Here comes the virus warrior

Currently, various types of bacteria, viruses, and toxins like anthrax, small pox, plague, etc, are available which could be used by bio-terrorists. In 1986, 715 people became ill in Oregon when Rajneesh cult members poisoned salad bars with salmonella. During 1990-93, Amu Shinrikyo, a religious cult in Japan, tried to release bubonic plague pathogens from a car near the Japanese parliament building and later they tried to spray anthrax spores from the roof of their Tokyo office building. In the recent past, the UK police got advance knowledge of terrorist plots to use ricin as a biological weapon. Surprisingly, the global community has not taken serious note of North Korea openly saying it possesses biological weapons.

Countries like India face enormous challenges from such threats because of high population density, inadequate medical facilities, feeble disaster management infrastructure to handle situations arising out of major bio-terror attacks. Against this backdrop the current Interpol threat assessment demands immediate response.