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A culture of Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax.

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A biological agent—also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon—is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, or fungus that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrorism or biological warfare (BW).^[1] In addition to these living and/or replicating pathogens, toxins and biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,200 different kinds of potentially weaponizable bio-agents have been described and studied to date.

Biological agents have the ability to adversely affect human health in a variety of ways, ranging from relatively mild allergic reactions to serious medical conditions, including serious injury, as well as serious or permanent disability or even death. Many of these organisms are ubiquitous in the natural environment where they are found in water, soil, plants, or animals.^[1] Bio-agents may be amenable to "weaponization" to render them easier to deploy or disseminate. Genetic modification may enhance their incapacitating or lethal properties, or render them impervious to conventional treatments or preventives. Since many bio-agents reproduce rapidly and require minimal resources for propagation, they are also a potential danger in a wide variety of occupational settings.^[1]

The Biological Weapons Convention (1972) is an international treaty banning the use or stockpiling of bio-agents; as of February 2015 there were 171 state signatories.^[2] Bio-agents are, however, widely studied for both defensive and general medical purposes under various biosafety levels and within biocontainment facilities throughout the world. In 2008, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Taiwan were considered, with varying degrees of certainty, to be maintaining bio-agents in an offensive BW program capacity.

Classifications

Operational

The former US biological warfare program (1943-1969) categorized its weaponized anti-personnel bio-agents as either Lethal Agents (Bacillus anthracis, Francisella tularensis, Botulinum toxin) or Incapacitating Agents (Brucella suis, Coxiella burnetii, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Staphylococcal enterotoxin B).^[3] In the next section ("List of biological and toxin agents of military importance") the military symbols for various weaponized agents are given; this nomenclature system began in the US and UK BW programs of World War II and continued as NATO nomenclature through the Cold War.

Legal

Since 1997, United States law has declared a list of bio-agents designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the U.S. Department of Agriculture that have the "potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety" to be officially defined as "select agents" and possession or transportation of them are tightly controlled as such.^[4] Select agents are divided into "HHS select agents and toxins", "USDA select agents and toxins" and "Overlap select agents and toxins".

Regulatory

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) breaks biological agents into three categories: Category A, Category B, and Category C. Category A agents pose the greatest threat to the U.S. Criteria for being a Category "A" agent include high rates of morbidity and mortality; ease of dissemination and communicability; ability to cause a public panic; and special action required by public health officials to respond. Category A agents include anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia, and viral hemorrhagic fevers.

List of bio-agents of military importance

The following pathogens and toxins were weaponized by one nation or another at some time. NATO abbreviations are included where applicable.

Bacterial bio-agents

Chlamydial bio-agents

Rickettsial bio-agents

Viral bio-agents

• Additionally, the Soviet Union is known to have weaponized Marburg virus (MARV) in the 1970s and '80s.^[5]
  

Mycotic bio-agents

Biological toxins

Biological vectors

Simulants

Simulants are organisms or substances which mimic physical or biological properties of real biological agents, without being pathogenic. They are used to study the efficiency of various dissemination techniques or the risks caused by the use of biological agents in bioterrorism.^[6] To simulate dispersal, attachment or the penetration depth in human or animal lungs, simulants must have particle sizes, specific weight and surface properties, similar to the simulated biological agent.

The typical size of simulants (1-5 µm) enables it to enter buildings with closed windows and doors and penetrate deep into the lungs. This bears a significant health risk, even if the biological agent is normally not pathogenic.

• 
  Bacillus globigii (historically named Bacillus subtilis in the context of bio-agent simulants) (BG, BS, or U)


• 
  Serratia marcescens (SM or P)


• 
  Aspergillus fumigatus mutant C-2 (AF)


• 
  Escherichia coli (EC)


• 
  Bacillus thuringiensis (BT)


• 
  Erwinia herbicola (current accepted name: Pantoea agglomerans) (EH)


• Fluorescent particles such as Zinc cadmium sulfide, ZnCdS (FP)

In popular culture

See also

• Biological hazard


• Biological contamination


• Laboratory Response Network


• Pulsed ultraviolet light


• Toxin

References

External links

• Rafał L. Górny, Biological agents, OSHwiki
  


• U.S. Department of Labor - Biological Agents


• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Select Agents and Toxins