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98-468: The Halifax Slasher was the supposed attacker in an incident of mass hysteria that occurred in the town of Halifax , England, in November 1938 following a series of reported attacks on local people, mostly women. The hysteria spread elsewhere and was partly blamed on a previous slashing event in the 1920s. The week-long scare began after Mary Gledhill and Gertrude Watts claimed to have been attacked by

196-606: A CNN employee discovered on an airplane a "sensitive, top-secret document in the seatback pouch explaining how the Department of Homeland Security would respond to a bioterrorism attack at the Super Bowl ." President Donald Trump promoted his first budget around keeping America safe. However, one aspect of defense would receive less money: "protecting the nation from deadly pathogens, man-made or natural," according to The New York Times . Agencies tasked with biosecurity get

294-834: A February 18, 2017 Business Insider op-ed (published near the time of his Munich Security Conference speech) that it is possible for an airborne pathogen to kill at least 30 million people over the course of a year. In a New York Times report, the Gates Foundation predicted that a modern outbreak similar to the Spanish Influenza pandemic (which killed between 50 million and 100 million people) could end up killing more than 360 million people worldwide, even considering widespread availability of vaccines and other healthcare tools. The report cited increased globalization , rapid international air travel, and urbanization as increased reasons for concern. In

392-640: A Homeland Security directive delegating responsibilities among various federal agencies. He also stated that the blatant mishandling of the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014 attested to the government's lack of preparation. This past May, legislation that would create a national defense strategy was introduced in the Senate, coinciding with the timing of ISIS-affiliated terrorist groups get closer to weaponizing biological agents. In May 2016, Kenyan officials apprehended two members of an Islamic extremist group in motion to set off

490-440: A March 9, 2017, interview with CNBC, former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman , who was co-chair of the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense , said a worldwide pandemic could end the lives of more people than a nuclear war. Lieberman also expressed worry that a terrorist group like ISIS could develop a synthetic influenza strain and introduce it to the world to kill civilians. In July 2017, Robert C. Hutchinson, former agent at

588-582: A September 2016 interview conducted by Homeland Preparedness News, Daniel Gerstein, a senior policy researcher for the RAND Corporation, stresses the importance in preparing for potential bioterrorist attacks on the nation. He implored the U.S. government to take the proper and necessary actions to implement a strategic plan of action to save as many lives as possible and to safeguard against potential chaos and confusion. He believes that because there have been no significant instances of bioterrorism since

686-614: A biological bomb containing anthrax. Mohammed Abdi Ali, the believed leader of the group, who was a medical intern, was arrested along with his wife, a medical student. The two were caught just before carrying out their plan. The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, which comprises a group of experts on national security and government officials, in which Gerstein had previously testified to, submitted its National Blueprint for Biodefense to Congress in October 2015 listing their recommendations for devising an effective plan. Bill Gates said in

784-560: A bioterrorism event include many categories of information. Health-related data such as that from hospital computer systems, clinical laboratories, electronic health record systems, medical examiner record-keeping systems, 911 call center computers, and veterinary medical record systems could be of help; researchers are also considering the utility of data generated by ranching and feedlot operations, food processors, drinking water systems, school attendance recording, and physiologic monitors, among others. In Europe , disease surveillance

882-591: A bioterrorism incident would include law enforcement, hazardous materials and decontamination units, and emergency medical units, if available. The US military has specialized units, which can respond to a bioterrorism event; among them are the United States Marine Corps ' Chemical Biological Incident Response Force and the U.S. Army 's 20th Support Command (CBRNE) , which can detect, identify, and neutralize threats, and decontaminate victims exposed to bioterror agents. US response would include

980-511: A case study of six outbreaks of MPI in Singapore factories between 1973 and 1978. They were characterized by (1) hysterical seizures of screaming and general violence, wherein tranquilizers were ineffective (2) trance states, where a worker would claim to be speaking under the influence of a spirit or jinn and (3) frightened spells: some workers complained of unprecedented fear, or of being cold, numb, or dizzy. Outbreaks would subside in about

1078-418: A cause. Ultimately it was decided that the events were caused by “stress due to upcoming exams” and the incident was determined to be an incident of “hysteria”. Due to the determination of collective stress as the cause, medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew favors the neutral term mass psychogenic illness over mass hysteria, as people respond more favorably to a diagnosis of stress induced symptoms than to

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1176-476: A diagnosis of mass hysteria. Bartholomew notes such outbreaks are not unusual in schools in the developing world. This is particularly true in schools in which discipline is tight and accompanied with cultural strain between administrators and students. An outbreak can be preceded by months of such tension, which then results in physical symptoms such as seen in Musoli. Far from faking it, “Under such prolonged stress,

1274-480: A few cases of infection can disrupt a country's agricultural production and exports for months, as evidenced by FMD outbreaks. Under current United States law , bio-agents which have been declared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the U.S. Department of Agriculture to have the "potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety" are officially defined as " select agents ." The CDC categorizes these agents (A, B or C) and administers

1372-543: A group of people getting sick, you investigate, you measure everything you can measure ... and when you still can't find any physical reason, you say "well, there's nothing else here, so let's call it a case of MPI." Due to the role of the visual and auditory systems in MPI, a link between MPI and mirror neurons has been suggested. In this context, MPI appears as the neurological opposite of autism , caused by an overactive, not underactive, mirror neuron system. This could explain

1470-766: A laboratory in his home in Chevy Chase , Maryland. He used stevedores working the docks in Baltimore to infect horses with glanders while they were waiting to be shipped to Britain. Dilger was under suspicion as being a German agent, but was never arrested. Dilger eventually fled to Madrid, Spain, where he died during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 . In 1916, the Russians arrested a German agent with similar intentions. Germany and its allies infected French cavalry horses and many of Russia's mules and horses on

1568-593: A major health impact. Planning may involve the development of biological identification systems. Until recently in the United States, most biological defense strategies have been geared to protecting soldiers on the battlefield rather than ordinary people in cities. Financial cutbacks have limited the tracking of disease outbreaks. Some outbreaks, such as food poisoning due to E. coli or Salmonella , could be of either natural or deliberate origin. Global defense strategies have also been put into place including

1666-535: A mob had gathered and after they had started to chant for his death, police had to escort him home. In the evening of 29 November, Percy Waddington, who had reported an attack, admitted that he had inflicted the damage upon himself. Others soon made similar admissions, and the Scotland Yard investigation concluded there were no "Slasher" attacks. Five local people were subsequently charged with public mischief offences and four were sent to prison. On 2 December,

1764-569: A mysterious man with a mallet and "bright buckles" on his shoes. Five days later, Mary Sutcliffe reported an attack on herself. Reports of attacks by a 'mysterious man' with a knife or a razor continued, and the nickname "the Halifax Slasher" stuck. The situation became so serious that Scotland Yard was called in to assist the Halifax police. Vigilante groups were set up on the streets, and several people, mistakenly assumed to have been

1862-588: A naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same way as in biological warfare . Further, modern agribusiness is vulnerable to anti-agricultural attacks by terrorists, and such attacks can seriously damage economy as well as consumer confidence . The latter destructive activity is called agrobioterrorism and is a subtype of agro-terrorism . Bioterrorism agents are typically found in nature, but could be mutated or altered to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into

1960-460: A number of ethical concerns, especially surrounding its use in the biohacking space. In 1999, the University of Pittsburgh 's Center for Biomedical Informatics deployed the first automated bioterrorism detection system, called RODS (Real-Time Outbreak Disease Surveillance) . RODS is designed to collect data from many data sources and use them to perform signal detection, that is, to detect

2058-472: A popular student who happened to be sick with a virus. In June 1990, thousands were affected by the spread of a supposed illness in a province of Kosovo in March to June 1990, exclusively affecting ethnic Albanians , most of whom were young adolescents. Symptoms included headaches, dizziness, impeded respiration, muscle weakness, burning sensations, cramps, retrosternal/chest pain, dry mouth and nausea. After

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2156-512: A possible bioterrorism event at the earliest possible moment. RODS, and other systems like it, collect data from sources including clinic data, laboratory data, and data from over-the-counter drug sales. In 2000, Michael Wagner, the codirector of the RODS laboratory, and Ron Aryel , a subcontractor, conceived the idea of obtaining live data feeds from "non-traditional" (non-health-care) data sources. The RODS laboratory's first efforts eventually led to

2254-807: A route for acquisition. Laboratories are working on advanced detection systems to provide early warning, identify contaminated areas and populations at risk, and to facilitate prompt treatment. Methods for predicting the use of biological agents in urban areas as well as assessing the area for the hazards associated with a biological attack are being established in major cities. In addition, forensic technologies are working on identifying biological agents, their geographical origins and/or their initial source. Efforts include decontamination technologies to restore facilities without causing additional environmental concerns. Early detection and rapid response to bioterrorism depend on close cooperation between public health authorities and law enforcement; however, such cooperation

2352-505: A story saying the United States would spend $ 40 million to help certain low and middle-income countries deal with the threats of bioterrorism and infectious diseases. Bioterrorism can additionally harm the psychological aspect of victims and the general public. Victims exposed to biological weapons have shown an increased presence of clinical anxiety compared to the normal population. Bill Gates has warned that bioterrorism could kill more people than nuclear war. In February 2018,

2450-451: A vaccine for troops from the bacteria that cause the disease Q fever, an agent the military once used as a biological weapon. In February 2014, the former special assistant and senior director for biodefense policy to President George W. Bush called the bioterrorism risk imminent and uncertain and Congressman Bill Pascrell called for increasing federal measures against bioterrorism as a "matter of life or death." The New York Times wrote

2548-579: A variety of behaviors, usually attributed to demonic possession . They would often use crude language and exhibit suggestive behaviors. One convent's nuns would regularly meow like cats. Priests were often called in to exorcise demons. MPI outbreaks occurred in factories following the industrial revolution in England , France , Germany , Italy , Russia , the United States and Singapore . W. H. Phoon, Ministry of Labour in Singapore , gives

2646-558: A week. Often a bomoh (medicine man) would be called in to do a ritual exorcism. This technique was not effective and sometimes seemed to exacerbate the MPI outbreak. Females and Malay people were affected disproportionately. Especially notable is the "June Bug" outbreak: In June 1962, a peak month in factory production, 62 workers at a dressmaking factory in a textile town in the Southern United States experienced symptoms including severe nausea and breaking out on

2744-476: A years-long narrative, propped up by more than a thousand reports from government employees, that a foreign adversary used pulsed electro-magnetic energy waves to sicken Americans." Refugee children in Sweden have been reported to fall into coma-like states on learning their families will be deported. The condition, known as resignation syndrome ( Swedish : uppgivenhetssyndrom ), is believed to only exist among

2842-415: Is an obviously beneficial tool in fighting bioterrorism as it provides a means through which such attacks could be discovered in their nascence; assuming bioterrorist attacks result in similar symptoms across the board, this strategy allows New York City to respond immediately to any bioterrorist threats that they may face with some level of alacrity. Government agencies which would be called on to respond to

2940-446: Is beginning to be organized on the continent-wide scale needed to track a biological emergency. The system not only monitors infected persons, but attempts to discern the origin of the outbreak. Researchers have experimented with devices to detect the existence of a threat: Some research shows that ultraviolet avalanche photodiodes offer the high gain, reliability and robustness needed to detect anthrax and other bioterrorism agents in

3038-513: Is lacking. National detection assets and vaccine stockpiles are not useful if local and state officials do not have access to them. Aspects of protection against bioterrorism in the United States include: On a CNN news broadcast in 2011, the CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, weighed in on the American government's recent approach to bioterrorist threats. He explains how, even though

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3136-431: Is more likely for a single building or a neighborhood. Counter-measures against this scenario include the further limitation of access to the water supply systems, tunnels, and infrastructure. Agricultural crop-duster flights might be misused as delivery devices for biological agents as well. Counter-measures against this scenario are background checks of employees of crop-dusting companies and surveillance procedures. In

3234-487: Is no coincidence that Kelantan, the most religiously conservative of all Malaysian states, is also the one most prone to outbreaks." This view is supported by Afiq Noor, an academic, who argues that the stricter implementation of Islamic law in school in states such as Kelantan is linked to the outbreaks. He suggested that the screaming outbreak was caused by the constricted environment. In Malaysian culture, burial sites and trees are common settings for supernatural tales about

3332-402: Is no particular predisposition to mass sociogenic illness and it is a behavioural reaction that anyone can show in the right circumstances." Intense media coverage seems to exacerbate outbreaks. The illness may also recur after the initial outbreak. John Waller advises that once it is determined that the illness is psychogenic, it should not be given credence by authorities. For example, in

3430-432: Is sometimes adhered to, others contest Wessely's definition and describe outbreaks with qualities of both mass motor hysteria and mass anxiety hysteria. The DSM-IV-TR does not define a diagnosis for this condition but the text describing conversion disorder states that "In 'epidemic hysteria', shared symptoms develop in a circumscribed group of people following 'exposure' to a common precipitant." Timothy F. Jones of

3528-458: The 2001 anthrax attacks in October 2001, there were over 2,300 false anthrax alarms in the United States. Some reported physical symptoms of what they believed to be anthrax. In 2001, a man sprayed what was later found to be a window cleaner into a subway station in Maryland. Thirty-five people were treated for nausea, headaches and sore throats. Beginning in 2016, some staff stationed at

3626-592: The Centers for Disease Control . Historically, governments and authorities have relied on quarantines to protect their populations. International bodies such as the World Health Organization already devote some of their resources to monitoring epidemics and have served clearing-house roles in historical epidemics. Media attention toward the seriousness of biological attacks increased in 2013 to 2014. In July 2013, Forbes published an article with

3724-482: The Department of Homeland Security , called for a "whole-of-government" response to the next global health threat, which he described as including strict security procedures at our borders and proper execution of government preparedness plans. Also, novel approaches in biotechnology, such as synthetic biology, could be used in the future to design new types of biological warfare agents. Special attention has to be laid on future experiments (of concern) that: Most of

3822-493: The Halifax Courier ran this story: Carry on Halifax! The Slasher scare is over... The theory that a half-crazed, wild-eyed man has been wandering around, attacking helpless women in dark streets, is exploded... There never was, nor is there likely to be, any real danger to the general public. There is no doubt that following certain happenings public feeling has grown, and that many small incidents have been magnified in

3920-963: The Select Agent Program , which regulates the laboratories which may possess, use, or transfer select agents within the United States. As with US attempts to categorize harmful recreational drugs, designer viruses are not yet categorized and avian H5N1 has been shown to achieve high mortality and human-communication in a laboratory setting. These high-priority agents pose a risk to national security, can be easily transmitted and disseminated, result in high mortality, have potential major public health impact, may cause public panic, or require special action for public health preparedness. Category B agents are moderately easy to disseminate and have low mortality rates. Category C agents are emerging pathogens that might be engineered for mass dissemination because of their availability, ease of production and dissemination, high mortality rate, or ability to cause

4018-599: The Cold War ballistic missile early warning system). The principles and practices of biosurveillance, a new interdisciplinary science, were defined and described in the Handbook of Biosurveillance , edited by Michael Wagner, Andrew Moore and Ron Aryel, and published in 2006. Biosurveillance is the science of real-time disease outbreak detection. Its principles apply to both natural and man-made epidemics (bioterrorism). Data which potentially could assist in early detection of

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4116-647: The Eastern Front. These actions hindered artillery and troop movements, as well as supply convoys. In 1972, police in Chicago arrested two college students, Allen Schwander and Stephen Pera, who had planned to poison the city's water supply with typhoid and other bacteria. Schwander had founded a terrorist group, "R.I.S.E.", while Pera collected and grew cultures from the hospital where he worked. The two men fled to Cuba after being released on bail. Schwander died of natural causes in 1974, while Pera returned to

4214-754: The Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System. Another powerful tool developed within New York City for use in countering bioterrorism is the development of the New York City Syndromic Surveillance System. This system is essentially a way of tracking disease progression throughout New York City, and was developed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) in

4312-782: The Iranian Intelligence Ministry released the findings of a comprehensive investigation which concluded that the reported illnesses were not caused by any toxic substances. Instead they were suggested to have been due to a variety of reasons, including exposure to a variety of non-toxic substances, mass hysteria, and malingering. In October 2023, over 100 students from the St. Theresa's Eregi Girls’ High School in Musoli, Kenya were hospitalized due to rapid and involuntary arm and leg movement, sometimes accompanied by headaches and vertigo. Routine medical tests revealed nothing unusual, and there were no signs of infectious disease as

4410-467: The Singapore factory case study, calling in a medicine man to perform an exorcism seemed to perpetuate the outbreak. Besides the difficulties common to all research involving the social sciences, including a lack of opportunity for controlled experiments, mass sociogenic illness presents special difficulties to researchers in this field. Balaratnasingam and Janca report that the methods for "diagnosis of mass hysteria remain contentious." According to Jones,

4508-547: The Tennessee Department of Health compiles the following symptoms based on their commonality in outbreaks occurring in 1980–1990: Adolescents and children are frequently affected in cases of MPI. The hypothesis that those prone to extraversion or neuroticism , or those with low IQ scores, are more likely to be affected in an outbreak of hysterical epidemic has not been consistently supported by research. Bartholomew and Wessely state that it "seems clear that there

4606-453: The U.S. in 1975 and was put on probation. In 1979, anthrax spores killed around 66 people after the spores were unintentionally released from a military lab near Sverdlovsk, Russia. This occurrence of inhalational anthrax had provided a majority of the knowledge scientists understand about clinical anthrax. Soviet officials and physicians claimed the epidemic was produced by the consumption of infected game meat, but further investigation proves

4704-705: The US embassy in Cuba reported medical symptoms that initially were attributed to "sonic attacks", and later to other unknown weaponry. The symptoms were dubbed "Havana syndrome" by the media. The following year, some US government employees in China reported similar symptoms. Eventually, similar reports came from US government employees and their families around the globe, including in Washington DC. Due to lack of evidence of actual attack and other factors, some scientists suggested

4802-464: The United States under the right conditions. A news broadcast by MSNBC in 2010 also stressed the low levels of bioterrorism preparedness in the United States. The broadcast stated that a bipartisan report gave the Obama administration a failing grade for its efforts to respond to a bioterrorist attack. The news broadcast invited the former New York City police commissioner, Howard Safir, to explain how

4900-563: The United States would be better fending off bioterrorist attacks now than they would be a decade ago, the amount of money available to fight bioterrorism over the last three years has begun to decrease. Looking at a detailed report that examined the funding decrease for bioterrorism in fifty-one American cities, Dr. Gupta stated that the cities "wouldn't be able to distribute vaccines as well" and "wouldn't be able to track viruses." He also said that film portrayals of global pandemics, such as Contagion , were actually quite possible and may occur in

4998-420: The actual physical damage. Military leaders, however, have learned that, as a military asset, bioterrorism has some important limitations; it is difficult to use a bioweapon in a way that only affects the enemy and not friendly forces. A biological weapon is useful to terrorists mainly as a method of creating mass panic and disruption to a state or a country. However, technologists such as Bill Joy have warned of

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5096-575: The air. The fabrication methods and device characteristics were described at the 50th Electronic Materials Conference in Santa Barbara on June 25, 2008. Details of the photodiodes were also published in the February 14, 2008, issue of the journal Electronics Letters and the November 2007 issue of the journal IEEE Photonics Technology Letters. The United States Department of Defense conducts global biosurveillance through several programs, including

5194-546: The alleged symptoms were psychogenic in nature. Seven U.S. intelligence agencies headed by the CIA spent years reviewing thousands of possible cases of Havana syndrome and preparing a report. On March 1, 2023, the House Intelligence Committee released an unclassified version of the report, titled an "Intelligence Community Assessment". Politico summarized the results by saying, "The finding undercuts

5292-571: The anthrax attacks in 2001, the government has allowed itself to become complacent making the country that much more vulnerable to unsuspecting attacks, thereby further endangering the lives of U.S. citizens. Gerstein formerly served in the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security from 2011 to 2014. He claims there has not been a serious plan of action since 2004 during George W. Bush's presidency, in which he issued

5390-501: The anxious and not just the medical and psychological casualties." Early symptoms of those affected by MPI are difficult to differentiate from those actually exposed to the dangerous agent. The first Iraqi missile hitting Israel during the Persian Gulf War was believed to contain chemical or biological weapons. Though this was not the case, 40% of those in the vicinity of the blast reported breathing problems. Right after

5488-401: The attacker, were beaten up; business in the town was all but shut down. Rewards for the capture of the attacker were promised; reports came of more attacks in nearby cities. The panic spread so much that vigilante gangs were roaming the streets of the town and after Hilda Lodge was 'attacked', Clifford Edwards, a local man who had gone to help, was later accused of being the slasher himself. Soon

5586-572: The biosecurity concerns in synthetic biology, however, are focused on the role of DNA synthesis and the risk of producing genetic material of lethal viruses (e.g. 1918 Spanish flu, polio) in the lab. The CRISPR/Cas system has emerged as a promising technique for gene editing. It was hailed by The Washington Post as "the most important innovation in the synthetic biology space in nearly 30 years." While other methods take months or years to edit gene sequences, CRISPR speeds that time up to weeks. However, due to its ease of use and accessibility, it has raised

5684-649: The bite of the tarantula . Those with dancing mania would dance in large groups, sometimes for weeks at a time. The dancing was sometimes accompanied by stripping, howling, the making of obscene gestures, or reportedly laughing or crying to the point of death. Dancing mania was widespread over Europe. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, instances of motor hysteria were common in nunneries . The young ladies that made up these convents were sometimes forced there by family. Once accepted, they took vows of chastity and poverty . Their lives were highly regimented and often marked by strict disciplinary action. The nuns would exhibit

5782-449: The effects resulting from MPI "can be difficult to differentiate from [those of] bioterrorism , rapidly spreading infection or acute toxic exposure." These troubles result from the residual diagnosis of MPI. There is a lack of logic in an argument that proceeds: "There isn't anything, so it must be MPI." It is an example of an argument from ignorance , with ignorance here intended to mean "an absence of contrary evidence". It precludes

5880-486: The end, scientists were divided over the scale of the outbreak, whether it fully explains the many different symptoms and the scale to which sociogenic illness affected those involved. Starting around 2009, a spate of apparent poisonings at girls' schools across Afghanistan began to be reported; symptoms included dizziness, fainting and vomiting. The United Nations , World Health Organization and NATO's International Security Assistance Force carried out investigations of

5978-544: The environment. Biological agents can be spread through the air, water, or in food. Biological agents are attractive to terrorists because they are extremely difficult to detect and do not cause illness for several hours to several days. Some bioterrorism agents, like the smallpox virus , can be spread from person to person and some, like anthrax , cannot. Bioterrorism may be favored because biological agents are relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain, can be easily disseminated, and can cause widespread fear and panic beyond

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6076-514: The establishment of the National Retail Data Monitor, a system which collects data from 20,000 retail locations nationwide. On February 5, 2002, George W. Bush visited the RODS laboratory and used it as a model for a $ 300 million spending proposal to equip all 50 states with biosurveillance systems. In a speech delivered at the nearby Masonic temple , Bush compared the RODS system to a modern " DEW " line (referring to

6174-523: The event about one year later. Their conclusions follow. Their conclusion about the above-average extraversion and neuroticism of those affected is not necessarily typical of MPI: In 1974, mass hysteria affected schools in Berry, Alabama , and Miami Beach . In Berry, it took the form of recurring itches . In the episode in Miami Beach initially triggering fears of poison gas. It was traced back to

6272-477: The family income. Those affected were found to have high levels of job dissatisfaction. Those with strong social ties tended to have similar reactions to the supposed gas, which only one unaffected woman reported smelling. No gas was detected in tests of the data center. In 1962, the Tanganyika laughter epidemic was an outbreak of laughing attacks, rumored to have occurred in or near the village of Kanshasa on

6370-554: The gender difference bias observed in these two conditions, with autism predominantly affecting males (persons with autism show diminished activity in the mirror neuron system), and MPI predominantly affecting young girls, who appear to have a more sensitive mirror system. The earliest studied cases linked with epidemic hysteria are the dancing manias of the Middle Ages , including St. John's dance and tarantism . These were supposed to be associated with spirit possession or

6468-413: The government would fare in combating such an attack. He said how "biological and chemical weapons are probable and relatively easy to disperse." Furthermore, Safir thought that efficiency in bioterrorism preparedness is not necessarily a question of money, but is instead dependent on putting resources in the right places. The broadcast suggested that the nation was not ready for something more serious. In

6566-477: The governments of the United States and Russia. Disastrous consequences are feared if rogue politicians or terrorists were to get hold of the smallpox strains. Since vaccination programs are now terminated, the world population is more susceptible to smallpox than ever before. In Oregon in 1984, followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh attempted to control a local election by incapacitating

6664-587: The illness had subsided, a bipartisan Federal Commission released a document, offering the explanation of psychogenic illness. Radovanovic of the Department of Community Medicine and Behavioural Sciences Faculty of Medicine in Safat, Kuwait, reported: This document did not satisfy either of the two ethnic groups. Many Albanian doctors believed that what they had witnessed was an unusual epidemic of poisoning. The majority of their Serbian colleagues also ignored any explanation in terms of psychopathology. They suggested that

6762-529: The incident was faked with the intention of showing Serbs in a bad light but that it failed due to poor organization. Rodovanovic stated that this reported instance of mass sociogenic illness was precipitated by the demonstrated volatile and culturally tense situation in the province. Another possible case occurred in Belgium in June 1999 when people, mainly schoolchildren, became ill after drinking Coca-Cola. In

6860-685: The incidents over multiple years, but never found any evidence of toxins or poisoning in the hundreds of blood, urine and water samples they tested. The conclusion of the investigators was that the girls were experiencing a mass psychogenic illness. In 2011, a possible outbreak of mass psychogenic illness occurred at Le Roy Junior-Senior High School, in upstate New York , US, in which multiple students began having symptoms similar to Tourette syndrome . Various health professionals ruled out such factors as Gardasil , drinking water contamination, illegal drugs, carbon monoxide poisoning and various other potential environmental or infectious causes, before diagnosing

6958-600: The introduction of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in 1975. A majority of countries across the globe participated in the conventions (144) but a handful chose not to take part in the defense. Many of the countries who opted out of the convention are located in the Middle East and former Soviet Union countries. Export controls on biological agents are not applied uniformly, providing terrorists

7056-407: The local population. They infected salad bars in 11 restaurants, produce in grocery stores, doorknobs, and other public domains with Salmonella typhimurium bacteria in the city of The Dalles , Oregon . The attack infected 751 people with severe food poisoning . There were no fatalities. This incident was the first known bioterrorist attack in the United States in the 20th century. It was also

7154-505: The most common hoax scenario, no biological agents are employed. For instance, an envelope with powder in it that says, “You've just been exposed to anthrax.” Such hoaxes have been shown to have a large psychological impact on the population . Anti-agriculture attacks are considered to require relatively little expertise and technology. Biological agents that attack livestock, fish, vegetation, and crops are mostly not contagious to humans and are therefore easier for attackers to handle. Even

7252-580: The nerves and neurons that send messages to the brain become disrupted, resulting in an array of neurological symptoms such as twitching, shaking, convulsions, and trance-like states.” Bartholomew observes that school-stress borne illness such as occurred here have not been uncommon in Africa since the 1960s. Some appear to be due to Christian missionary schools largely ignoring local traditions and mythologies. Instead, such schools impart their own mythologies and culture. This may create overwhelming anxiety due to

7350-493: The notion that an organic factor could have been overlooked ( i.e. that there may have been insufficient investigation), or the possibility that the answer may currently be unknown but known at a future point in time. Nevertheless, running an extensive number of tests extends the probability of false positives. Singer, of the Uniformed Schools of Medicine, has summarized the problems with such a diagnosis: [Y]ou find

7448-508: The potential power which genetic engineering might place in the hands of future bio-terrorists. The use of agents that do not cause harm to humans, but disrupt the economy, have also been discussed. One such pathogen is the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus, which is capable of causing widespread economic damage and public concern (as witnessed in the 2001 and 2007 FMD outbreaks in the UK), while having almost no capacity to infect humans. By

7546-399: The public mind until a real state of alarm was caused. This assurance that there is no real cause for alarm, in short, no properly authenticated wholesale attacks by such a person as the bogy man known as the 'Slasher', should allay the public fear... Halifax had suffered from slasher attacks before, when in 1927, James Leonard was convicted of stalking and slashing the clothes of six women in

7644-627: The rapid rate of contagion with the apparent reasonableness of the bug infestation theory and the credence given to it in accompanying news stories. In 1974, Stahl and Lebedun described an outbreak of mass sociogenic illness in the data center of a university town in the United States Midwest . Ten of 39 workers smelling an unconfirmed "mystery gas" were rushed to a hospital with symptoms of dizziness, fainting, nausea and vomiting. They reported that most workers were young women, either putting their husbands through school or supplementing

7742-471: The refugee population in Sweden, where it has been prevalent since the early part of the 21st century. Commentators state "a degree of psychological contagion" is inherent to the condition, by which young friends and relatives of the affected individual can also come to have the condition. In a 130-page report on the condition, commissioned by the government and published in 2006, a team of psychologists, political scientists and sociologists hypothesized that it

7840-713: The same school. This is seen as a rather atypical case of recurrent mass hysteria. In July 2022, reports of up to 15 girls showing unusual symptoms such as screaming, trembling, and banging their heads came up from a government school in Bageshwar , Uttarakhand , India . Mass psychological illness has been suggested as a possible cause. In late 2022 and early 2023, thousands of students, mostly girls, in numerous schools in Iran were initially believed to have been poisoned in various and undetermined manners by unidentified perpetrators and numerous arrests were made. On 29 April 2023,

7938-510: The single largest bioterrorism attack on U.S. soil. In June 1993, the religious group Aum Shinrikyo released anthrax in Tokyo. Eyewitnesses reported a foul odor. The attack was a failure, because it did not infect a single person. The reason for this is due to the fact that the group used the vaccine strain of the bacterium. The spores which were recovered from the site of the attack showed that they were identical to an anthrax vaccine strain that

8036-437: The skin. Most outbreaks occurred during the first shift, where four fifths of the workers were female. Of 62 total outbreaks, 59 were women, some of whom believed they were bitten by bugs from a fabric shipment. Entomologists and others were called in to discover the pathogen, but none was found. Kerchoff coordinated the interview of affected and unaffected workers at the factory, and summarized his findings: Kerchoff linked

8134-483: The source of infection were the inhaled spores. There is continued discussion about the intentionality of the epidemic and some speculate it was calculated by the Soviet government. In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the eradication of smallpox , a highly contagious and incurable disease. Although the disease has been eliminated in the wild, frozen stocks of smallpox virus are still maintained by

8232-738: The spirits of dead infants ( toyol ), vampiric ghosts ( pontianak ) and vengeful female spirits ( penanggalan ). Authorities responded to the Kelantan outbreak by cutting down trees around the school. Outbreaks of mass psychogenic illness "have been reported in Catholic convents and monasteries across Mexico, Italy and France, in schools in Kosovo and even among cheerleaders in a rural North Carolina town". Episodes of mass hysteria have been frequent in Nepalese schools, at times even leading to

8330-574: The students being taught one thing at home, such as ancestor worship, which is then forbidden at a Christian mythology based school. Other such outbreaks have similar tradition-based causes, such as a 1995 outbreak of “bouts of screaming, crying, foaming at the mouth, and partial paralysis” in over 600 girls at an African Muslim school in Northern Nigeria. This outbreak was surmised to be due to expectations of traditional arranged marriage, colliding with modernity's emphasis on romantic love that

8428-494: The students had observed in movies. The difference between these two cases of mass psychogenic illness reinforces that each outbreak needs to be evaluated in the specific circumstances in which it occurred, as such instances are “never spontaneous reactions to stress per se; they are always couched in some unique context.” In 2002, Bartholomew and Wessely stated that the "concern that after a chemical, biological or nuclear attack, public health facilities may be rapidly overwhelmed by

8526-618: The students with a conversion disorder and mass psychogenic illness. In August 2019 the BBC reported that schoolgirls at the Ketereh national secondary school (SMK Ketereh) in Kelantan , Malaysia, started screaming, with some claiming to have seen 'a face of pure evil'. Simon Wessely of King's College Hospital , London, suggested it was a form of 'collective behaviour'. Robert Bartholomew , an American medical sociologist and author, said, "It

8624-496: The temporary closure of those schools involved. In 2018, a unique phenomenon of "recurrent epidemic of mass hysteria" was reported from a school of Pyuthan district of western Nepal. After a nine-year-old school girl developed crying and shouting episodes. Other children of the same school became affected in rapid succession, resulting in 47 affected students, 37 females, 10 males, in the same day. Since 2016, similar episodes of mass psychogenic illness have been occurring every year at

8722-507: The time World War I began, attempts to use anthrax were directed at animal populations. This generally proved to be ineffective. Shortly after the start of World War I, Germany launched a biological sabotage campaign in the United States, Russia, Romania, and France. At that time, Anton Dilger lived in Germany, but in 1915 he was sent to the United States carrying cultures of glanders , a virulent disease of horses and mules. Dilger set up

8820-472: The title "Bioterrorism: A Dirty Little Threat With Huge Potential Consequences." In November 2013, Fox News reported on a new strain of botulism, saying that the Centers for Disease and Control lists botulism as one of two agents that have "the highest risks of mortality and morbidity", noting that there is no antidote for botulism. USA Today reported that the U.S. military in November was trying to develop

8918-445: The town. He was given a six-month sentence, however, he was quickly ruled out of the 1938 attacks on account of his large nose, which none of the 1938 victims had described. Mass hysteria MPI is distinct from other types of collective or mass delusions by involving physical symptoms. Qualities of MPI outbreaks often include: British psychiatrist Simon Wessely distinguishes between two forms of MPI: While his definition

9016-547: The truth. After the rise of a popular breakthrough YouTube channel in 2019, where the presenter exhibits extensive Tourette's -like behavior, there was a sharp rise in young people referred to clinics specializing in tics, thought to be related to social contagion spread via the Internet , and also to stress from eco-anxiety and the COVID-19 pandemic . The authors of an August 2021 report found evidence that social media

9114-457: The wake of the 9/11 attacks. The system works by tracking the symptoms of those taken into the emergency department—based on the location of the hospital to which they are taken and their home address—and assessing any patterns in symptoms. These established trends can then be observed by medical epidemiologists to determine if there are any disease outbreaks in any particular locales; maps of disease prevalence can then be created rather easily. This

9212-629: The western coast of Lake Victoria in what is now Tanzania , eventually affecting 14 different schools and over 1,000 people. On the morning of Thursday 7 October 1965, at a girls' school in Blackburn in England, several girls complained of dizziness. Some fainted. Within a couple of hours, 85 girls from the school were rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital after fainting. Symptoms included swooning, moaning, chattering of teeth, hyperpnea , and tetany . Moss and McEvedy published their analysis of

9310-642: Was a culture-bound syndrome , a psychological illness endemic to a specific society. This phenomenon has later been called into question, with children witnessing that they were forced, by their parents, to act in a certain way in order to increase chances of being granted residence permits. As evidenced by medical records, healthcare professionals were aware of this scam, and witnessed parents who actively refused aid for their children, but remained silent. Later, Sveriges Television , Sweden's national public television broadcaster, were severely critiqued by investigative journalist Janne Josefsson for failing to uncover

9408-945: Was given to animals at the time. These vaccine strains are missing the genes that cause a symptomatic response. In September and October 2001, several cases of anthrax broke out in the United States, apparently deliberately caused. Letters laced with infectious anthrax were concurrently delivered to news media offices and the U.S. Congress, alongside an ambiguously related case in Chile . The letters killed five people. There are multiple considerable scenarios, how terrorists might employ biological agents. In 2000, tests conducted by various US agencies showed that indoor attacks in densely populated spaces are much more serious than outdoor attacks. Such enclosed spaces are large buildings, trains, indoor arenas, theaters, malls, tunnels and similar. Contra-measures against such scenarios are building architecture and ventilation systems engineering. In 1993, sewage

9506-485: Was spilled out into a river, subsequently drawn into the water system and affected 400,000 people in Milwaukee , Wisconsin. The disease-causing organism was cryptosporidium parvum . This man-made disaster can be a template for a terrorist scenario. Nevertheless, terrorist scenarios are considered more likely near the points of delivery than at the water sources before the water treatment . Release of biological agents

9604-467: Was the primary vector for transmission and that it predominantly affects adolescent girls, declaring the phenomenon the first recorded instance of "mass social media–induced illness" (MSMI). Informational notes Citations Bioterrorism Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents . These agents include bacteria , viruses , insects , fungi , and/or their toxins , and may be in

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