Tularemia, Biological Warfare, and the Battle for Stalingrad (1942–1943)

Croddy, Eric; Krčálová, Sarka

doi:10.1093/milmed/166.10.837

Cited by 32 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…In addition, the appearance of tularemia in thousands of Russian and German troops at the siege of Stalingrad may have been the result of deliberate use by the Soviets (3). However, a natural cause for this outbreak has not been eliminated, and military personnel may have acquired F. tularensis from mice and rats whose numbers multiplied owing to the widespread disruption of sanitation and hygiene during battle (39). During the Cold War both the Soviet Union and the United States prepared and stockpiled tons of infectious agents for potential use against the civilian populations of their enemies (29).…”

Section: Potential For Use In Biowarfarementioning

confidence: 99%

Francisella tularensis:Taxonomy, Genetics, and Immunopathogenesis of a Potential Agent of Biowarfare

McLendon

Apicella

Allen

2006

Annu. Rev. Microbiol.

205

292

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Tularemia is a zoonosis of humans caused by infection with the facultative intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis. Interest in F. tularensis has increased markedly in the past few years because of its potential use as an agent of bioterrorism. Five subspecies of this organism are found in the Northern hemisphere, but only F. tularensis subsp. tularensis and subsp. holarctica cause disease in humans. This review summarizes what is known about the pathogenesis of tularemia with a focus on bacterial surface components such as lipopolysaccharide and capsule as well as information obtained from the F. tularensis subsp. tularensis SCHU S4 genome. In particular, the mechanisms of action of recently identified virulence factors are discussed in the context of bacterial replication in macrophages and manipulation of the host inflammatory response. Throughout this report shared and unique features of F. tularensis subsp. tularensis, subsp. holarctica, and subsp. novicida are discussed.

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Section: Potential For Use In Biowarfarementioning

confidence: 99%

Francisella tularensis:Taxonomy, Genetics, and Immunopathogenesis of a Potential Agent of Biowarfare

McLendon

Apicella

Allen

2006

Annu. Rev. Microbiol.

205

292

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“…Because of the long‐term and widespread damage inflicted by war on the ecology, the explosive growth of the rodent population and the intensive exposure of civilians and soldiers to the pathogen (e.g. contact with contaminated straw) it can safely be assumed that this tularemia epidemic had natural causes, and could not have been a biological warfare attack, as several authors have claimed [5,24].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A procedure for differentiating between the intentional release of biological warfare agents and natural outbreaks of disease: its use in analyzing the tularemia outbreak in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000

Grunow

Finke

2002

Clinical Microbiology and Infection

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The events of 11 September and the subsequent anthrax outbreaks in the USA have opened the world's eyes to the threat posed by terrorist groups, criminal organizations and lone operators who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. The open or covert use of pathogens and toxins as biological warfare agents can no longer be ruled out. Against this background, the appearance of an unusual disease must be studied in order to clarify whether it is a natural or artificially caused occurrence. This issue was recently raised in discussions with local representatives and relief organizations during a tularemia epidemic in Kosovo from October 1999 to May 2000. This paper will present a procedure which attempts to use certain criteria to identify or rule out the use of biological warfare agents in the event of an unusual outbreak of disease. Data and findings gathered by routine epidemiologic and microbiological studies often provide only an indirect answer to this problem. For this reason, various criteria were formulated and points allocated to represent their importance, allowing us to deduce in a semiquantitative manner the degree of possibility of an artificial genesis of outbreaks. The significance and characterization of each criterion are discussed. An analysis of the tularemia epidemic in Kosovo based on the procedure described here indicates that a deliberate release of the causative agent of tularemia, Francisella tularensis, as a biological warfare agent is doubtful. In this paper, an approach is described to discriminate between the intentional use of biological warfare agents and natural outbreaks of infectious diseases. The developed model is flexible and considers the political, military and social analysis of the crisis-afflicted region, the specific features of the pathogen, and the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of the epidemic.

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“…The German military clearly did not believe that they had been attacked at the time with biological agents, attributing the outbreak of tularemia among their forces during the battle of Stalingrad to transmission from Russian civilians. 24,254,255 Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman report, apparently relying on American reports based on interrogations of former members of the Japanese BW program, that Japanese police captured 5 Russian spies in 1935 and found that they were carrying the organisms responsible for anthrax, cholera, and typhoid. Allegedly, 6,000 Japanese soldiers died of cholera and 2,000 horses died of anthrax from infections.…”

Section: Non-use and Allegations Of Bwmentioning

confidence: 99%

The History of Biological Weapons Use: What We Know and What We Don't

Carus

2015

Health Security

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This article critically reviews the literature on the history of biological warfare, bioterrorism, and biocrimes. The first serious effort to review this entire history, made in 1969, had numerous limitations. In recent decades, several authors have filled many of the gaps in our understanding of the past use of biological agents (including both pathogens and toxins), making it possible to reconstruct that history with greater fidelity than previously possible. Nevertheless, there are numerous remaining gaps, and closer inspection indicates that some supposed uses of biological weapons never took place or are poorly substantiated. Topics requiring additional research are identified.

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Tularemia, Biological Warfare, and the Battle for Stalingrad (1942–1943)

Cited by 32 publications

References 0 publications

Francisella tularensis:Taxonomy, Genetics, and Immunopathogenesis of a Potential Agent of Biowarfare

Francisella tularensis:Taxonomy, Genetics, and Immunopathogenesis of a Potential Agent of Biowarfare

A procedure for differentiating between the intentional release of biological warfare agents and natural outbreaks of disease: its use in analyzing the tularemia outbreak in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000

The History of Biological Weapons Use: What We Know and What We Don't

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