A biological weapon is any type of infectious agent, such as a virus, bacteria, or toxin that is used intentionally to inflict bodily harm on people, animals, or nature itself.
They can be used to cause mass casualties, social disruption, economic loss and environmental problems, and once released, they are very difficult to handle because they are infectious agents that spread uncontrollably and not just under the target area.
They are silent and lethal weapons and do not belong to the most modern stage of our history. Rather, this bioterrorism using microorganisms or infected samples to cause terror and panic began long ago, when the Hittites sent infected rams to their enemies, around 1400 BC.
However, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection , apart from some rare and well-documented events, it is often quite difficult for historians and microbiologists to differentiate natural epidemics from alleged biological attacks. For several reasons: there is little information available in times before modern microbiology; the truth may have been manipulated for normally political reasons; and the passage of time may also have distorted the reality of the past.
The influence of politics on the distortion of reality through the use of infectious agents as a weapon was made very clear in the so-called Sverdlovsk accident, which was initially attributed by the authorities to a natural foodborne outbreak and subsequently thirteen years later, officially recognized as a military weapon of the army. It is just one of the most prominent examples that we can find in our recent history.
As we have commented, biological weapons can be difficult to control or even predict, if we are, for example, in the middle of a battlefield, since there is a substantial risk that the troops of both will be affected.
Because living organisms can be unpredictable and highly resistant, bioweapons are potentially devastating on a global scale and have been banned globally under numerous treaties. Despite international laws and treaties, humanity’s ability to find innovative ways to kill each other is a reality.
What have been the deadliest biological weapons? We review them below.
