Biological 9/11

instead of hijacking planes, the 19 9/11 hijackers infect themselves with anthrax or another lethal disease a day or few days before hand and go on the flights as normal,how many people could be killed and how many people would be infected and what would the reaction to it .
 
instead of hijacking planes, the 19 9/11 hijackers infect themselves with anthrax or another lethal disease a day or few days before hand and go on the flights as normal,how many people could be killed and how many people would be infected and what would the reaction to it .
it depends on the disease, it could be a civilization ending plague or with anthrax just kill them, anthrax is many things but person to person spread is one of the few things that it is known not to do.
 
Depends on the offending agent and the means of defence. Counter Bio-terrorism is High on the agenda in Homeland defence, but it doesn't mean it Can control something like that easily.
Anthrax could be used in the plane but doesn't spread. Ebola dispersed in this manner would be contained, but would Cause massive panic.
Lots of travel restrictions if you imagine a dispersal wide enough.
Quite spooky
 
Well, if you come up with something really virulent and easily transmissible, you could infect thousands by passing through a few select hub airports. Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth are a few rather obvious airports that come to mind. Atlanta would be particularly effective since it has relatively narrow concourses and a train that connects them. In fact, the most effective way to do this would be to fly from those airports and never make one's flight. Just keep walking around spreading whatever you've got. Over the course of a day, you'd be in contact with thousands of people heading all over the nation and world. If the intent is to keep the thing within the United States, it might be better to use mass transit such as the NY subway or Chicago "El" or stick to hub airports with little international traffic.
 

King Thomas

Banned
How about a weaponised form of AIDS that is spread through normal breathing? No harm for ten years or so and then a deadly plague with at first no cure spread through the world with the death of millions to billions of people?
 
How about a weaponised form of AIDS that is spread through normal breathing? No harm for ten years or so and then a deadly plague with at first no cure spread through the world with the death of millions to billions of people?
I don't actually know much about how biological weapons work, but this doesn't sound very possible.

I could see anthrax being the method of choice for this biological 9/11. Isn't it pretty easy to make?
 
it depends on the disease, it could be a civilization ending plague or with anthrax just kill them, anthrax is many things but person to person spread is one of the few things that it is known not to do.
would something like weaponize smallpox be better ?
 
would something like weaponize smallpox be better ?
It really depends smallpox is much harder to get, weaponized bubonic plague less so due to there being natural reserves world wide, weaponized ebola, tulmaria, there are others.
 

missouribob

Banned
In 2001 I don't think Al Qaeda had the ability to produce a proper biological outbreak. Now interestingly moving into the future with advances in CRISPR technology it will be possible for non-state actors to create super-plagues that could possibly even end civilization as we know it...
 
Wauw, things got fancy here.
No weaponized HIV, not in its Biology.
Stick with something existing. Anthrax Will kill only those directly exposed. Ebola with its two weeks latency is manageable but it Will paralyze the nation for months.
Doomsday weapons? Well if a bio weapon had those properties it would already be spreading
 
In 2001 I don't think Al Qaeda had the ability to produce a proper biological outbreak. Now interestingly moving into the future with advances in CRISPR technology it will be possible for non-state actors to create super-plagues that could possibly even end civilization as we know it...
Easy access to advanced genetic Engineering is a troublesome advance already available.
It Will become easier still
 

missouribob

Banned
I should note that I don't think a biological outbreak has the same psychological effect as the WTC falling. There is a reason Al Queda did the attacks they did in OTL. It is because they were effective.
 
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