Page 98 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2016

An Ongoing Series

The Hidden Complexity of Biological “Dirty Bombs”

Implications for Special Operations Medical Personnel

Michael A. Washington, PhD; Jauchia Blythe, PhD

ABSTRACT
The recent capture of a terrorist in Belgium carrying ex- into the resulting wound. This can result in the devel-
plosives, fecal matter, and animal tissue may indicate a opment wound infection and/or sepsis. Despite the lack
shift from conventional weapons to crude bacteriologi- of refinement of the device carried by the Belgian ter-
cal preparations as instruments of terror. It is important rorist, fecal matter is far from a simple substance. It is
to note that although such weapons lack technological an incredibly complex aggregation of gut-derived bac-
sophistication, bacteria are inherently complex, unpre- teria. Studies of the microbial composition of the hu-
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dictable, and undetectable in the field. Therefore, it is man gut have indicated that bacterial cells outnumber
important that Special Operations medical personnel human cells by a factor of 10 and that the average hu-
understand the complications that such seemingly sim- man gut contains more than 1000 microbial species.
2
ple devices can add to the treatment of casualties in the Human feces may contain Escherichia spp., Bacterioi-
field and subsequent evaluation in the clinic. des spp., Clostridium spp., Klebisella spp., and Pseudo-
monas spp., all organisms that have been implicated in
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Keywords: “dirty bombs”; terrorists; warfare, biological the development of wound infection. It has been previ-
ously noted that wounds healing is impaired when the
concentration of bacteria exceeds 1 million bacterial
cells/mL of fluid. Given that the average concentration
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Introduction
of bacteria in 1g of feces can range from 10 million cells
Recently, a terrorist bomber arrested in Belgium was to 10 billion cells/g, it can be concluded that infection
found to be carrying a backpack containing a crude can be induced in bomb victims with a relatively small
mixture of fermented fecal matter, animal testicles, and amount of starting material and that these infections can
explosives. It is believed that this device was prepared impact wound healing and recovery and/or cause life-
1
with the intention of spreading infection during a ter- threatening sepsis. 5
ror attack. On the surface, the individual components
carried by the terrorist appear to lack complexity and The inclusion of animal testes in the device is adds a
sophistication. However, this apparent simplicity masks level of complexity that may not be immediately obvi-
the fact that, in combination, these components can be ous. Animal protein, typically in the form of chopped
a genuine threat to Special Operations military person- meat, has long been used to support the growth of bac-
nel and pose a significant challenge to the practice of terial pathogens. Previous studies have demonstrated
6
Special Operations medicine during counterterrorism or that a bacterial broth consisting of chopped meat as a
counterinsurgency operations. protein source is capable of maintaining the viability
of pathogens in for up to 8 weeks. It is therefore pos-
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sible that the animal testicles were added to the mix-
Framing the Threat
ture as a means of encouraging fecal bacterial growth
The threat posed by the materials recovered during and maintaining bacterial viability. It is worth noting
this incident arise from the fact that the detonation of that this inclusion is an act that indicates knowledge of
a bomb made of fermented feces and animal testicles basic microbiology on the part of the bomber and a de-
can cause the traumatic inoculation of bomb debris sire to maximize the effectiveness of his or her weapon.

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