Historical Overview of Biological Warfare

Colonel, Medical Corps, U.S. Army Chief, Operational Medicine Division, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21702-5011 

The possibility that biological weapons will be used against us is no longer unthinkable. Until recently, medical officers and other healthcare practitioners may have considered this topic more suitable for academic than practical pursuit. The fact is, however, that biological agents have been used as weapons since antiquity, and the threat that modern weapons will be used is real. In fact, Saddam Hussein s aggression in the Persian Gulf War may 

Military leaders during the Middle Ages recognized that victims of infections could become weapons in themselves. Gabriel de Mussis, a notary, saw the Tatar attack on Caffa, a well-fortified, Genoese-controlled seaport (modern Feodosiya, Ukraine), in 1346. De Mussis described how the plague-weak- 

An epidemic of plague followed, forcing a retreat of the Genoese forces. The exported disease continued to spread in Europe.4,5 

Germany denied all allegations, including the accusation that biological bombs were being dropped over British positions. In 1924, a subcom- 

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Eitzen E, Takafuji E (1997) Historical overview of biological warfare. In Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army (ed) Textbook of Military Medicine Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfared... 

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). 

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