biological weapon
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S: MEDLP – http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/biodefenseandbioterrorism.html(external link) (last access: 11 December 2015). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1326439/ (last access: 11 December 2015). PMC – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1326439/ (last access: 11 December 2015).

N: 1. biological (adj): 1840, from biology + -ical.
weapon (n): Old English wæpen “instrument of fighting and defense, sword,” also “penis,” from Proto-Germanic wæpnan.
Biological weapon: Early 20th cent.; earliest use found in Military Surgery.
2. A biological agent harmful to plants, animals, or people, especially a pathogen, deployed as a weapon to cause widespread devastation.
3. There are five different categories of biological agents that could be weaponized and used in warfare or terrorism. These include:

  • Bacteria—single-cell organisms that cause diseases such as anthrax, brucellosis, tularemia, and plague.
  • Rickettsiae—microorganisms that resemble bacteria but differ in that they are intracellular parasites that reproduce inside cells. Typhus and Q fever are examples of diseases caused by rickettsia organisms.
  • Viruses—intracellular parasites, about 1/100 the size of bacteria, that can be weaponized to cause diseases such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis.
  • Fungi—pathogens that can be weaponized for use against crops to cause such diseases as rice blast, cereal rust, wheat smut, and potato blight.
  • Toxins—poisons that can be weaponized after extraction from snakes, insects, spiders, marine organisms, plants, bacteria, fungi, and animals. An example of a toxin is ricin, which is derived from the seed of the castor bean.

4. Most weaponized lethal biological agents are intended to be delivered as aerosols, which would cause infections when breathed by the targeted personnel.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=weapon&allowed_in_frame=0 (last access: 11 December 2015). 2. OD – http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/biological-weapon?q=biological+weapon (last access: 11 December 2015). 3 & 4. EncBrit – http://www.britannica.com/technology/biological-weapon (last access: 18 December 2015).

SYN: bioweapon, bacteriological weapon, germ weapon, biological arm.

S: TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/zWK76h (last access: 11 December 2015); EncBrit – http://www.britannica.com/technology/biological-weapon (last access: 18 December 2015).

CR: anthrax, botulism, chemical weapon, hemorrhagic fever, plague, smallpox, tularemia, typhus.