Potential Agents of Bioterrorism: Historical Perspective and an Overview

A quote from Hans Zinser, a bacteriologist and historian during the Great Depression in the United States, puts the concept of “terror associated with biological agents” in the best possible perspective [1]. He said “Infectious disease is one of the great tragedies of living things – the struggle for existence between different forms of life ... incessantly the pitiless war goes on, without quarter or armistice – a nationalism of species against species.” What he seemed to convey in this quote is the fact that mankind will never be able to completely protect itself against many of the biological agents coexisting in nature. The interaction between humans and disease-causing pathogens in nature is constant, with one or the other winning at all times and the course of human history has been altered frequently by the capability of infectious agents to spread and cross national borders. The epidemics and pandemics of infectious diseases caused by communicable agents have swept unchecked across continents claiming more lives and creating more social devastation than wars. Examples include [2]: 1. diseases like smallpox, measles, plague, typhoid, and influenza causing 95% of deaths in pre-Columbian native American populations; 2. the death of 25 million Europeans (a quarter of the population) caused by plague in the 14th century; and 3. more than 21 million deaths because of the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919.