A COMPLETE LIST OF BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL AGENTS USED IN BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WARFARE

As stated in the MMWR [April 21, 2000 / 49(RR04);1-14] "The public health infrastructure must be prepared to prevent illness and injury that would result from biological and chemical terrorism, especially a covert terrorist attack. As with emerging infectious diseases, early detection and control of biological and chemical attacks depends on a strong and flexible public health system at the local, state and federal levels. In addition, primary health-care providers must be vigilant because they will probably be the first to observe and report unusual illness or injuries." There are approximately 75 agents, the most important/most dangerous being those marked with an [*]:

I. BIOLOGICAL DISEASES/AGENTS:

A. Category A:
1. Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)- Cutaneous, Gastro-Intestinal & Pneumonic*
2. Clostridium botulinum toxin (Botulism) - Gastro-intestinal & inhalational*
3. Yersinia pestis (Plague) - Pneumonic*
4. Variola major (Smallpox)*
5. Francisella tularensis (Tularemia)*
6. Viral hemorrhagic fever - VHF*

B. Category B:
1. Coxiella Burnetti (Q Fever)
2. Brucella species (Brucellosis)*
3. Burkholderia mallei (Glanders)
4. Ricin toxin from Ricinus communis (castor beans)
5. Epsilon toxin of Clostridium perfringens
6. Staphylococcus Enterotoxin B

C. Category C:
1. Nipah virus
2. Hantaviruses
3. Tickborne Hemorrhagic Fever viruses
4. Tickborne Encephalitis viruses
5. Yellow fever
6. Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis

II. CHEMICAL AGENTS:

A. Blister / Vesicants:
1. Distilled Mustard (HD)*
2. Lewisite (L)*
3. Mustard Gas (H)*
4. Nitrogen Mustard (HN-2)*
5. Phosgene Oxime (CX)*
6. Ethyldichloroarsine (ED)
7. Lewisite 1 (L-1)
8. Lewisite 1 (L-2)
9. Lewisite 1 (L-3)
10.Methyldichloroarsine (MD)
11.Mustard/Lewisite (HL)
12.Mustard/T
13.Nitrogen Mustard (HN-1)
14.Nitrogen Mustard (HN-3)
15.Phenodichloroarsine (PD)
16.Sesqui Mustard

B. Blood:
1. Arsine (SA)*
2. Cyanogen Chloride (CK)*
3. Hydrogen Chloride*
4. Hydrogen Cyanide (AC)*

C. Choking/Lung / Pulmonary Damaging
1. Chlorine (CL)*
2. Diphosgene (DP)
3. Nitrogen Oxide (NO)*
4. Perflurorisobutylene (PHIB)*
5. Phosgene (CG)*
6. Red Phosphorous (RP)
7. Sulfur Trioxide-Chlorosulfonic Acid (FS)*
8. Teflon and Perflurorisobutylene (PHIB)
9. Titanium Tetrachloride (FM)*
10.Zinc Oxide (HC)

D. Incapacitating Agents:
1. Agent 15
2. BZ
3. Canniboids
4. Fentanyls
5. LSD
6. Phenothiazines

E. Nerve Agents:
1. Cyclohexyl Sarin (GF)*
2. GE
3. Sarin (GB)*
4. Soman (GD)*
5. Tabun (GA)*
6. VE
7. VG
8. V-Gas
9. VM
10.VX*

F. Riot Control/Tear:
1. Bromobenzylcyanide (CA)
2. Chloroacetophenone (CN)
3. Chloropicrin (PS)
4. CNB - (CN in Benzene and Carbon Tetrachloride)
5. CNC - (CN in Chloroform)
6. CNS - (CN and Chloropicrin in Chloroform)
7. CR
8. CS

G. Vomiting Agents:
1. Adamsite (DM)
2. Diphenylchloroarsine (DA)
3. Diphenylcyanoarsine (DC)
H. Other Industrial Chemicals.

CDC'S RECOMMENDATION FOR POST-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS TO B. ANTHRACIS IN FLORIDA

A. Adult males and non-pregnant females (ages 18-65 yrs):

1. Ciprofloxacin 500mg orally twice a day for 60 days, or;

2. Doxycycline 100mg orally twice a day for 60 days, or;

3. Amoxicillin 500mg orally three times a day for 60 days [*Amoxicillin is preferred in pregnant adult females and in children].

B. Dosage for Children < 9 yrs:

1. Amoxicillin 80mg/kg/day orally, divided into three doses a day for 60 days, or;

2. Ciprofloxacin 10-15mg/kg/day orally, divided into two doses a day for 60 days, or;

3. Doxycycline 5mg/kg/day orally, divided into two doses a day for 60 days.

BIO-WARFARE (BW) ADVISORY

1. Avoid malls and shopping centers with high human traffic.

2. Use gloves to handle mail/parcels/newspapers/magazines and never shake suspicious these items in front of your face.

3. Do not open mail nor parcels immediately upon arrival, especially from unknown senders.

4. Wash hands and shower often, especially before going to bed.

5. Wash and change clothes often, and never leave used clothes inside your bedroom.

6. Eat at home and avoid eating out - Pay attention to what/where you eat and drink.

ONE HUNDRED KILOGRAMS OF ANTHRAX SPORES COULD WIPE OUT AN ENTIRE CITY IN ONE GO ["New Scientist"]

It's only a matter of time before bioterrorists strike.

Since the end of the Cold War, the Western world has been experiencing an unaccustomed respite from the fears of large scale violence. No longer do two superpowers appear ready to bury civilisation under a barrage of nuclear missiles. Strategic bombers, once perpetually on patrol, are parked in their hangars. The threat of Armageddon has faded. We ought to be safer.

Safer, perhaps, but not safe. Military analysts warn that we should now be on our guard against a new type of savagery that kills civilians but spares their homes and offices, strikes without warning, and against which there may be no defence. What is more, although this threat requires no radically new technology, the laboratories of academia and the biotech industry indirectly contribute to its development. The threat is bioterrorism.

A few hundred kilograms of a properly "weaponised" bacterial preparation, carefully dried and milled to a precise particle size, has the potential to wipe out the inhabitants of an entire city in a single strike. A nuclear bomb in the hands of a deranged person has long been the stuff of nightmares, but the materials needed to make such a device are hard to obtain and exceedingly tricky to assemble. Biological weapons are not nearly so difficult to manufacture. 

(Source: New Scientist).