Q14 if you were the scientific advisor to a friendly government, fighting Dr Evil (fictional leader with plans for world domination), which single bioweapon would you recommend your government be most worried about?
Answered by Tracey Archer
Clostridium botulinium and botulism has incredible potency can be injested by contaminated food or water
- not always able to detect
- c.botulinim spores in soil or marine sediments contaminate meats, vegetables and fish
- spores are relatively heat resistant, they survive food processing abd acturally germinate when placed in canned foods and with the growing economic crisis who is to say that the furure wont be a bunch of canned foods
- lethal dose can be as little as a nibble can descise itself in food without effecting smell or taste the natural defence systems of the human body,
- it would only take 0.4kg could kill the earthly population.
- the toxin given off causes neurotoxins the toxin prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine therby interfering with neurotransmission at the peripheral cholinergic synapse. Therefore stop smuscle contractingresulting in faccid peralysis even thopugh bioweapons are not that common today the use of such weapons is increasing and the children of the futire face some rough times if this is the kind of bioweapon that may be used in the future, patients generally come to paralysis and respiratory failure. Effective against everyone even babies therefore would be easy to wipe out an entire population or race.
- Seven types (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) of botulism are recognized, based on the antigenic specificity of the toxin produced by each strain. Types A, B, E and F cause human botulism. Types C and D cause most cases of botulism in animals
- The organism and its spores are widely distributed in nature. They occur in both cultivated and forest soils, bottom sediments of streams, lakes, and coastal waters, and in the intestinal tracts of fish and mammals, and in the gills and viscera of crabs and other shellfish.
- The incidence of the disease is low, but the mortality rate is high if not treated immediately and properly. There are generally between 10 to 30 outbreaks a year in the United States. Some cases of botulism may go undiagnosed because symptoms are transient or mild, or misdiagnosed as Guillain-Barre syndrome.therefore would be a good bioweapon
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I would have to agree that the C.Botulinium may be one of the greatest threats to man kind if intentionally used to wipe out a population and many other species. In terms of distribution, the toxin may be readily aerosolised and spread throughout public areas.
The Botulinium toxin may be easily deployed with the help of balloons that move with the wind and may be remotely deployed. The deadly nerve gasses may diffuse through the atmosphere and kill an insurmountable number of people.
Since the toxin is so deadly and may affect animals rather than just simply humans, the toxin must be used strategically.
German concentration camps throughout WW2 experimented with such nerve gas toxins that effectively wiped out many prisoners of war.
The implications for this may be that the whole population may respond by either staying indoors or wearing face-masks supplied with oxygen. As the death toll rises, fear and mass hysteria upsurges and the situation becomes more hopeless; society may collapse. Without a unifying society, people may disperse themselves in small satellite groups, or even peaceful societies. This may present an opportunity for Dr Evil to proceed with plans to move ground forces into an area to capture the survivors, and neutralise any residual 'resistance'.
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