Word: bioweapon
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...world's deadliest agents. In October U.S.-government scientists began their first human trial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola, a lethal African virus that triggers severe internal bleeding and kills up to 90% of its victims. Experts have long feared that Ebola could be turned into a devastating bioweapon. Meanwhile, at Harvard, researchers created an anthrax vaccine that, unlike older vaccines, targets both the toxins created by the bacterium and the bug itself...
Just two decades after it was declared gone for good, this deadly scourge is back--in our fears if not in fact. Anthrax was bad enough, but smallpox in the hands of terrorists could make a far more devastating bioweapon. There is no effective treatment for the disease, and because routine vaccination was halted in 1972, even a single case could spread like wildfire. Officially, the only remaining sources of the virus are small quantities kept at two secure labs in the U.S. and Russia. Experts believe, however, that Iraq, North Korea and Russia may have secretly pursued weapons research...
...Well, with anthrax, either you?re exposed to the attack medium, or you?re not. Anthrax is very containable and very treatable. With smallpox, on the other hand, you?re dealing with a highly contagious virus that, if it were used as a bioweapon, has major potential for damage. Also keep in mind that we?re living in a very susceptible society; we stopped vaccinating people in the early 1970s...
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