Bioterrorism Biological Weapon Can Be Defined As Essay

Bioterrorism

Biological weapon can be defined as any kind of organism such as the bacteria, fungi or viruses, or any toxin (poisonous compounds that are produced by organisms) that can be used to kill the host or kill/injure human beings. There are varying acts of bioterrorism ranging from a hoax to actual use of these biological weapons or agents. Of late, a very significant number of countries are pursuing the ownership or possession of biological weapons and there is a growing concern among many nations that there is a possibility of terrorist groups having access to the weapons or the knowledge of making such weapons and using term to kill an individual or a population (Daniel J. Dire, 2011).

The identified bioterrorism in this case is the famous "amerithrax" or the anthrax terror that was launched in the U.S.A. In 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terror attack on America. This was in the form of letters laced with anthrax. It was actually a very keen and vigilant physician who detected the systemic anthrax and informed the authorities who immediately embarked on the investigations. Anthrax (Bacillus Anthracis) has a natural environment as the soil, the possible hosts when used as a biological weapon is human beings and domestic animals, it can be contracted through inhalation and open wounds with the evident symptoms being development of pulmonary anthrax, septicemia and flu like symptoms as the major signs.

Being that the virus can be contracted through a very simple means as inhaling the dust containing anthrax virus, it was the chosen weapon by the terrorists to propagate their acts. In the course of this attack, the FBI reported that five American lost their lives; seventeen were sickened in this incident that turned out to be one of the largest biological attacks on the U.S.A. As never seen before (FBI, 2012).

The response of the public was quite disturbing since there was a lot of anxiety that griped the general public. This emanated from the fact that there were no coordinated response efforts from the government itself. This meant that the security team received several false alarms further hampering their response. The level of confusion was further deepened by the involvement of more than 20 federal agencies having a part to play in the response. The U.S. government therefore was faced by the enormous task of managing an anxious and fearful nation, taking into account the just experienced bombings,…