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File: 123096_sep96_decls1_0066.txt
Subject: DETECTION OF MEDICAL DEFENSE AGAINST BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
Unit: OTSG
Parent Organization: HSC
Box ID: BX003203
Folder Title: DETECTION OF MEDICAL DEFENSE AGAINST BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
Document Number: 1
Folder Seq #: 21
d In 1710, during the war between Russia and Sweden, Russian troops
are said to have used the cadavers of plague victims to provoke an
epidemic With the enemy.
e. In 1940 in China and in Manchuria an epidemic of bubonic plague
followed overflights by Japanese aircraft. Infected fleas were dropped
together With grain which attracted the local rat population; in turn,
the rats served as carriers for the infected fleas to the human
population.
f. In 1945, also in Manchuria, anthrax bacilli (400 kg) and the plans
for dispersing these bacilli by means of a fragmentation bomb were
found in Unit 731 of the Japanese army.
g. Yellow Rain, or MYCOLOXins, are said to have been used ;n recent
years in SE Asia. These mycotoxins are the bioloeical products Of
microscopic fungi and may produce skin necrosis, haemorrhagic
diachesis, gastrointestinal Upset and leukopenia.
In addition, continued production of weapons grade material may be
occurring, as evidenced by a mysterious epidemic of anthrax in humans
in 1979, in the vicinity of an army research facility, in Sverdlovsk in
the USSR.
CONCEPT OF BIOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
104. The concept of biological operations is based upon epidemiological and
ecological scudies, which reveal that pathogens, in the course of evolution,
have come Lo exist in a strictly defined relationships to their host
organisms. in particular, pathogenic microorganisms, some of which might be
considered potencial biological agents, often display a typically
epidemiological pattern, which under natural circumstances, shows little
variation. Specific adaptation to the host species and to the vehicle of
infection (water, air) or to a specific inter-mediate host (vector), are the
main factors which determine the natural epidemiological pattern. For
example, the cycle of the Yellow Fever infection can be closed because the
virus is adapted to certain Aedes species which feed on the infected host.
The virus MUSE Multiply in the vector before the latter becomes infective. As
a second example bubonic plague shows the characteristic pattern of a zoonosis
which becomes a hazard for man when the pathogen, circulating in the sylvatic
cycle, passes into the urbanic cycle. Here the animal reservoir (domestic
rat) lives in close proximity to the human community where the intermediate
vector (rat flea) can be transferred to man.
105. IL could te argued that an attempt to spread these infections
deliberately could be effective only if the conditions of Che natural pattern
are fulfilled, in other words, if an epidemiological model could be
artificially produced. This would set. considerable limits to its use
(considering the natural mode of spread of certain pathogens used as
biological agents). For instance the tactical feasibility of spreading Yellow
Fever in Western Europe by the use of infected mosquitas would be doubtful,
because the specific intermediate vector belongs to equatorial regions and
3
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Document 109 f:/Week-36/BX003203/DETECTION OF MEDICAL DEFENSE AGAINST BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS/detection of medical defense against biological :1217960927452
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-36
Box ID = BX003203
Unit = OTSG
Parent Organization = HSC
Folder Title = DETECTION OF MEDICAL DEFENSE AGAINST BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
Folder Seq # = 21
Subject = DETECTION OF MEDICAL DEFENSE AGAINST BIOLOGICAL
Document Seq # = 1
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 17-DEC-1996