Biological Weapons

A new project is being undertaken by the US army. They plan to release a vaccine for its soldiers that prevents common viral diseases used by bioterrorists from being transmitted. The vaccine will be tested with mice in the near future to determine it's effectiveness. Learn more about the…

Researchers are further investigating a bacterium (Yersinia pestis) that is responsible for the pneumonic plague in many individuals. Due to its almost certain lethality, it is seen as a potential weapon of bioterror, so researchers are looking for methods to effectively treat infected individuals…

Recently, the acts of bioterrorism have been causing many to wonder what diseases may be harnessed and transformed into this type of terrorism. However, specialists have concluded that Ebola cannot be weaponized any time soon for a few reasons: inability to obtain culture, the issues of…

Reuters: Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched by U.S., Britain, and French armed forces in Syria as a response to the use of chemical weapons on the Syrian people by the Assad regime last week. These missiles landed in the Barzah district of Damascus, home to the Syrian Scientific Research Center…

According to this Telegraph article, Bill Gates warned world leaders at the Munich Security Conference of the often underestimated risks of bioterrorism. Because of rapid advances in genetic engineering, using biological weapons can easily lead to a pandemic. Gates’ foundation is currently funding…

According to this NBC article, almost a dozen people at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia became ill after opening a suspicious letter. Victims reported bloody noses and itchiness, and several were taken to the hospital. Read the article here to learn more.

How smallpox samples ended up in a cold-storage room on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus where they were overlooked for more than four decades and who brought them there are still a mystery, according to findings released today from an independent blue ribbon committee tasked…