BACTERIOLOGICAL WEAPONS - these are pathogenic microorganisms or their spores, viruses, bacterial toxins, infected animals, as well as their means of delivery (missiles, guided missiles, automatic balloons, aviation), intended for mass destruction of enemy manpower, farm animals, crops, as well as damage to certain types of military materials and equipment. It is a weapon of mass destruction and banned under the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

Damage biological weapons is based primarily on the use of the pathogenic properties of pathogenic microorganisms and toxic products of their vital activity.

Biological weapons are used in the form of various munitions; certain types of bacteria are used for their equipment, causing infectious diseases that take the form of epidemics. It is intended to infect people, agricultural plants and animals, as well as to contaminate food and water sources.

Ways to use bacterial agents

Ways of using biological weapons, as a rule, are:

• missile warheads
• aviation bombs
• artillery mines and shells
• packages (bags, boxes, containers) dropped from aircraft
• special devices that disperse insects from aircraft.
• sabotage methods.

In some cases, in order to spread infectious diseases, the enemy may leave contaminated household items during the retreat: clothes, food, cigarettes, etc. In this case, the disease can occur as a result of direct contact with infected items. It is also possible to deliberately leave infectious patients during the withdrawal so that they become a source of infection among the troops and the population. When ammunition filled with a bacterial formula explodes, a bacterial cloud is formed, consisting of tiny droplets of liquid or solid particles suspended in the air. The cloud, spreading along the wind, dissipates and settles on the ground, forming an infected area, the area of ​​​​which depends on the amount of the recipe, its properties and wind speed.

Application history

The use of a kind of biological weapon was known in the ancient world, when, during the siege of cities, the corpses of the dead from the plague were thrown over the fortress walls in order to cause an epidemic among the defenders. Such measures were relatively effective, since in confined spaces, with a high population density and with a noticeable lack of hygiene products, such epidemics developed very quickly. The earliest use of biological weapons dates back to the 6th century BC.

The use of biological weapons in modern history.

• 1934 - German saboteurs are accused of trying to infect the London Underground. [ source not specified 334 days], but this version is untenable, since at that time Hitler considered England as potential allies.
• 1942 - against German, Romanian and Italian units near Stalingrad (infected with tularemia through rodents). Not officially confirmed and generally doubtful. In the memoirs, it is mentioned that in the parts of the Red Army in the Stalingrad region there were also frequent cases of tularemia. There is an opinion that the Soviet command postponed the time of the counteroffensive, so that with the onset of cold weather, the mice that bred due to the large amount of food (unharvested crops) moved to human habitation and caused outbreaks of Tularemia among German soldiers, because. in Germany and other European countries, vaccination against it was not carried out, but in the USSR, where the Stalingrad region was the natural focus of this disease, it was carried out.
• 1939-1945 - Japan: Manchurian Detachment 731 against 3 thousand people - under development. As part of the tests - in combat operations in Mongolia and China. Plans have also been prepared for use in the regions of Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk, Ussuriysk, and Chita. The data obtained formed the basis of developments at the US Army bacteriological center Fort Detrick (Maryland) in exchange for protection from persecution of members of Detachment 731.

• According to some researchers, the anthrax epidemic in Sverdlovsk in April 1979 was caused by a leak from the Sverdlovsk-19 laboratory. According to the official version, the meat of infected cows became the cause of the disease. Another version is that it was an operation of the US special services.

Features of defeat by biological weapons

When affected by bacterial agents, the disease does not occur immediately, there is almost always a latent (incubation) period during which the disease does not manifest itself by external signs, and the affected person does not lose combat capability. Some diseases (plague, smallpox, cholera) can be transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person and, spreading rapidly, cause epidemics. It is quite difficult to establish the fact of the use of bacterial agents and determine the type of pathogen, since neither microbes nor toxins have any color, smell or taste, and the effect of their action can appear after a long period of time. Detection of bacterial agents is possible only through special laboratory studies, which require considerable time, and this makes it difficult to take timely measures to prevent epidemic diseases.

Modern strategic biological weapons use mixtures of viruses and bacterial spores to increase the likelihood of lethal outcomes when used, however, as a rule, strains that are not transmitted from person to person are used in order to territorially localize their impact and avoid their own losses as a result.

Biological weapons are weapons of mass destruction, their damaging effect is based on the use of a variety of pathogens that are able to cause mass diseases and lead to the death of people, plants and animals. Some classifications include biological weapons and insect pests that can cause serious damage to agricultural crops of the enemy state (locust, Colorado potato beetle, etc.). Previously, one could often come across the term bacteriological weapon, but it did not fully reflect the whole essence of this type of weapon, since the bacteria themselves constituted only one of the groups of living beings that could be used to conduct biological warfare.

Ban

Biological weapons were banned under a document that entered into force on March 26, 1975.

As of January 2012, 165 states are parties to the Biological Weapons Convention.

The main prohibiting document: “Conventions on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons, as well as Toxins and Their Destruction (Geneva, 1972). The first attempt at a ban was made back in 1925, we are talking about the “Geneva Protocol”, which entered into force on February 8, 1928.

Subject of the ban: microbes and other biological agents, as well as toxins, regardless of their origin or production methods, types and quantities that are not intended for prevention, protection and other peaceful purposes, as well as ammunition that is intended to deliver these agents or toxins to enemy during armed conflicts.

Biological weapons

Biological weapons pose a danger to humans, animals and plants. Bacteria, viruses, fungi, rickettsia, bacterial toxins can be used as pathogens or toxins. There is the possibility of using prions (as a genetic weapon). At the same time, if we consider war as a set of actions aimed at suppressing the enemy's economy, then insects that are able to effectively and quickly destroy crops can also be classified as biological weapons.

Biological weapons are inextricably linked with technical means of application and means of delivery. The technical means of application include such means that allow for the safe transportation, storage and conversion of biological agents (destructible containers, capsules, cassettes, aerial bombs, sprayers and pouring aviation devices) into a combat state. Biological weapons delivery vehicles include combat vehicles that ensure the delivery of technical means to enemy targets (ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, shells). This also includes groups of saboteurs who can deliver containers with biological weapons to the area of ​​application.

Biological weapons have the following features of the damaging effect:

High efficiency of using biological agents;
- the difficulty of timely detection of biological contamination;
- the presence of a latent (incubation) period of action, which leads to an increase in the secrecy of the use of biological weapons, but at the same time reduces its tactical effectiveness, since it does not allow immediate incapacitation;
- a wide variety of biological agents (BS);
- the duration of the damaging effect, which is due to the resistance of some types of BS to the external environment;
- the flexibility of the damaging effect (the presence of pathogens temporarily incapacitating and deadly);
- the ability of some types of BS to epidemic spread, which appears as a result of the use of pathogens that are able to be transmitted from a sick person to a healthy one;
- selectivity of action, which is manifested in the fact that some types of BS affect only people, others - animals, and still others - both people and animals (sap, anthrax, brucellosis);
- the ability of biological weapons in the form of aerosols to penetrate into non-pressurized premises, engineering structures and objects of military equipment.

Experts usually attribute the advantages of biological weapons to the availability and low cost of production, as well as the possibility of large-scale epidemics of dangerous infectious diseases appearing in the enemy’s army and among its civilian population, which can sow panic and fear everywhere, as well as reduce the combat capability of army units and disorganize the work of the rear.

The beginning of the use of biological weapons is usually attributed to the ancient world. So in 1500 BC. the Hittites in Asia Minor appreciated the power of a contagious disease and began to send a plague to enemy lands. In those years, the scheme of infection was very simple: they took sick people and sent them to the camp of the enemy. For these purposes, the Hittites used people who were sick with tularemia. In the Middle Ages, the technology received some improvement: the corpses of dead people or animals from some terrible disease (usually from the plague) were thrown through the walls into the besieged city with the help of various throwing weapons. An epidemic could break out inside the city, in which the defenders died in batches, and the survivors were seized by real panic.

One fairly well-known case, which occurred in 1763, remains controversial. According to one version, the British gave the Native American tribe handkerchiefs and blankets that were previously used by patients with smallpox. It is not known whether this attack was planned in advance (then this is a real case of using BO) or it happened by accident. In any case, according to one version, a real epidemic arose among the Indians, which claimed hundreds of lives and almost completely undermined the combat capability of the tribe.

Some historians even believe that the famous 10 biblical plagues that Moses "summoned" against the Egyptians may have been campaigns of a certain biological warfare, and not divine attacks at all. Many years have passed since then, and human advances in the field of medicine have led to a significant improvement in understanding the actions of harmful pathogens and how the human immune system is able to fight them. However, it was a double-edged sword. Science has given us modern treatments and vaccinations, but it has also led to the further militarization of some of the most destructive biological "agents" on Earth.

The first half of the 20th century was marked by the use of biological weapons by both the Germans and the Japanese, both countries used anthrax. Later it began to be used in the USA, Russia and Great Britain. Even during the First World War, the Germans tried to provoke an anthrax epidemic among the horses of the countries of their opponents, but they failed to do so. After the signing of the so-called Geneva Protocol in 1925, it became more difficult to develop biological weapons.

However, the protocol did not stop everyone. So in Japan, a whole special unit, the secret squad 731, experimented with biological weapons during the Second World War. It is reliably known that during the war years, the specialists of this unit purposefully and quite successfully infected the population of China with bubonic plague, from which a total of about 400 thousand people died . And Nazi Germany was engaged in the mass distribution of malaria carriers in the Pontic swamps in Italy, the loss of allies from malaria reached about 100 thousand people.

From all this it follows that biological weapons are a simple, effective and ancient way to destroy the masses of people. However, such weapons also have very serious drawbacks, which significantly limit the possibility of combat use. A very big minus of such weapons is that pathogens of dangerous diseases are not amenable to any "training". Bacteria and viruses cannot be forced to distinguish between self and non-self. Breaking free, they harm all living things in their path indiscriminately. Moreover, they can start the process of mutation, and predicting these changes is very difficult, and sometimes simply impossible. Therefore, even pre-prepared antidotes may become ineffective against mutated samples. Viruses are the most susceptible to mutations, it is enough to remember that vaccines against HIV infection have not yet been created, not to mention the fact that from time to time humanity experiences problems with the treatment of ordinary influenza.

Currently, protection against biological weapons is reduced to two large groups of special measures. The first of these are preventive in nature. Preventive actions include vaccinations for military personnel, the population and farm animals, the development of means for early detection of BW and sanitary and epidemiological surveillance. The second activity is therapeutic. These include emergency prevention after the discovery of the use of biological weapons, specialized assistance to the sick and their isolation.

Simulation of situations and exercises have repeatedly proved the fact that states with more or less developed medicine can cope with the consequences of currently known types of BW. But the history of the same flu every year proves the opposite to us. In the event that someone manages to create a weapon based on this very common virus, the end of the world can become a much more real event than many people think.

To date, biological weapons can be used:

Bacteria - causative agents of anthrax, plague, cholera, brucellosis, tularemia, etc.;
- viruses - causative agents of tick-borne encephalitis, smallpox, Ebola and Marburg fever, etc.;
- rickettsia - the causative agents of fever of the Rocky Mountains, typhus, Q fever, etc.;
- fungi - causative agents of histoplasmosis and nocardiosis;
- botulinum toxin and other bacterial toxins.

For the successful spread of biological weapons can be used:

Artillery shells and mines, aerial bombs and aerosol generators, long-range and short-range missiles, as well as any unmanned attack vehicles carrying biological weapons;
- aviation bombs or special containers stuffed with infected arthropods;
- a variety of ground vehicles and equipment for air pollution;
- special equipment and various devices for sabotage contamination of air, water in enclosed spaces, food, as well as for the spread of infected rodents and arthropods.

It is the use of mosquitoes, flies, fleas, ticks, and lice artificially infected with bacteria and viruses that seems to be an almost win-win option. At the same time, these carriers can retain the ability to transmit the pathogen to people virtually throughout their lives. And their life expectancy can range from several days or weeks (flies, mosquitoes, lice) to several years (ticks, fleas).

Biological terrorism

In the post-war period, biological weapons were not used during large-scale conflicts. But at the same time, terrorist organizations began to be very actively interested in him. Thus, since 1916, at least 11 cases of planning or committing terrorist attacks using biological weapons have been documented. The most famous example is the anthrax mailing in the United States in 2001, when five people died from the letters.

Today, biological weapons are most reminiscent of a genie from a fairy tale that was locked in a bottle. However, sooner or later, the simplification of technologies for the production of biological weapons can lead to the loss of control over them and put humanity in front of another threat to its security. The development of chemical and, later, nuclear weapons led to the fact that almost all countries of the world refused to continue funding work on the creation of new types of biological weapons, which continued for decades. Thus, the technological developments and scientific data that have been accumulated during this time turned out to be, as it were, “suspended in the air”.

On the other hand, work that is aimed at creating means of protection against dangerous infections has never stopped. They are conducted at the global level, while research centers receive decent amounts of funding for this purpose. The epidemiological threat persists today throughout the world, which means that even in undeveloped and poor countries there are necessarily sanitary and epidemiological laboratories that are equipped with everything necessary for carrying out work related to microbiology. Today, even ordinary breweries can be quite easily repurposed to produce any kind of biological recipes. Such facilities, along with laboratories, may be of interest to biological terrorists.

At the same time, the variola virus is called the most likely candidate for use in sabotage and terrorist purposes. At present, collections of variola virus are safely stored in Russia and the United States on the recommendation of the World Health Organization. At the same time, there is information that this virus can be stored uncontrollably in a number of states and can spontaneously (and possibly intentionally) leave the storage areas.

It must be understood that terrorists do not pay any attention to international conventions, and they are not at all concerned about the indiscriminateness of pathogens. The main task of terrorists is to sow fear and achieve the desired goals in this way. For these purposes, biological weapons seem to be an almost ideal option. Few things compare to the panic that the use of biological weapons can cause. Of course, this was not without the influence of cinema, literature and the media, which surrounded this possibility with a halo of some kind of inevitability.

However, even without the mass media, there are prerequisites for the possible use of such weapons for terrorist purposes. For example, taking into account by potential bioterrorists the mistakes made by their predecessors. Attempts to create portable nuclear charges and a chemical attack that was carried out in the Tokyo subway, due to the lack of high technology and a competent approach from terrorists, turned out to be failures. At the same time, a biological weapon, if the attack is carried out correctly, will continue its action without the participation of the perpetrators, reproducing itself.

Due to this, based on the totality of parameters, we can confidently say that it is biological weapons that may be chosen by terrorists in the future as the most suitable means to achieve their goals.

Biological weapons of mass destruction (BW) are designed to destroy the personnel of military units, the population, animals, agricultural land, damage water sources, military equipment and certain types of weapons on enemy territory.

Biochemical weapons are represented by toxins, viruses, microorganisms and the consequences of their vital activity. It is delivered by all types of rocket and artillery weapons, aviation. Spread by disease vectors (humans, animals, natural processes).

The use of biological weapons of mass destruction in history

Viruses have been used as weapons of mass destruction since time immemorial. Below is a table that lists the first reports of biological weapons used by adversaries in military conflicts.

Date, year	Event
3rd century BC	Historians have confirmed the fact of the use of "natural" biological weapons. During the sieges of fortresses and fortified settlements, the soldiers of the great commander of that time, Hannibal from Carthage, enclosed poisonous snakes in clay containers and transferred them to the enemy’s territory. Along with the defeat of the defenders by the bites of reptiles, panic reigned and the will to win was humiliated
1346	The first experience of using biological means of exterminating the population by spreading the plague. During the siege of Kafa (today - Feodosia, Crimea), the Mongols were subjected to a biological epidemic of this disease. They are forced to retreat, but before that, the corpses of their patients were moved through the city walls, provoking the death of the defenders of the fortress
1518	The statehood of the Aztecs, like themselves, was destroyed with the help of smallpox, which was introduced by the Spaniard-conquistador E. Cortes. The rapid spread of the disease was ensured by the mass transfer of things to the natives, previously owned by patients on the mainland.
1675	It became possible to study the microprocesses of reproduction, mutations of pathogens, since the first microscope was invented by a doctor from Holland A. Leveguk
1710	Russian-Swedish war. Plague is again used for military purposes. The Russians won, including by infecting the enemy’s manpower, through the bodies of their own soldiers who died from a plague infection
1767	Anglo-French military confrontation. British General D. Amherst destroyed the Indians supporting the French by giving them blankets infected with smallpox
1855	L. Pasteur (French scientist) began an era of discoveries in microbiology
1915	World War I. The Allies, the French and Germans, used the technique of infecting animals with anthrax. Herds of horses and cows were vaccinated and driven to enemy territory
1925	The consequences of the use of biological weapons, the inability to control the processes associated with them, forced the leading countries of the world to sign the Geneva Convention banning its use for military purposes. Only the United States and Japan did not join the Convention
1930-1940	Japanese military scientists are conducting massive experiments in China. The fact of the death of several hundred people in the city of Chushen from the bubonic plague, where the infection occurred as a result of the Japanese experiment, has been historically proven.
1942	The fact of experimental infection of sheep with anthrax on a remote island near Scotland has been established. It was not possible to stop the experiment. To avoid further spread of the disease, it was necessary to destroy all life on the island with napalm.
1943	The year when the United States took up the creation of biological weapons. The Pentagon decided to use viruses invisible to the human eye as a weapon of mass destruction
1969	U.S. officials unilaterally declare no further use of biological weapons
1972	The Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention was adopted. The development, production and any operations with such weapons are prohibited. Entry into force delayed
1973	America's declaration to destroy all biological weapons, except for a small number for experimental purposes
1975	Convention entered into force
1979	In Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk), an anthrax outbreak that claimed 64 human lives. The disease was localized in a short time. The exact reason has not been officially announced.
1980	The world knew that smallpox had been eradicated
1980-1988	Confrontation between Iran and Iraq. Biological weapons used by both sides
1993	Attempted terrorist attack with anthrax in the Tokyo subway by extremists of the organization "Aum Shinrikyo"
1998	States Initiate Mandatory Anthrax Vaccination for Military Personnel
2001	USA. Terrorists send letters with anthrax spores, as a result of which several American citizens were infected and died.

The history of the creation of biological weapons and their use, as can be seen from the table, contains many facts of the use of combat viruses.

Definition and classification of biological weapons

Biological weapons are distinguished from other types of mass destructive weapons by the following:

• Biological bomb causes epidemics. The use of BO is accompanied by massive contamination of living beings and territories in a short amount of time;
• Toxicity. Small doses of the causative agent of the disease are needed to defeat;
• Propagation speed. The transfer of BO components is carried out through the air, direct contacts, mediation by objects, and so on;
• incubation period. The appearance of the first signs of the disease can be observed after a long period of time;
• Conservation. In certain states, pathogens have a long latent period before activation conditions arise;
• Area of ​​infection. BW propagation simulation showed that even aerosols in limited quantities can infect targets at a distance of up to 700.0 km;
• Psychological action. Panic, people's fear for their own lives, and the inability to perform daily tasks have always been recorded in areas where weapons of this nature have been used.

Types of biological weapons (briefly)

To understand what is included in the composition of biological weapons, it is enough to familiarize yourself with the data given in the table.

Name	Description	A photo
smallpox	The disease is caused by the variola virus. Lethal outcome in 30.0% of infected people. Accompanied by a critically high temperature, rash, ulcers.
Anthrax	BO class "A". A comfortable environment for bacteria is soil. Animals become infected through contact with grass, and humans through inhalation or ingestion. Symptoms: fever, difficulty breathing, enlarged lymph nodes, joint and muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. The mortality rate is high.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever	The course of the disease is represented by heavy bleeding. Infection occurs from contact with the patient's blood or secretions. Incubation from two to twenty-one days. Symptoms: pain in muscles, joints, diarrhea, bleeding of internal organs. Mortality 60.0-90.0%, with incubation 7-16 days.
Plague	It exists in two forms: bubonic and pulmonary. It is spread by insects and direct contact with the secretions of the patient. Symptoms: swelling of the inguinal glands, fever, chills, weakness, and so on. Their first appearance in one to six days. Mortality 70.0% if treatment is not started for the first day of infection.
Tularemia	Infection occurs through insect bites, contact with sick animals, or after consumption of contaminated foods. Symptoms: progressive weakness, joint and muscle pain, diarrhea and sometimes similar to pneumonia. Symptoms appear after three to five days. Lethality no more than 5.0%
Botulinum toxin	Belongs to class "A". Transmitted by airborne droplets. Symptoms appear within a day and a half and are represented by: a violation of the visual organs, difficulty swallowing. Without immediate treatment causes paralysis of the muscles and respiratory system. Lethality 70.0%
rice blast	The action is aimed at the defeat of agricultural crops. The disease is caused by the fungus Pyricularia oryzae. There are over 200 strains.
Rinderpest	The disease spreads to all types of ruminants. The infection comes on quickly. Symptoms: changes in the mucous membranes, diarrhea, high fever, loss of the ability to eat, and the like. Death due to dehydration after six to ten days. Livestock with infected animals is destroyed.
	The carrier of the virus has not yet been identified. It appeared in 1999 in Malaysia, where the outbreak infected 265 people, with a fatal outcome in 105 cases. Symptoms: from influenza to brain replenishment. Death with a 50% probability within 6-10 days.
Chimera virus	They can be created by combining the DNA of different viruses. For example: colds and polio; smallpox - Ebola and the like. Cases of application are not recorded. The consequences are not predictable.

WMD protection

Protection against weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is represented by a set of measures aimed at minimizing the impact of enemy bacteriological (nuclear, chemical, biological) weapons on residents, military formations, economic facilities, and the environment.

Events involve:

• reconnaissance units of all branches of the armed forces;
• engineering, motorized rifle units;
• military (civilian) physicians;
• chemical, veterinary and other services;
• management of administrations and enterprises and other officials, where their duties are related to the population.

Protection of the population. It provides:

• teaching the basics of WMD;
• construction of protective structures;
• pre-preparation of food and essentials;
• evacuation of the population to suburban areas;
• timely notification;
• rescue operations;
• providing medical assistance to victims;
• provision of personal protective equipment;
• monitoring of the state of the area, reconnaissance and change control.

Farm Animal Protection includes:

• dispersal of the animal fund among farms with air filtration equipment;
• feed and water preparation;
• processing by veterinary means;
• organization of work to prevent recurrence of infections;
• vaccination, other means of preventing infection;
• monitoring of the state and timely detection of deviations from the norm of health.

plant protection presented:

• growing crops resistant to harmful environments;
• measures to preserve the seed fund;
• carrying out preventive measures;
• destruction of areas where crops could receive pathogenic effects due to the use of agents and biological agents.

Food Protection:

• equipment of storage facilities, taking into account the possible use of weapons of mass destruction;
• dispersal of available food stocks;
• moving in specially equipped wagons;
• use of special packaging;
• carrying out activities for decontamination (disinfection) of food and packaging.

Protection of water sources presented:

• when organizing centralized water supply, take into account the likelihood of using WMD;
• open water sources deepen;
• systems are equipped with additional special filters;
• preparation of reserve watercourses is underway;
• their round-the-clock protection is organized;
• a constant check of the state of water is carried out with an in-depth analysis.

Timely receipt of intelligence information about WMD, which includes all types of biological weapons, from the enemy significantly reduces the onset of possible consequences, gives time to carry out comprehensive protective measures.

Biological Weapons Convention

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological Weapons of Mass Destruction (Modern Biological Weapons) and on Their Destruction (BTWC) is the result of many years of international activity after the Protocol adopted in Geneva (signed on 06/17/1925, entered into force on 02/08/1928) on the prohibition of the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other similar gases and bacteriological agents (Geneva Protocol).

countries have signed the terms of the BTWC

The terms of the BTWC (signed on 04/10/1972, entered into force on 03/26/1975) have been adopted in 163 countries. The United States joined the BTWC in 1972, but refused to sign protocols that provide for a number of measures to control its implementation.

Further work of the international community in organizing BTWC events is based on the results of the Review Conferences:

the date	Decision
1986	Annual report on the measures taken by the participating countries.
1991	VEREX expert group established
1995-2001	Negotiation process on a system for monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Convention
2003	The issue of an interstate mechanism for ensuring the safety of biological weapons was considered
2004	They discussed international measures to investigate the alleged use of BW and mitigate the consequences. At the same time, the powers of international institutions in detecting outbreaks of infections have been expanded.
2005	The provisions of the Code of Response and Conduct of the scientific community have been approved.
2006	The final text of the Declaration was adopted and a decision was made for the further implementation of the BTWC.

To date, effective control mechanisms have not been established to verify information about the absence of development of biological weapons. With a certain degree of confidence, it can be argued that such research has not been stopped by specialists from certain foreign states. For example, NATO laboratories are developing a biological rifle with explosive bullets that can create local foci of bacteriological contamination of enemy military units.

This is evidenced by periodic outbreaks of epidemic diseases in different parts of the world. But the mechanisms of international deterrence guarantee the security of the population of Russia.

Biological weapons (BW) are weapons of mass destruction of people, animals and plants, the action of which is based on the properties of pathogenic microorganisms.

The concept of BO includes biological weapons (BS), biological munitions (BMP) and their means of delivery.

Biological agents include bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, chlamydia, fungi used to infect people, animals and plants. These agents are used in the form of bacterial formulations (dry or liquid), which are a mixture of pathogenic microorganisms with stabilizing substances that ensure the survival of biological agents in an aerosol.

For the first time, the purposeful development of biological weapons was launched at the beginning of XX century.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the most intensive work on the creation of BO was carried out by the Japanese military. They created two large research centers in the territory of occupied Manchuria, in which biological agents were tested not only on laboratory animals, but also on prisoners of war and the civilian population of China.

Potential BS of a potential adversary include such microorganisms, which are characterized by:

- the necessary damaging effectiveness (degree of lethality or severity of the diseases caused);

– high infectivity (i.e. the incidence of diseases among non-immune populations at the minimum infecting dose);

– significant stability in the external environment.

Significant importance is also attached to contagiousness diseases, the duration of the incubation period and some other indicators that collectively determine the damaging effect and military-tactical effectiveness of the BS as a whole.

The following can be used as BS to defeat the personnel of troops and the population:

Bacteria - the causative agents of plague, anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, glanders, melioidosis and some other bacterial infections;

Rickettsia - the causative agents of epidemic typhus, spotted fever of the rocky mountains, Q - fever;

Chlamydia - causative agents of psittacosis;

Viruses - causative agents of smallpox, American equine encephalomyelitis, Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever, Dengue fever, Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, Lassa and Ebola fevers, Marburg disease, Rift Valley fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever;

fungi - causative agents of coccidioidomycosis and other deep mycoses.

Among the potential BS, there may also be other types of microorganisms - Korean hemorrhagic fever (hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome), legionnaires' disease, and a number of others.

It should also be borne in mind that, in addition to those listed, pathogens that have undergone significant changes through genetic engineering that have provided them with higher virulence, deviations in the antigenic structure, multiple resistance to antibiotics or other drugs, etc. .

Using the achievements of biological science, in particular, molecular biology and genetics, new strains of pathogens are purposefully created that are not amenable to indication, resistant to drugs, disinfectants, increased toxicity and other pathogenic properties.

Features of biological weapons:

High pathogenicity (infectiousness, virulence - the ability to infect a person with small amounts of microbial cells (from a few to a thousand);

High combat effectiveness - the ability to cause mass diseases in various ways of infection;

The possibility of an epidemic due to the high contagiousness of some BS;

Long-term existence of a focus of bacteriological infection (resistance of some pathogens in the external environment, especially spore forms);

The presence of a shorter incubation period from the moment of infection to the onset of the disease (from several hours to three days), the duration of which depends not only on the type of pathogen, but also on the route and dose of infection. More likely to be expected is the aerosol method of BO application, which allows infection through the respiratory tract and in large doses of microbial cells, which will lead to a reduction in the incubation period;

Difficulty in detecting the fact of using BO;

Difficulty and duration of BO indication, especially when using combined formulations of pathogens;

Difficulty in diagnosing diseases, especially when using combined formulations and unusual routes of entry into the human body;

The possibility of long-term storage of BO and the relative cheapness of production.

WAYS TO USE BO:

creation of a biological aerosol that infects the air of the surface layers of the atmosphere;

use of infected vectors for transmissible infection of humans;

· latent (sabotage) contamination of food products, drinking water, indoor air, and other environmental objects.

Air contamination is carried out with the help of BBP, consisting of at least two parts: a tank filled with a BS formulation and a device that ensures the transfer (generation) of BS into an aerosol state as a result of an explosion, by the action of compressed air or chemical reagents.

Airborne bombs (mostly small caliber), artillery shells, and mines are among the ABPs that generate aerosols through explosion or chemical agents (eg carbon dioxide).

BS aerosol generators operating with the help of compressed gas are installed on aircraft, missiles, balloons delivering infantry fighting vehicles to the target, as well as on ground installations and other devices that ensure the creation of bacterial (biological) aerosol near the combat formations of troops.

Depending on the type and design of the UBP, sources of aerosol formation are divided into linear (elevated or ground) and point (multi-point and multiple-multipoint).

Linear sources raised above the earth's surface are created by spraying BS from an aircraft (cruise missile and other delivery vehicles) at an altitude of 50-200 m. The length of the source trace reaches several kilometers. The resulting aerosol cloud spreads in the direction of the wind, gradually reaching the surface of the earth.

Ground sources are formed using special aerial bombs, artillery shells, mines or covertly installed ground devices.

A multi-point source of aerosol is created using special cassettes with spherical aerial bombs, the design of which ensures their dispersion over an area approximately equal to the height of the cassettes opening.

The aerosol formed in the air as a result of the use of BBP is a large amount of non-uniform in size liquid or solid particles of the BS formulation.

Coarse particles settle in the immediate vicinity of the aerosol source, intensively infecting the area, vegetation and objects that are in the path of the aerosol cloud. These particles can later (as a result of dust formation under the influence of wind, the movement of people and equipment, blast waves and other factors) form secondary aerosols, the distribution of which occurs in exactly the same way as primary ones.

Finely dispersed particles, the size of which does not exceed 1-5 microns, being the most stable fraction of the aerosol, settle extremely slowly (about 13 cm/h) and are able to move over considerable distances.

Particles ranging in size from 1 to 5 microns, when inhaled, enter the human respiratory tract and linger in the smallest bronchi and alveoli, the most sensitive parts of the respiratory system to infection.

The spread of an aerosol cloud over a territory is determined by the direction and speed of the wind, as well as by the degree of vertical stability of the atmosphere. Depending on these parameters, as well as on the type and power of the aerosol source, the duration of the passage of an aerosol cloud over objects can be from one to several tens of minutes or more.

A characteristic feature of such a cloud is the possibility of diffusion (penetration) of aerosol particles into leaky structures located on the path of its movement. Indoors and shelters that are not equipped with filtering devices, the concentration of BS in this case can be much higher than outside, where BS is adversely affected by environmental factors.

The decay of bacterial (biological) aerosols occurs both as a result of their physical destruction and as a result of the biological action of environmental factors, such as wind, movement and turbulent mixing of surface air layers.

In addition to BS aerosols, a probable adversary can use various arthropods (mosquitoes, fleas, lice, ticks, flies, etc.) artificially infected with bacteria, rickettsia, and viruses that retain the ability to transmit pathogens to humans for a long time to defeat the personnel of troops and the population. The life expectancy of these carriers of infection ranges from several days and weeks (mosquitoes, flies, lice) to a year or even several years (fleas, ticks).

The viability of insects and mites depends on environmental conditions, especially temperature and humidity. Therefore, the use of infected vectors by a probable adversary by dispersing them on the ground is likely only in the warm season at an air temperature of 10 ° C and above, a relative humidity of at least 50% and in the presence of natural factors approaching the natural habitat of arthropods.

Delivery of infected arthropods to the target can be carried out using specially designed aircraft bombs and containers.

Relatively small areas of infection, the likelihood of rapid detection of bacteriological attack, high sensitivity of vectors to environmental conditions, the effectiveness of insecticidal preparations and repellents, and some other factors significantly limit the use of arthropods for the mass distribution of BS.

A sabotage method of infection is also possible.

The most probable is to expect an aerosol method of application of BO.

Of the main measures to localize and eliminate the use of bacteriological (biological) weapons by the enemy, the following can be distinguished:

Active case detection;

Examination by medical teams of identified patients;

Carrying out emergency non-specific prophylaxis;

Carrying out sanitization, disinfection, deratization and pest control measures;

Organization of hospitalization of patients with the use of transport specially allocated for this purpose;

Indication and identification of the pathogen;

Carrying out regime-restrictive measures (quarantine, observation);

Carrying out sanitary and educational work, sanitary and hygienic and anti-epidemic measures.