Biological/Chemical agents. Which is worst?

[Lon3W0lf]

If anybody knows any serious knowledge about any of them and the worst of them, please reply to this post.

EDIT: The point of this post is to get knowledge about what is out there, what it can do, and if there is any way of prevention or medical help.


thanks
lon3wolf

 

[Bowman795]

Um...I'm not sure why you're curious, but considering all the stuff that has been going on I don't think this is an appropriate/tasteful question to ask.

 

Small Pox is worse than Anthrax because it is contagious.

 

[PsychoAndy]

I'd say that Viral Hemmoragic Fevers would be the worst, under Biological. They usually have no cure, and are extremely deadly. Ebola, Marburg, and Yellow Fever are under this category...

 

[Lon3W0lf]

Just wondering... btw if i was a copy cat/terrorist, why the f#ck would i be asking? I'd already know.

just wanna be as prepared and knowledgeable as possible

- lon3wolf

 

[Loflyby]

The former USSR has engineered a resistant strain of pneumonic plague (i.e. black plague, bubonic plague) that would probably be unstoppable. There is not much information as to whether work is still being done on it or not.

 

[Lon3W0lf]

Um...I'm not sure why you're curious, but considering all the stuff that has been going on I don't think this is an appropriate/tasteful question to ask.

I think it is appropriate that we know whats out there before its too late and we have to turn on the tv to learn what coulda been done.

thank you,
lon3wolf

 

[charrison]

dwell,

Smallpox is difficult to keep alive, so that makes it more difficult to dispurse.

 

[Lon3W0lf]

In a weird sort of coincidence they are discussing biological/chemical agents on fox news right now.

 

[Tates]

<< Biological/Chemical agents. Which is worst? >>



I'm not sure, but beanie weanie beef stew has to be on the list.

 

[MrHelpful]

Biological. Bio weapons just have to be used once. The victims can go around and spread the weapon around for you.

"That's the beauty of it." - Ding Chavez, Executive Orders (Tom Clancy)

 

[Bowman795]

<< Um...I'm not sure why you're curious, but considering all the stuff that has been going on I don't think this is an appropriate/tasteful question to ask.

I think it is appropriate that we know whats out there before its too late and we have to turn on the tv to learn what coulda been done.

thank you,
lon3wolf >>



Someone suggested smallpox. Ok. Does that help? Are you more prepared now? Now if terrorists attack your city or place of work, you'll someone be more prepared because you know smallpox is deadly?

I fail to see what you're trying to accomplish.

 

[Neuroanatomist]

I think from an evolutionary biological standpoint chemical agents would be worse.

I'm sure there are very hardy bacteria, but as a living organism, they do have a fixed half-life.

In contrast, although chemicals can lose their potency over time, I would think the effective half-life for chemical agents is much longer by several degrees of magnitude

(then again, a chemical agent, can't reproduce and can't transport itself from place to place)

interesting question

 

[Ronstang]

I think irrational fear and ignorance is the worst problem we face in the near future.

 

[jonley]

I will agree with dwell
Smallpox is the worst, we recently had a conference on bioterrorism in our medschool (before 9/11), the speaker had
served for the king of jordan and stated that many rogue middle eastern nations had access to the virus and might try to attack US.
Small pox is extermely contagious, long incubation period meaning people will carry it for some time and disperse it before symptoms
develop. And it used to be 30-35% fatal...

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

small pox is the worst, according to some professor at my school. "has ability to kill one billion"

 

[mastertech01]

A real threat in your area is all it takes no matter what is used. You will either become a victim of it or of the panick that results. A nerve agent will likely be the most gruesome and painfull but short lived. Bio could be far reaching in comparison, slower but more effective and easier to apply. You dont want any of them I can promise that. There is virtually no way to get away from it. Prevention is the only real answer.

In the Army they issued protective masks and chemical suits. The filters were only good for a maximum of 6 hours. The chemical suits maybe a day. YOu must be evacuated to a safe area to change out of them with a very complex routine. The newest protective masks have external filters that can be changed in environment, but most WE have acess to must be disassembled to change out the filters....if you can find filters that havent expired their shelf life. Attropine injectors would be necessary for Nerve agents as well.

 

[Lon3W0lf]

<<Someone suggested smallpox. Ok. Does that help? Are you more prepared now? Now if terrorists attack your city or place of work, you'll someone be more prepared because you know smallpox is deadly?>>

ok, i guess i have to include the question that i htought everybody knew was assigned to this question. What is there to do? Is there any way of prevention? Any medicinal help?

thats what i was aiming for, Im not only wondering what's out there, but im also wondering what there is to do about it?

- lonewolf

 

[MrHelpful]

There might be a vaccine for smallpox... There's one for anthrax. But in the latter stages of anthrax, it's incurable.

 

[mastertech01]

MrHelpful, I believe that would only hold true for inhalation type Anthrax, from what I have learned about skin contact types, simply using antibiotics is sufficient. In fact they stated that even untreated skin contact Anthrax is 80 percent survivable. The inhalation type will kill if not treated within 24 hours of becoming active.

Lon3wolf, have you tried searching the internet for the information you need? I think there is a great deal of misinformation being put out and some research may be your best bet.

 

[Atlantean]

Anthrax is probably close to being the worst because of how potent it is, one gram has enough spores to kill 100 million people, however it is not contageous. There are biological toxins that are very bad such as botulism, however they are also not contageous. Chemical agents are bad if there is a wind blowing where they were dropped because the wind could pick them up and blow them all over the place. Ebola would probably be a bad one if someone decided to use it as a biological weapon. THere are others that are worse, but why tell you about them it would only scare you.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< I think irrational fear and ignorance is the worst problem we face in the near future. >>

Yep. The media sure helps things along with an unhealthy constant bombardment of potentional antrax incidents. Spreading fear=ratings.

 

[mchammer187]

bio is much worse ie smallpox

but releasing smallpox in such a way that millions of people are affected would likely result in killing your own people as well as the enemy due to the long incubation period + easily contagious

think about how many people would get sick if 1 million americans got smallpox they would travel all over the would spreading it and it would be unstoppable

bio weapon would be more apocalyptic rather than strategic IMO