Fatal Dilemma: Using Clostridium botulinum as a Biological Weapon
Ever since the dawn of biotechnology, the world had to face a new dilemma: bioterrorism. Using biological agents such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc., bioterrorism attack aims to cause illness of death in people, animals, or plants as a method of warfare. Used throughout history, biological weapon serves as a pivotal role in disarming an army.
Botulism toxin, known for the most toxic substance in the biological world, has been used throughout history as a biological weapon. The bacteria Clostridium botulinum causes botulism causes botulism disease, which is a serious paralytic illness that strikes all age groups. The clinical forms of botulism include foodborne botulism, infant botulism, and wound botulism. Botulism, if left untreated, is fatal; however, even treatment with antiserum can not provide full recovery.
Botulism is rare a disease. Therefore, if anyone is diagnosed with foodborne botulism, investigation of food supply must be carried out promptly; for investigation of the botulism-diagnosed-individual's surrounding is the only method of detecting a potential bioterrorism attack.
With the continuous advancements in biomedicine follows a continuous proliferation of bioterrorism, which uses biological agents for malicious purposes (Anderson 2). More specifically, bioterrorism is a method of terrorism that intentionally releases or disseminates biological weapons that may be in natural occurring or human-modified form (Botulism- Definition). Although bioterrorism is considered as a recent dilemma, the use of biological weapon predates recorded history, during the ancient times where biological toxins were extracted from plants and animals and ap...
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Objective data are observable and measurable. This information is usually obtained through the senses as sight, smell, hearing and touch, during the physical examination of the patient. During Mary was assessed, this is the objective data: symmetrical abdomen, bowel sounds in all quadrants, tender to palpation in the lower quadrants, guarding, skin is warm and moist and her lips and mucous membranes are dry.
As stated in Chan-Tack and Bartlett’s article Botulism, “The incidence of foodborne botulism is approximately 24 cases per year. The incidence of wound botulism is 3 cases per year. The incidence of infant botulism is 71 cases per year, with a mean age of 3 months.” (2010). In addition, in merely fifteen percent of the Clostridium botulinium outbreaks are the toxin type undetermined. The first case descriptions of botulism were reported by Dr. Justinus Kerner, a German physician, in 1822. He had conducted experiments on himself and laboratory animals, which gave him this case findings (Taillac, & Kim, 2010).
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Botulism is a rare but very serious paralytic illness that is caused by the botulinum toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. C. botulinum is a gram positive, anaerobic, spore forming bacterium that is naturally occurring in soil. Botulism dates back to the eighteenth century when the first food borne botulism was documented. During this time many people were doing home fermented sausages and this was thought to be the cause of botulism. This is how the toxin got its name since “Botulism” in Latin comes from “botulus” which means sausage. E. van Ermengen was the first to discover the microbe in 1897 after there was a food borne outbreak in Ellezelles, Belgium. To date there are six forms of botulism but only two forms were known until the twentieth century which were food borne and wound botulism. The first type of botulism is food borne which is a result of ingesting food that contains the pre-form toxin. Some foods that this typically occurs in are home canned vegetables, cured pork and ham and smoked or raw fish. Wound botulism is the result of C. botulinum spores growing in a contaminated wound with in vivo production. Most people that get wound botulism usually have deep and contained avascular areas and many people also had compound fractures. Wound botulism is on the rise in the U.S. because of the use of illicit drugs, “the majority were linked to injectable drug use, particularly with so-called ‘black tar heroin’ and others with nasal or sinus lesions due to chronic cocaine sniffing.” (CDC website) Another form of botulism is infant botulism. This is caused from the endogenous production of toxin germinating spores of C. botulinum in the intestines of the infants. Also feeding an infant...
still a factor that continuously infects humans. In Foodborne Diseases, it says that “They [Salmonell...
Pita, R. (2009). Toxin weapons: From World War I to jihadi terrorism. Toxin Reviews, 28(4), 219-237. doi:10.3109/1556950903246136
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In August 1945, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When she began writing Silent Spring in the 1950s, Carson was acutely aware of the short and long term impacts of these events (Carson, 1962). As a naturalist and scientists, she worried about the long term effects of nuclear fallout and the misuse of pesticides. Her work for the U.S. Department of Fisheries gave her unique insight into the rapid ecological system changes due to pesticide use and our own culpability in creating the insect and pest problem to begin with (Biography, 2011).
Pita, R. (2009). Toxin weapons: From World War I to jihadi terrorism. Toxin Reviews, 28(4), 219-237. doi:10.3109/1556950903246136
The third weakness is the fact that food tests, inspections, and the detection of contaminants are taken seriously only after an outbreak of some food-borne diseases, food poisoning, or deaths. The increase in the number of food establishments or outlets such as cold stores, hypermarkets, and supermarkets reported by the Public Health Director has also made inspection and control mo...
In conclusion, it is clear that a biological weapon is wrong. When Saddam Hussein threatened to turn the Persian Gulf War into “the mother of all wars” the world shook with the possible implications. The United States managed to divert the course of the war such as this did not happen. In other situation these results have not been as successful, unfortunately, and many people have suffered and died. I hope that civilization is moving towards total illumination of biological weaponry.
Food safety is an increasingly important public health issue. Governments all over the world are intensifying their efforts to improve food safety. Food borne illnesses are diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food. “In industrialized countries, the percentage of people suffering from food borne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30%. In the United States of America, for example, around 76 million cases of food borne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.” (Geneva 2)