Disease relevance of Biological Warfare

• When hantaviruses hit the headlines with the advent in May 1993 of a new disease in the USA, and later in the New World from Canada to south Argentina, called "hantavirus pulmonary syndrome" (HPS), speculations in the lay press rose from the very beginning around the possibilities of a biological warfare (BW) weapon [1].

Psychiatry related information on Biological Warfare

• Various possible causes are examined, including post-traumatic stress disorder, infection, prophylactic medication, exposure to chemical and biological warfare agents, exposures resulting from oil spills and fires, and exposure to depleted uranium ammunition [2].

High impact information on Biological Warfare

• Biological warfare and the 'Hiroshima' issue of JAMA [3].
• Botulinum toxins are extremely neurotoxic bacterial toxins, likely to be used as biological warfare agent [4].
• Production of class II bacteriocins by lactic acid bacteria; an example of biological warfare and communication [5].
• Initial results demonstrating the ability to classify surface-enhanced Raman (SERS) spectra of chemical and biological warfare agent simulants are presented [6].
• On the one hand, this has been stimulated by the discovery of new hereditary genetic disease loci following the completion of the Human Genome Project, but also by the presence of new rapidly spreading viral threats, such as that of the SARS epidemic, or even micro-organisms released for the purpose of biological warfare [7].

Associations of Biological Warfare with chemical compounds

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed the Laboratory Response Network to provide an organized response system for the detection and diagnosis of biological warfare agents based on laboratory testing abilities and facilities [8].
• BACKGROUND: Bacterial pathogens and their products are potential agents of biological terrorism and biological warfare [9].
• More revealing aspects of the programme are now available through documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. Annual reports of the activities of the US Army Chemical Corps from 1945 to 1959 have revealed significant increases in activity in biological warfare research [10].

Gene context of Biological Warfare

• Biological warfare and the MRC [11].
• From asps to allegations: biological warfare in history [12].
• How does an accident become an experiment? Secret science and the exposure of the public to biological warfare agents [13].
• We raise the concern that the Yellow Rain "experiments" pose the threat of massive use of chemical/biological warfare [14].
• The wide prevalence of the bacterium in different parts of the world, its high virulence, and its ability to spread by aerosolization makes it a potential agent of biological warfare in the hands of terrorists [15].

References