Saturday, January 09, 1999
Types of chemical and biological weapons
People at war have resorted to biochemical weapons throughout history, from tribal warriors smearing spear-tips with poison to Scud missiles armed with nerve gas warheads. Modern technology has made sophisticated biochemical weapons increasingly available to individuals and small groups.
Here are brief descriptions of several types of chemical and biological agents:
• Nerve agents: A Japanese cult used sarin gas in 1985 to kill a dozen people and injure 5,500 in a Tokyo subway. Iraq also used sarin gas in the 1980s during a war with Iran. The U.S. produced stockpiles of these agents, but has been destroying them in recent years. Inhaled as a vapor or absorbed via droplets splashed on the skin, sarin gas causes an extremely rapid cascade of events from vomiting to convulsions to paralysis. Loss of consciousness can occur within a minute. Death can occur minutes later. U.S. troops sometimes carry atropine injectors that can block the effects of nerve gas, if the injectors are used quickly enough.
Other examples: VX, Tabun, and Soman.
• Blister agents: The best-known type of weapon in this category is mustard gas, which was used extensively in World War I, in the 1960s between Egypt and Yemen, and in the 1980s by Iraq against its Kurdish rebels. In a typical case, extremely painful blisters develop four to eight hours after exposure, damaging the skin, eyes and lungs. At high enough doses, death can occur from respiratory failure, especially when left untreated. But even in World War I, most mustard gas victims who got medical treatment survived.
Other examples: phosgene oxime, Lewisite.
• Blood agents: The French used 4,000 tons of cyanide gas in World War I. The U.S. built a stockpile of this agent during World War II, but later destroyed the weapons. If a victim breathes a large enough dose, death can occur within six to eight minutes.
Other examples: hydrogen cyanide, cyanogen chloride.
• Bacterial agents: The most feared example in this class is anthrax. Some experts estimate that 220 pounds of anthrax spread across a city the size of Washington D.C. could kill 1 million to 3 million people. A disease that normally affects livestock, anthrax bacteria can be converted into a spore form that creates a deadly disease in humans. Early symptoms, which can last one to six days, resemble the flu. But once the bugs multiply to large enough numbers, the body goes into shock. Death can occur in 24 to 36 hours. Caught early enough, known forms of anthrax can be treated with high doses of penicillin and other antibiotics. A vaccine also exists, and has been given to many U.S. troops. Anthrax generally does not spread among people, but other bacterial agents such as bubonic plague certainly can.
Other examples: Bubonic plague, tularemia, brucellosis, cholera.
• Viral agents: The Ebola virus, one of the world's deadliest, made worldwide headlines in 1995 when an outbreak in Kikwit, Zaire, killed 245 of 316 people infected. People contract Ebola by touching the blood or other bodily fluids from an infected person or animal. The disease is the worst of a group called hemorrhagic fevers, which cause victims to bleed uncontrollably. The first signs — fever, vomiting and diarrhea — appear two to 21 days after exposure. Victims can die in less than a week.
The smallpox virus, once a global scourge, exists now primarily in medical research labs and secret weapons programs. Americans routinely got smallpox vaccines as recently as the 1980s, but not anymore. U.S. experts fear Russia still has at least some of the smallpox weapons developed by the Soviet Union.
Others: Lassa fever, yellow fever, dengue fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE).
• Toxic agents: This group includes an assortment of deadly substances, such as botulin toxin, which can be eaten in food, absorbed as a liquid or inhaled as a vapor. Symptoms appear in six to 48 hours. Death often follows within three to eight days.
Others: Ricin, batrachotoxin, saxitoxin.
Accident victim goes home after 'remarkable' recovery
Icy roads cause accidents
City vs. snow: Calling all trucks
Safety, money are top issues in school closings
Tristate terrorism: What it?
Types of chemical and biological weapons
Parting shot costs fire official
Rape suspect's mother sent to jail
Defendant acquitted of raping teen
Man kills co-worker, holds hostages
Mt. McKinley name safe for this session
Brave music lovers warmly rewarded
Clermont Co. moving creek to save bridge
Dearborn Co. gets some housing help
Good news: A life restored and class acts
N.Ky. has mixed success in legislative panels
New mayor finds rocky road
Ohio 4 tract seen as top jail site
Raga becomes trustee president
Split school district discouraged
TRISTATE DIGEST
West Clermont boosts academic time
