Only)

• Growth Substrate
• Bacteria/Fungi
• Viruses
• Floor Space
• Refrigerator
• Growth Chamber
• Bacteria/Fungi
• Viruses

8
Equipment

• Organisms
• ATCC
• Proficiency Organisms
• Shared Organisms
• Environment
• Disposables
• Protection

9
Expertise

• Rajneeshees
• RN, RFNP Ma Anand Puja
• Aum Shinrikyo
• Biochemists, Biologists, Physicists, Engineers
• Seichi Endo - Microbiologist

10
What Japanese Officials Found

• Culture media
• Extensive library
• Clean room/air lock
• 90 tons Methanol
• 50 tons diethylaniline
• 180 tons phosphorous trichloride
• 550 kg of iodine

11
What Japanese Officials Found

• Phosphorous pentachloride
• Sodium fluoride
• 51 tons of isopropyl alcohol
• 160 drums of peptone
• Dozens of other chemicals and pieces of equipment

12
Time
Time is paired to some degree with the secluded
nature of the operation. The Rajneeshees has a
secret biological weapons lab, as did Aum
Shinrikyo. Aum also possessed a test ranch in
Australia where chemical weapons were tested on
sheep.
13
Target

• Individual
• Bulgarian SS Georgi Markov
• Aum Shinrikyo
• 2001 Bacillus anthracis
• Indiscriminate
• The Dalles, Oregon (confined population)
• Todays fears
• Other Organisms

14
Dissemination
Aside from conscience and fear of boomerang
effect, this factor alone probably accounts for
the reason we have not seen a wide scale event.
We will get back to this point.
15
What Is a Good Agent?

• Infectivity
• Pathogenicity
• Virulence
• Toxicity
• Transmissibility
• Incubation

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Infectivity

• Ability to grow in a host
• Everyone is infected
• Not everyone has disease
• Natural Defense
• Opportunistic organisms

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Pathogenicity

• Ability to cause disease
• Two main routes of disease (bacteria)
• Production of toxins
• Invasion of tissue
• Action of viruses
• Destruction of cells
• Interference with physiology

18
Virulence

• How likely infection will lead to death
• LD50

19
Toxicity

• The ability to damage by toxins
• Endotoxins gram negative organisms
• Salmonella, Shigella, Pseudomonas, Neisseria
• Exotoxins may be gram neg. or pos.
• Botulinum toxin
• S. aureus

20
Transmissibility

• Escape from host
• Movement to new host
• Infection of new host

The ability of a disease to be passed on to a new
host.
21
Transmissibility

• Person-to person
• Direct STDs
• Indirect Infectious nuclei
• Vectors
• Rodents, insects
• Environment
• Wives tale The Rusty Nail

22
Incubation

• Time from exposure to symptoms
• Asymptomatic/Contagious
• Rhinovirus
• Typhus, Shigella, Hep A, Norwalk virus
• Staph. aureus

23
Incubation

• Defenses
• Macrophagial response
• Bacillus anthracis
• Stage 1 disease 1 to 6 days
• Stage 2 disease up to 60 days

24
Dissemination

• Environmental Sustainability
• Nutrition
• UV Light
• Heat
• Cold
• Hydrolysis
• Other Physical Factors

25
Dissemination

• Direct Inoculation
• Ricin tipped umbrella
• Salad bar contamination
• Indirect Inoculation
• Timed release (like in module 2 reading)

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Tox/Epi Exposure Routes

• Respiratory
• Smallpox or anthrax
• Dermal
• T2 Mycotoxins or anthrax
• Mucous Membranes
• Ingestion
• Salmonella
• Injection
• Assassinations or tampering

27
Respiratory

• Environmental Factors
• Logistics
• Delivery of organisms
• Organism solution

28
Particle Size
Pollen 50 um
Human Hair Nuiasance Dust 90 um
Skin cell flake 10 um - inhalable
PM 2.5 Respirable Particle
29
Overcoming. . .

• Dispersal (Engineering)
• Wind (Drift)
• Gravity (Settling)
• Water (Precipitation)
• Temperature (Degredation)
• Light (Photolysis)

30
Gravity/Density
lt1 Indefinite suspension 1 3.5 hours 5 20
minutes 10 5 minutes 15 2.5 minutes 30 34
seconds
31
Aerosols

• Fumes - vaporized solids that recondense into
  very small, solid particles.
• Dusts - are solid aerosols formed by mechanical
  means.
• Mists - are liquid aerosols formed by mechanical
  means.

32
Targeting

• Individuals
• Emotional Targets
• Schools Daycares
• Confined Target Clusters
• Aircraft Shopping Centers
• Mega-Clusters
• Concerts Sporting Events

33
Detection

• Light Techniques
• Culture
• PCR (BioWatch)
• Immuno-Assay
• Other Chemical Analyses