Lecture Notes:

Weaponization of biological materials is an ancient practice. The bubonic plague (i.e., the Black Death, Yersinia pestis) is thought to have spread from Crimea due to biological warfare. In the fourteenth century, Kaffa (now Feodosija, Ukraine) was besieged by the Tartars, who catapulted the bodies of their deceased soldiers into the city, thus transmitting the pathogen, facilitating its spread to Europe, and causing the most fatal pandemic ever recorded in human history.

A bioweapon is best considered a three-component system, consisting of a payload, munition, and a delivery mechanism. The payload is the biological material, which is usually an infectious agent. The munition is the container housing the payload and is designed to maintain potency during delivery. The delivery mechanism is only limited by imagination and could be a missile, a vehicle, a person, or a blanket. The most important consideration is infectivity because exposure to even a small number of people may succeed in geometric spread.

Of course, the method of delivery should be carefully considered, with special attention to maximizing exposure and evading capture. The ideal host would be a child. Children are unsanitary by nature, which would aid primary exposure. Adults are prone to close contact and physical affection with kids, thus improving secondary infection. For the computer simulations I am about to show you, we targeted the children. [Reminder: Please hold your questions and comments until the end of the lecture.]