Dr Mark Kortepeter, a physician and biodefensa expert who has worked in the US Army’s “hot zone” study laboratory in the past, has worked in the US Army’s “hot zone” study lab.Examine what types of diseases constitute a smart biological weapon and whether Covid-19 fits this category.
The Chinese government allowed hounds to enter the wuhan Virology Institute laboratory last week in a late attempt to disprove conspiracy theories that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the origin of Covid-19, originated in the lab., months after the spread of the pandemic around the world, not much can be done to appease conspiracy theories that publication is a planned act of bioterrorism in China’s component.
Whether or not you believe those conspiracy theories, it is instructive to wonder if the SARS-CoV-2 virus would be one of the so-called “good” biological weapons.Many countries around the world (including the United States, Iraq, the former Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada) once had biological weapons programs, and some others (China, North Korea, and Iran) are suspected of developing biological weapons.
Biological warfare involves the use of infectious pathogens or toxins from living organisms to cause the death or destruction of humans, animals or plants.The deployment of a weapon can range from anything as undeniable as contaminating an opponent’s water source with faeces or a dead corpse, to fumigation.a highly complicated pathogen on a battlefield.Although we see humans as targets, biological weapons can also be used with devastating economic effects on animals or plants.Just believe that potential has the effect of destroying an opponent’s wheat fields or pigs in their ability to feed their army.
Today, I will focus only on the use of biological weapons opposed to humans.Although there are thousands of pathogens that infect humans, only a few are “good” weapons.CDC ranks maximum bioterrorism threats into “Category A”.Diseases in this category have the ability to severely affect public health, which requires investing in reaction measures. Many of the names on the list are easily recognizable by the human suffering they have caused over the centuries: anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia and viral hemorrhagic fevers (including Ebola and Marburg).
Some of the agents indexed above the percentage of safe households that state-funded formulas were “desirable” as a weapon.Soviet scientists even had a scoring formula for those homes.
This is what those houses are and how SARS-CoV-2 aligns in them.
Easy access: With the exception of smallpox, which has been removed and is now locked in freezers at the CDC in Atlanta and Russia, all Category A threats are easy to control.This is in fact the case with SARS-CoV-2, which is lately readily available worldwide.
Easy to manufacture: Most Class A agents can be manufactured in giant quantities to be pulverized on a battlefield or in a giant population.The manufacture of biological guns requires fermentation generation (similar to that used to make beer) or production in mobile cultivation.SARS-CoV-2 are harder to grow than bacteria (such as anthrax spores), but this can be done.
Stable in the atmosphere. It is a key asset for a biological weapon so that it can be used on a battlefield or oppose a giant population (but not so vital for small attacks or assassination attempts). SARS-CoV-2 fails with respect to this criterion.it turns out to spread very well in indoor environments, it doesn’t look good outdoors, especially in the sun.
Only a small amount is needed to spread widely. If a small amount of viruses, bacteria or fungi are needed to infect a single user and therefore cause widespread infection, this is ideal for making a weapon that can cover a larger area.Right now, the jury is still on the number of agencies needed to infect SARS-CoV-2.
A higher percentage of other inflamed people get sick. A key facet of any weapon is predictability.If only a few inflamed people get sick, the effect of the pathogen is not reliable enough for the army’s intervention plans.The SARS-CoV-2 virus is not working well on this property.A higher percentage, up to about 40%, appears to have an asymptomatic infection.In addition, other people between the ages of 18 and 24, who are a giant component of the army population, can only be slightly affected.This means that an army may simply not spray enemy forces on a hill with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and expect its health to be bad enough to allow a simple attack.
Users of the biological weapon can protect themselves. The use of biological weapons can be unpredictable.If a user jumps into the air and the wind blows in the wrong direction, their own forces may be infected.Hence the desire for a vaccine or remedy to protect its strength.Currently, we do not have a “miracle solution” for COVID-19 and no vaccine.Although Russia recently announced that it has a vaccine, the question of whether it actually protects against infection is another story.Many other candidate vaccines are lately found at various stages of human testing around the world.
The risk of use can cause panic. This can be effective if the goal is to wreak havoc just because of the risk.Certainly, we have noticed that the devastating social has an effect on what happened as a result of SARS-CoV-2, because other people are afraid of inflamed in the workplace, at school or in other spaces in the community, making it a plus for this property.
It’s contagious. These assets can be a double-edged sword.Once released, a biological weapon can be the “gift it continues to give”, as it spreads well through the army or the opposing nation.Also that the pathogen can spread to the country it liberated if it has no countermeasure.We have witnessed this challenge with SARS-CoV-2, and how complicated it has been to involve it once it has entered a population.
In general, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has “desirable” homes as a biological weapon, but probably not enough to make it a smart selection for military purposes.In any case, it reminded us of our vulnerabilities as a society in the face of a new pathogen, and how devastating a pandemic can be, as we continue to observe the global struggle to involve it.I am convinced that our adversaries have taken notes on America’s difficulty in responding effectively.
The other vital thing this pandemic has shown is that once the genie escapes the bottle, it is highly unlikely that he will put it back in place, we lose control and the effects are unpredictable, this is one of the reasons why the United States withdrew from the biological weapons industry when President Nixon ended the weapons progression program in 1969 and made the decision to focus only on defensive measures.It’s only a matter of time before we face this kind of challenge, whether it’s Mother Nature or an adversary.The time has come for the vulnerabilities in our preparation and reaction that this pandemic has exposed.Time is not on our side.
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I’m an infectious disease doctor, scientist, retired army colonel, and Inside the Hot Zone, a suspenseful account of infectious diseases and the epidemic.
I’m an infectious disease doctor, scientist, retired army colonel, and Inside the Hot Zone, a suspenseful account of infectious diseases and epidemic seizures I controlled at the U.S. Army Hot Zone lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland.