Chapter 62 - Bacterial protein toxins as biological weapons

Abstract

Since antiquity, the war fighters and designers of battlefield tactics seized upon nature's disease-causing microbes and viruses and used them as weapons to help defeat their enemies in war. The use of biological agents as weapons against humanity took on new meaning before and during World War II when the Imperial Japanese Army under General Shiro Ishii initiated a massive program to develop, test, and employ biological warfare weapons. Biological weapons hold many attractions for terrorists, be they renegade groups or nation states, and it is extraordinarily difficult to control their development, manufacture, and delivery. However, there are obvious challenges to the production and successful use of biologicalweapons whether they are viruses, bacteria, rickettsia, or biological toxins. This chapter focuses on bacterial protein toxins and examines their potential as biological weapons. Biological toxins are molecules produced by living organisms that are poisonous to other species, such as humans. Toxins are not especially effective biological warfare weapons when delivered by aerosols in open-field battlefield situations. However, there are scenarios in which certain toxins could have a catastrophic impact on the public health if used in a bioterrorist attack. There are specific features of toxin weapons that make some better weapons than others.