Prion/virus the danger of biological weapons

Living Weapons: Biological Weapons and International Security

In the summer of 1996, as a (much younger) Army infectious disease physician, I headed off to a new assignment with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland. It was a heady time to be entering the niche fi eld of biodefense. Five years before the events of 9/11 and the subsequent “Amerithrax” attacks would become an integral part of the ...

Confronting Biological Weapons

The New World was ravaged by smallpox for several centuries after the Spanish conquest. Jenner’s discovery of the smallpox vaccine made possible the prevention and control of smallpox epidemics. In response to a large outbreak of smallpox in the Spanish colonies, King Charles IV appointed Francisco Xavier de Balmis to lead an expedition that would introduce Jenner’s vaccine to these colonies. D...

Potential biological weapons threats.

The list of agents that could pose the greatest public health risk in the event of a bioterrorist attack is short. However, although short, the list includes agents that, if acquired and properly disseminated, could cause a difficult public health challenge in terms of our ability to limit the numbers of casualties and control the damage to our cities and nation. The use of biological weapons h...

Subtle Biological Weapons

Controlling the Proliferation of Biological Weapons

Brad Roberts is a Research Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., where he also serves as Editor of The Washington Quarterly. His recent publications include Biological Weapons: Weapons of the Future? and Ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention. An earlier version of this article was presented to a symposium of the American Bar Association's Committee ...