Genetic engineering can increase the lethality of pathogens, and viruses can be resurrected from frozen samples. “Superbugs” can refer to engineered bioweapons or antibiotic-resistant microbes. The UN Biological Weapons Convention bans biological weapons, but major powers still conduct “biodefense” research. Creating a superbug is relatively easy, and the consequences of releasing one could be catastrophic.
There is experimental evidence that genetic engineering can be used to increase the lethality of pre-existing pathogens, such as mousepox or anthrax, to allow them to do even more damage than they would without modification.
It has also proved possible to resurrect viruses frozen for nearly a hundred years, as was done recently with the 1918 Spanish flu virus, which killed 50-100 million people worldwide in 1918-1919, more than double of World War I deaths, which immediately preceded the pandemic. In addition to being recreated and used to infect laboratory animals, which contracted serious diseases and many of which died, the entire genome of the virus was sequenced and posted on the Internet for anyone to download. The wisdom of such a move was criticized by technologists Ray Kurzweil and Bill Joy in the New York Times.
“Superbug” in the context of this article refers to the possibility of an engineered biological warfare or bioterrorism agent. Another meaning for “superbug” refers to microbes that evolve exclusively in hospitals (where the selective pressure to evolve is greatest) and are resistant to antibiotics. The best-known antibiotic-resistant “superbug” is staph infection and its variants. Despite the fact that neither are connected today, the possibility exists that bioweapons engineers could exploit antibiotic-resistant microbes for biowarfare capabilities.
According to the 1972 United Nations Biological Weapons Convention, all biological weapons are banned from use among signatory states, which include virtually all major world powers. Non-signatory states include the small republic of San Marino, Israel, Mauritania, Chad, Cameroon, Angola, Namibia, Eritrea, Comoros, and some Pacific island nations. However, in the interests of realpolitik, the major powers still conduct “biodefense” research, ostensibly for the purpose of preventing attacks rather than launching them. This research has included infecting monkeys with smallpox and creating strains of anthrax so lethal that they kill hamsters who are genetically resistant to the disease or have been injected with a vaccine.
Creating a superbug is probably not as complicated as it sounds. In his book on smallpox and anthrax, The Demon in the Freezer, science writer Richard Preston wrote: “The main thing standing between the human species and the creation of a supervirus is the sense of responsibility between individual biologists.” Bacteria take up new genetic material very easily, a process called transformation, which makes it easy to custom insert specific genes into bacteria to make them produce precise chemicals. For example, to produce very pure amounts of botulinum toxin for botulinum toxin therapy, scientists insert a botulinum-producing gene into sterile bacteria such as laboratory strains of E. coli. Botulinum toxin is the deadliest substance in the world, capable of killing with just 50 nanograms. If a highly virulent strain of bacteria were given the gene to synthesize botulinum toxin and the resulting superbug was released at several major airports simultaneously, the result could kill tens, thousands or even millions, nobody knows.
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