Welcome Back!

This is an awfully interesting topic. I had tried to take this topic up for a Trinity exam however that plan failed. Maybe some other day, perhaps. I must say, I did enjoy reading about this subject.

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COVID-19, our very own SARS-COV 2, which sounds more like a movie than a virus. The coronavirus that conquered the world came from a thumb-sized bat tucked inside a remote Chinese cave, causing the pandemic. Causing hundreds of lives to be lost to a factor that humans couldn’t control.

That is general knowledge, but let me introduce something. Let’s imagine somewhere, along another time or dimension, this disease wasn’t brought by an animal, on the contrary, it was brought by us humans, to end those of our own kind, and to wipe out those who stand in our way. To watch them gasp for breath under our feet, begging for a chance, a chance to join those who survive, join those who orchestrated their death, a dull latch of hope that they will never receive.

What is this? What is this inhumane thing you have just heard? Why would humans introduce such a dangerous virus, themselves, even when it was designed to kill their own? Does it even exist? It does sound like something out of a movie, many movies have used such plotlines to structure their stages.

The intentional release or threat of release of biological agents, for example, viruses, bacteria, fungi or their toxins, in order to cause disease or death among the human population or food crops and livestock to terrorize a civilian population or manipulate the government in the present scenario of increased terrorist activity has become a real possibility. 

It does exist, and it goes by the name bioterrorism.

I think you have heard of this, somewhere in the back of your mind this word is familiar. Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Why was such a word stuck at the back of my mind, and still didn’t cause me any unrest until I saw it as a topic I would speak about today? I mean, everyone’s so concerned about physical security, they fall blind to the other threats that exist, just so they can sleep at night.

I don’t blame anyone for doing this, after all, it’s natural for humans to avoid things they fear or don’t necessarily like. However, I am forced to bring this to your attention.

 The use of biological weapons has been reported as early as the sixth century B.C. when contamination of water supply with the fungus Claviceps purpurea (rye ergot) by the Assyrians had been reported. The hurling of the dead bodies of plague victims over the walls of the city of Kaffa by the Tartar army in 1346 and the spreading of smallpox via contaminated blankets by the British to the Native American population loyal to the French in 1767 are the most frequently cited episodes of poisoning. 

Bioterrorist attacks could be covert or announced and caused by virtually any pathogenic microorganism. Bioterrorist agents of major concern have been categorized as A, B and C based on the priority of the agents to pose a risk to national security and the ease with which they can be disseminated. The five phases of activities in dealing with a bioterrorist attack are the preparedness phase, early warning phase, notification phase, response phase and recovery phase.

The threat of biological warfare seems remote to most industrialized and developing nations. However, the threat of bioterrorism, in which biological agents are used by extremists as weapons against civilian populations, is a matter of concern. Nations and dissident groups exist that have both the motivation and access to skills to selectively cultivate some of the most dangerous pathogens and to deploy them as agents in acts of terrorism. Although a bioterrorist attack is difficult to predict, the consequences of a successful attack could be devastating and cannot be ignored.

Bioterrorism and its effects can impose heavy demands on the public health care system which will be called upon to handle the consequences. An effective public health care system with strong disease surveillance, rapid epidemiological and laboratory investigation, efficient medical management, information, education and communication (IEC) will be required to counter any act of covert or overt bioterrorist attack.

However fictional this may seem, it’s real and it’s our job as the people of today to make sure such biotechnology is not used like this, but to make lives brighter.