BIOTERRORISM AND BIOSECURITY – RISK ANALYSIS AND SPECIFIC PREVENTION

Abstract

Microorganisms with lethal potential for human body and the toxins they produce have their own place in history, because of the numerous epidemics they have caused and because of the large number of human lives they have taken. They are a hidden enemy, extremely insidious and with high mortality rates and they can destroy all the defence, control, and medical systems of a state; they can kill many people before anyone can realise the true phenomenon; they can hide the criminals before even suspecting the crime, and they can create chaos, terror, and even economic collapse. Furthermore, we have to analyse the conceptual mutations of the terrorist phenomenon in the last decade. It tends to be a mass destruction act rather than a manipulation and ideologic movement. We can truly say that bioterrorism is the scariest scenario of all existing threats and the main question remains: are all international systems ready to face this enemy and is there a prevention protocol that could be adapted realistically to these threats?