Biological Warfare in the 17th Century

Susceptibility of Virulent Yersinia pestis Bacteria to Predator Bacteria in the Lungs of Mice

“…The categorization of Y. pestis as a Tier 1 Select Agent by the USG is the result of its use historically as a biological weapon [31,32]. Yet plague has a long and storied past and remains a formidable human pathogen in its own right.…”

High-level biocontainment laboratories: risks and necessity for society

“…As it became evident after few years of investigations, reported in the Amerithrax investigation, 47 the origin of the material was a military highcontainment laboratory in the USA, in which research had been conducted on 'methods of weaponization', aimed at identifying and understanding vulnerability to possibly weaponized bacteria (presumably by other countries or terrorist groups). 47,48 The result of such research is precisely what made it possible for what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says was a single American scientist, Bruce Ivins, to kill five people, to disseminate terror, and to cause a major economic disruption by mailing letters containing somehow weaponized spores. 47 Apparently, the scientist suffered from mental health disorders, but the Army (his employer) failed to recognize them.…”

“…Another reason that leads to perform risky research relates to biowarfare and bioterror. It is true that we can hardly think of a means of aggression that has never been used, but in relation to biological warfare, while several countries in Europe, Asia and North America developed bioweapons programs, especially in the first half of the past century, 48,53,92,93 very few episodes of effective use have been documented: the distribution of smallpox-tainted blankets to Native Americans by the British colonizers in the XVIII century, 48 and some attempts during World War II especially by Japan, but also by Germany and possibly others. Nowadays, scholars, notably Cross and Klotz, 94 doubt that biological agents will be used in warfare, due to"the widespread belief that biological weapons have no military utility", 94,95 and thanks to the fact that the Biological Weapon Convention has been signed by almost all countries.…”