Weaponizing Ebola virus

The use of chemical and biological weapons for terrorism became a key concern of the U.S. Army in the 1990s. In 1994, a Japanese religious cult, Aum Shinrikyo, reportedly released nerve agent in a residential area of Matsumoto, Japan, that killed 7 and injured 500. A second attack on 20 March 1995 spread sarin through a crowded Tokyo subway. This act of terrorism killed 12 and caused more than 5,500 civilians to seek medical attention. After the attacks, news accounts reported that the cult had developed a helicopter to spray toxins, a drone for unmanned chemical and biological attacks, and their own strains of botulism. They had also allegedly attempted to obtain the Ebola virus from Zaire.246 248... 

The bacteria that cause anthrax and the botulinum toxin are among the most likely candidates for weaponization. (Whether or not botuUnum toxin would be an effective weapon, however, is a matter of controversy.) Viruses such as Ebola, while extremely deadly (up to 90 percent mortality in some instances), are difficult to weaponize due to their fragile structures. Ebola kills its victims by destroying cells, especially those that line blood vessels, finally bursting them open after the virus has replicated itself. Although their BW scientists found weaponizing Ebola quite difficult, a successful effort was made in the former Soviet Union to weaponize Marburg virus, taxonomically a close relative to Ebola. 

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