Biological warfare history

Based on the history of terrorist attacks, which have mostly involved hijacking and bombing of aircraft, current threat-detection measures have concentrated on detecting weapons or explosives. In the future, terrorist attacks could also involve the use of toxic chemicals, chemical and biological warfare agents, or even radiological and nuclear materials.1 2... 

Harris, R., Paxman, J. (2002). A Higher Form of Killing The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare. Random House, New York. 

Smart, J.K. (1997). History of chemical and biological warfare an American perspective. Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare, Textbook of Military Medicine (F.R. Sidell, E.T. Takafuji, D.R. Franz, eds) O 3 9-86. Office of the Surgeon General, Bordon Institute, Washington, DC. 

Szinicz, L. (2005). History of chemical and biological warfare agents. Toxicology 214 167-81. 

Metcalfe, N. (2002). A short history of biological warfare. Med. Confl. Surviv. 18 271-82. 

Man has used biological weapons since the dawn of civilization, often for the purpose of warfare or assassination. Chapter 1 provides an overview of documented historical events involving the use of biological pathogens and toxins as weapons during warfare. A more exhaustive history of biological warfare is provided by Smart (1997) and Frischknecht (2003). 

Frischknecht, E, 2003. The history of biological warfare. EMBO Reports, special issue, 4, pp. S47-S52. 

Smart, J.K. (2004). History notes chemical and biological warfare research and development during the Civil War. CBIAC Newsletter 5(2) 3, 11-15. 

It is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium. Rodents are the normal host of plague, and the disease is transmitted to humans by flea bites and occasionally by aerosol in the form of pneumoitic plague. The disease has a history of use in biological warfare dating back many centuries (see Roman times, above), and is considered a threat due to its ease of culture and ability to remain in circulation in rodents for long periods. 

The history of chemical and biological warfare has thrown up some strange stories, but few are as bizarre as those which surround a small island off the north-west coast of Scotland. It lies in its own well-protected bay, close to the fishing village of Aultbea - an outcrop of rock, well-covered with heather, three hundred feet high, one and a half miles long and a mile wide. 

Wheelis M (2004). A short History of Biological Warfare and Weapons. ISO Press, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

Plague has been one of the worst human pandemics throughout history. Its use as a biological warfare agent, however, is not known. The disease is attributed to the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and caused mostly from bites of rat flea. The animals that transmit this disease are mostly black rats and the rock and ground squirrels. When the flea bites an infected animal the bacteria enter into the body of the flea and multiply inside. When the infected flea attempts to bite again it vomits clotted blood and bacteria into the bloodstream of the victim, either human or a small mammal, usually rat. Thus the disease is mostly transmitted from rodents from the bites of infected fleas. 

HISTORY OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE... 

History of Chemical and Biological Warfare An American Perspective... 

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