Portal:Biological warfare

Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Science History of science    Philosophy of science    Systems science    Mathematics    Biology    Chemistry    Physics    Earth sciences    Technology     War and the military Military of  Ancient Rome  Australia Bangladesh Canada Germany  Greece Pakistan Turkey United Kingdom (British Army Royal Air Force Royal Navy) United States ( Army Marine Corps Navy Air Force Coast Guard) … Military history of  Africa France the Ottoman Empire …… American Civil War American Revolutionary War Cold War Crusades Italian Wars Napoleonic Wars War of 1812 World War I World War II …… Battleships Biological warfare Submarine Tank Weapons of mass destruction …… NATO  Terrorism Biodefense Biological warfare (BW), also known as germ warfare, is the use of pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, other disease-causing biological agents, or the toxins produced by them as biological weapons (or bioweapons). There is a clear overlap between biological warfare and chemical warfare, as the use of toxins produced by living organisms is considered under the provisions of both the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Toxins, which are of organic origin, are often called "midspectrum agents". A biological weapon may be intended to kill, incapacitate, or seriously impair a person, group of people, or even an entire population. It may also be defined as the material or defense against such employment. Biological warfare is a military technique that can be used by nation-states or non-national groups. In the latter case, or if a nation-state uses it clandestinely, it may also be considered bioterrorism.The Geneva convention restricts the use of biological and chemical weapons as it is against human rights to use them. More about Biological warfare... M125 bomblet The M125 bomblet was a U.S. chemical sub-munition designed to deliver the nerve agent sarin. It was brought into service in 1954 with the M34 cluster bomb as part of the first U.S. air-delivered nerve agent weapon. The M125 bomblet was a sub-munition of the M34 cluster bomb, which was first brought into regular service by the United States Army in 1954. In development the M125 was known as the E54R6 bomblet (shortened to E54). The M34 and its payload of M125s was the first air-delivered nerve agent weapon in the U.S. chemical arsenal. Later, the Chemical Corps developed chemical-biological warheads for multiple missile systems including, Matador, Rascal, Snark, and Navaho missiles. These warheads incorporated the M125 bomblet and the M114 bomblet. Over 21,000 of the M125 containing M34 bombs were destroyed at Rocky Mountain Arsenal in 1976. The term "weapon of mass destruction" usually refers to nuclear, radiological, biological, or chemical weapons. A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) or (WoMD) is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures (e.g. buildings), natural structures (e.g. mountains), or the biosphere in general. The scope and application of the term has evolved and been disputed, often signifying more politically than technically. Coined in reference to aerial bombing with chemical explosives, it has come to distinguish large-scale weaponry of other technologies, such as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear. More anniversaries... Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by a eukaryotic protist of the genus Plasmodium. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria, killing between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development. Five species of the plasmodium parasite can infect humans; the most serious forms of the disease are caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae causes milder disease in humans that is not generally fatal. A fifth species, Plasmodium knowlesi, is a zoonosis that causes malaria in macaques but can also infect humans. Malaria is naturally transmitted by the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. When a mosquito bites an infected person, a small amount of blood is taken, which contains malaria parasites. These develop within the mosquito and about one week later, when the mosquito takes its next blood meal, the parasites are injected into the person being bitten with the mosquito's saliva. After a period of between 2 weeks and several months (occasionally years) spent in the liver, the malaria parasites start to multiply within red blood cells, causing symptoms that include fever and headache. In severe cases the disease worsens leading to coma, and death. A wide variety of antimalarial drugs are available to treat malaria. In the last 5 years treatment of P. falciparum infections in endemic countries has been transformed by the use of combinations of drugs containing an artemisinin derivative. Severe malaria is treated with intravenous or intramuscular quinine or, increasingly, the artemisinin derivative artesunate. Several drugs are also available to prevent malaria in travellers to malaria-endemic countries (prophylaxis). Resistance has developed to several antimalarial drugs, most notably chloroquine. ...that the fungus Magnaporthe grisea (pictured) destroys enough rice to feed more than 60 million people annually and was prepared as an anti-plant biological weapon during World War II? ... that the M143 bomblet held the equivalent of 300 million lethal doses of anthrax? ▼ Biological warfare ► Bioterrorism ► Biological weapons Parent projects Biology Military history Related projects Crime Terrorism Task forces Military technology and engineering task force Weaponry task force What are WikiProjects? Biological warfare (Wikipedia book) Concepts Bacteria Biocontainment Biological hazard Bioterrorism Decontamination Entomological warfare Infectious disease Virus Toxin Terrorism Biological agents Anthrax Avian influenza Botulinum toxin Brucellosis Burkholderia pseudomallei Chlamydophila psittaci Coxiella burnetii Ebola Eastern equine encephalitis virus Western equine encephalitis virus Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus Foodborne illness Fungi Glanders Hantavirus Henipavirus Legionnaires' disease Marburg virus Mold Plague Ricin Salmonella enterica Salmonellosis Salmonella typhi Smallpox Staphylococcus Tularemia Typhus Viral hemorrhagic fever Modern bioterrorist incidents 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack 2001 anthrax attacks 2003 ricin letters Prevention and response Australia Group Center for Biosecurity Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Defense Threat Reduction Agency European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Global Health Security Initiative Health Threat Unit Laboratory Response Network National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Template:/box-footer Featured articles: Featured class articles, Biology, Featured class articles, Crime, Featured class articles, Military history, Featured class articles, Terrorism Join a related WikiProject: Biology, Crime, Military history, Terrorism Deletion discussions: listed at Crime, Military, Science, Terrorism Rate the Unassessed articles in WikiProjects: Biology, Crime, Military history, Terrorism Requested articles: Toxicological profile, Journal of Forensic Science, Forensic serology Stubs: Biology, Crime, Military history, Terrorism See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Open tasks Biology Biotechnology Criminal justice Medicine Molecular and Cellular Biology Weapons of mass destruction War What are portals? 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