Bioterror: a ticking time bomb

A terrorist group having obtained stocks of smallpox or anthrax would face the task of delivering it to a vulnerable population. In the case of Australia a possible scenario involves a single aerosol pathogen such as anthrax or smallpox, delivered by a motorised van using an improvised spraying device, or perhaps the release of an aerosol agent from a small boat into the prevailing wind in the harbour of one of our major towns or cities relying on air movements to transport it over adjacent suburbs.

Many people vaccinated against smallpox more than 40 years ago might still retain some degree of immunity but what about the bulk of the population? Given that we still have limited supplies of smallpox vaccine who would/should be offered immediate vaccination and where would we place infected people now that Quarantine Stations have ceased to exist?  Would we requisition schools, bowling greens, race courses and other buildings as temporary hospitals as happened during the 1918-19 flu pandemic?

Today, anthrax is considered to be an ideal bioterrorist agent because it is relatively easy to grow and highly lethal when inhaled. The US incident some years ago simply involved envelopes containing anthrax sent via the US mail to people in the media and later to two US Senators. Within two months, 22 people, including a number of postal workers, had contracted anthrax and five had died. In 1995 a Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo released anthrax spores from the roof of a building in Tokyo. Fortunately the attack failed because the cult had unknowingly produced and released a harmless strain of anthrax.

Food and agricultural terrorism is another area of concern. In this case, like bioterrorism generally, it is not about killing people but more about crippling a country’s economy and instilling fear and hysteria and creating panic.

Over the last few decades there have been a number of examples of attempts to contaminate agricultural or food products with biological or chemical agents. In 1984, for example, the Raineeshee cult in Oregon, concerned about new development regulations, deliberately contaminated food in 10 restaurants with a form of Salmonella hoping to make people too sick to vote. In total more than 750 people were affected and 45 required hospitalisation.

While Australia has one of the world’s best animal health surveillance systems there are some areas of concern.  

One of these concerns the surveillance and data gathering from many of the remotest cattle properties in Northern Australia.

Another possibility is the use of a biological agent widespread in parts of Australia and easily obtained and disseminated. Q fever is one example. A zoonotic disease that circulates among its natural animal host, the disease is endemic in parts of Australia where it is closely linked to the livestock industry. The disease agent survives for lengthy periods in dust and animal litter and in humans can produce an acute, largely self-limiting flu-like illness lasting for up to one month. Such a pathogen, easily obtainable, is highly infectious and could easily be spread with nothing more than a common commercial sprayer. While the disease would not produce any deaths, the fear and panic that it would engender would be considerable.

There is little doubt that the release of a biological agent into an unsuspecting Australian population would be a disaster and would give rise to a host of security challenges that go to the very heart of our society.  The prospect of such an event is a chilling reminder of the world we live in.