Deadly germs may be more likely to be spread due to a biodefence lab accident than a biological attack by terrorists.
If terrorists ever unleashed a biological weapon, unusual molecules normally found in the blood of llamas could quickly help warn of the attack, scientists now report.
In the past five years, new technology has made it easier to genetically modify microbes and even create new ones from scratch. Some worry that the developments could lead to novel and more dangerous kinds of bioterror threats.
The U.S. government is building a highly classified facility to research biological weapons, but its closed-door approach has raised concerns.
While the Pentagon struggles to deploy a huge antimissile system against a presumed threat from North Korean rockets, biologists are working to develop tiny "antimicrobial" defenses against harmful germs, including from biological weapons.
Meliodosis, an orphaned tropical disease, is getting new attention and funding because of its potential as a biological weapon.
More than 750 of the nation's leading microbiological researchers have openly called on the Bush Administration to return the nation's scientific focus to more basic pathogens and away from the few rare bacteria and viruses that could be used as weapons by terrorists.
Senior scientific advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recommended the creation of a genetically modified version of the smallpox virus to counter any threat of a bioterrorist attack.
An influential World Health Organization committee has upset some scientists with its recommendation that researchers be permitted to conduct genetic-engineering experiments with the smallpox virus.
The United States remains woefully unprepared to protect the public against terrorists wielding biological agents despite dramatic increases in biodefense spending by the Bush administration and considerable progress on many fronts, according to government officials and specialists in bioterrorism and public health.