Topic
Biological agent
About: Biological agent is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 79 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3057 citations. The topic is also known as: bio-agent & biological threat agent.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: The history of biological warfare is difficult to assess because of a number of confounding factors, including difficulties in verification of alleged or attempted biological attacks, the use of allegations of biological attacks for propaganda purposes, and the incidence of naturally occurring endemic or epidemic diseases during hostilities.
Abstract: The deliberate use of microorganisms and toxins as weapons has been attempted throughout history. Biological warfare has evolved from the crude use of cadavers to contaminate water supplies to the development of specialized munitions for battlefield and covert use. The modern development of biological agents as weapons has paralleled advances in basic and applied microbiology. These include the identification of virulent pathogens suitable for aerosol delivery and industrial-scale fermentation processes to produce large quantities of pathogens and toxins. The history of biological warfare is difficult to assess because of a number of confounding factors. These include difficulties in verification of alleged or attempted biological attacks, the use of allegations of biological attacks for propaganda purposes, the paucity of pertinent microbiological or epidemiologic data, and the incidence of naturally occurring endemic or epidemic diseases during hostilities. Biological warfare has been renounced by 140 nations, primarily for strategic and other pragmatic reasons. International diplomatic efforts, including the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, have not been entirely effective in preventing the enhancement and proliferation of offensive biological warfare programs. The threats posed by biological weapons are likely to continue into the future.
680 citations
TL;DR: Human anthrax has been all but eradicated from the industrialized world, but the disease remains endemic in many areas of the world, and anthrax poses a threat as a mass casualty-producing weapon if used in a biological warfare capacity.
Abstract: Anthrax is a zoonotic illness recognized since antiquity. Today, human anthrax has been all but eradicated from the industrialized world, with the vast majority of practitioners in the United States unlikely to have seen a case. Unfortunately, the disease remains endemic in many areas of the world, and anthrax poses a threat as a mass casualty-producing weapon if used in a biological warfare capacity.
234 citations
TL;DR: This tutorial review describes methods that have been developed both for the specific detection of biological and chemical warfare agents in a field setting, as well as potential therapeutic approaches for treating exposure to these toxic species.
Abstract: There is a growing need for technological advancements to combat agents of chemical and biological warfare, particularly in the context of the deliberate use of a chemical and/or biological warfare agent by a terrorist organization. In this tutorial review, we describe methods that have been developed both for the specific detection of biological and chemical warfare agents in a field setting, as well as potential therapeutic approaches for treating exposure to these toxic species. In particular, nerve agents are described as a typical chemical warfare agent, and the two potent biothreat agents, anthrax and botulinum neurotoxin, are used as illustrative examples of potent weapons for which countermeasures are urgently needed.
206 citations
Patent•
1 Oct 2001TL;DR: In this article, a method and apparatus for screening an object for the presence of an explosive, chemical warfare agent, biological warfare agents, drug, metal, weapon, and/or radioactive material is presented.
Abstract: A method and apparatus for screening an object for the presence of an explosive, chemical warfare agent, biological warfare agent, drug, metal, weapon, and/or radioactive material. The apparatus includes a portal through which the object is arranged to pass, the portal including a housing equipped with an ion mobility spectrometer and a surface acoustic wave device for detecting explosives, drugs and chemical warfare agents. In another embodiment the housing is equipped with a biological warfare agent detector, chemical warfare agent detector, metal detector, x-ray system, and/or radiation detector.
172 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a compact and rugged Raman integrated tunable sensor coupled with surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates for the screening of a wide variety of chemical and biological agents for homeland defense applications.
Abstract: This paper describes a compact and rugged Raman integrated tunable sensor coupled with surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates for the screening of a wide variety of chemical and biological agents for homeland defense applications. The field-deployable instrument, consisting of an 830-nm diode laser for excitation and an avalanche photodiode (APD) for detection, is a fully integrated, tunable, “point-and-shoot” Raman device based on solid-state acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) technology. It can provide direct identification of chemical and biological samples in a few seconds under field conditions. This paper illustrates some applications of this portable device for the detection of various compounds of particular interest for homeland defense applications. These include methyl parathion (a nerve agent simulant) and dipicolinic acid (a biomarker for bacillus endospore), and other chemical warfare simulants such as dimethyl methylphosphonate, pinacolyl methylphosphonate, diethyl phosphoramidate, and 2-chloroethyl ethylsulfide, which are simulants for sarin (GB), soman (GD), tabun (GA), and sulfur mustard (HD), respectively, and intact bacteria such as Bacillus globigii, Erwinia herbicola, and Bacillus thuringiensis, which are simulants for biological warfare agents.
172 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2014 | 3 |