Small Pox Bioterrorism And YOU!

Well, I suppose I should get the ball rolling on this blog and talk about the potential use of smallpox as a bio terrorism weapon.  

The podcast gives a brief history of the use of smallpox as a biological weapon when it was used by the British to kill Native Americans with whom they were battling for control of a fort.  They handed the Natives blankets previously used by smallpox victims and, lacking any immunity toward the disease, the Native Americans rapidly succumbed to smallpox and it spread amongst their tribe.  

(This was also the basis of an episode of the hilariously un-politically correct South Park in which Native Americans want to demolish South Park to build a highway to their casino and gave the residents blankets used by Chinese people with SARS after they refused to leave.  The outbreak was resolved when the characters learned the "white people cure" to SARS: Robitussin, Sprite, and Chicken Noodle Soup.)  

More relevant today was the mention that the Soviet Union had been building up vast stores of smallpox during the Cold War.  The idea was that they could put a bunch of dried smallpox, which they had cultured from chicken embryos, into a ballistic missile and fire it at a major U.S. city.  Even more concerning today is the fact that smallpox has been eradicated and vaccines are no longer produced in great quantity and administered.  If such a weapon was used it would likely be very effective as most people would lake immunity to smallpox having never been exposed before and because vaccines most likely could not be produced and administered in great enough quantities before many millions of people are infected and/or killed.  

However, this does make me question a few things.  I assume that since this was during the Cold War, that a smallpox ballistic missile would most likely be a political weapon than a really practical one.  Sure it could be used to hit a city and kill many of it's inhabitants, but like nuclear weapons, this is mainly a deterrent weapon to threaten your enemy with in order to keep the from hitting you first in fear of retaliation.  It just seems like nuclear weapons would do the trick just fine.  I guess that's why you never heard of a biological arms race.

Though since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the main role that a smallpox weapon takes is as an agent of terrorism.  Yeah, it could kill a bunch of people, but if it can also scare the hell out of people without being used, it's a pretty effective weapon.  

Similarly, anthrax could be used as a biological weapon as well.  Due to public heath efforts, anthrax has mostly been eradicated in the developed world and is fairly rare elsewhere.  Since it too is not a major concern of most health care professionals, large quantities of vaccine are not available.  In the event of an attack, most people would probably be vulnerable, unable to get vaccinated in time.  Luckily, treatments are available in the form of antibiotics, but they must be administered quickly.  Again, large quantities may not be available.  

The best course of action if you're really afraid of these weapons would probably be to get vaccinated, otherwise, just try to think happy thoughts.