Weaponisation of Ebola by Muslim terrorists

[Anomalocaris]

Ebola is a dangerous disease, but it isn't really a good choice for weaponization. To be a strong contender for that purpose it needs to be easily transmissible via air, water e.t.c. Also it needs to be more difficult to detect. In a western nation with good medical facilities, it would cause much less terror than suicide-bombings. But as we move forward in time, I am pretty sure that bio-warfare is the future of terrorism.

1. I think you overestimate the quality of the average medical facilities and personel in countries like the US. The US has some of the world's best medical facilities, yes. But most common facilities are understaffed, overwhelmed, poorly trained, poorly coordinated. The fiasco with first Ebola case in the US amply demonstrates that. 1 patient grossly mishandled more than once, and is now dead. 2 nurses, supposedlyt protected, are infected. CDC, hospital and the nurses union are accusing each other. CDC said nurses did something wrong. Nurses say there was no consistent guideline on what is the right thing to do, the hospital say it is the only side that bears no fault. There turn out, announced only 3 weeks into the fiasco, that only 4 facilities in the entire country are thought to be adaquately equipped to properly handle ebola cases. The hospital in which the first ebola patient in the US died is, guess what, not one of them. The foresight and coordinatiion is such that no one thought to involve them in the first Ebola case in the US.

2. I believe in case of a serious outbreak of Ebola in the United States, a far higher than expected proportion of people who may have been infected, but who have yet to show symptoms, would break containment on the theory that they personally would have a better chance by leaving the infected area, even if they would thereby expose uninfected areas to infections. The bottom feeding tea partiers like Sarah Palin would undoubtedly say any coordinated effort to prevent people in infected area from leaving would consititute a "death panel".

3. Ebola may not fit the criteria of the best biological warfare agent that could be designed, but it has a attribute superior to the best biological agent that can be designed - it already exists. One does not need the backing of a major state, a state of the art lab and dozens of PhDs from the best research universities to create it

4. It is not all together clear how close Ebola is to mutating into a strain that could be transmitted by air.

5. It would appear it is quite infectious enough without being transimissible by air. WHO estimate 10000 new infections a week by year's end. That means 5000-9000 deaths a week. That would like a World Trade Center collapse, every week, for the duration. Or one Iraq war, every week, for the duration.