Evaluation of biological and chemical weapons in the scope of the pandemic process and the measures to be taken

Abstract

Biological attack or bioterrorism is one of the sides to cause disease or death in all living things by using biological causative agents of disease due to reasons such as political, ideological and economic. There were many biological attacks from the primitive ages when poisoned arrows were used to the use of anthrax spores in 2001 against USA. Although chemical attacks are not as deep-rooted as biological attacks, they have been used for a long time, but the period when they came to the stage of history was the 19th century with the development of the modern chemical industry. Chemical attacks caused injuries, permanent damage and death to many people especially during the period of World wars. The pandemic that can be caused by natural epidemic diseases is the spread of a factor or disease in a very wide area. With the spread of disease;panic, unrest and chaos environment occurs in the spreading area. Coronavirus (Covid-19), which causes the current pandemic, is the most recent example. Coronavirus out broke in Wuhan, China, and started to spread in China first, and then Iran, and had an impact on Italy as well as European continent and around the world with the American continent. It infected millions of people, hundreds of thousands of people died, and caused environmental, social, psychological and economic problems on a global scale. Recently, different pandemic processes related to influenza have been experienced, but states have not been able to demonstrate an effective and efficient defense against the new type of coronavirus since the necessary preparations were not made despite the death of millions of people. Since biological attack and natural epidemics have the same effects and characteristics, it is not possible to predict how the states will respond in a possible biological attack. As in the current pandemic process, the possible consequences that will arise when caught unprepared are doubtful. In this study, it is evaluated how biological agents and natural epidemics are similar to each other and how to take measures against a possible attack or a new disaster. © 2022,Turk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji Dergisi.All Rights Reserved.