Biological Terrorism-28 Days Later

In the film, 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2003), a man wakes up from a coma to find that society around him has crumbled and humans have turned into vicious and psychotic creatures who attack others. When the infected humans attack others they pass along the infection through their blood. The main character spends the rest of the movie trying to find some kind of rescue from the military however he finds that the answer to the virus does not exist. The film provides an interesting glimpse into what would happen if a deadly infection spreads through a nation. The collapse of civilization depicted in the film demonstrates how danger biological weapons can become if they were used by terrorists. While the virus is not spread in the film due to a terrorist attack it can be reimagined as a terrorist threat. Through this, a possible plan of defense against the attack could be developed that could be utilized if an actual threat of biological and chemical warfare occurred.

The biological agent is released in the film through chimps who are infected with the virus and are freed by animal right activists. The agent that we will focus on would have been released due to a terrorist attack. The agent is a virus that is spread through the blood and induces rage in individuals. Therefore, the way in which the infection is spread would have to be unique. The terrorists would use individuals similar to the way in which suicide bombers are used by terrorists. They would infect individuals with the virus and release them out into the public. The terrorists would infect a number of individuals in various parts of the United States. This would allow the virus to spread quickly and would make it harder for the government to contain. The faster that the virus spreads the damage will spread even faster as the government will have to attempt to not only figure out what the virus is, but they will also have to maintain order with individuals who are destroying each other and property. Apart from other typical epidemics where individuals remain in hospitals, this epidemic would result in destruction of the society as they know it. 

Once the biological agent is released, the infected individuals would go into a rage and begin to attack innocent people. These people would then become infected as they would come into contact with the blood of infected individuals. Once the agent enters the bloodstream of an infected person it would begin to change the composition of the brain. The area of the brain that controls an individual’s rage and impulses would be enlarged. The areas of the brain that impact reasoning, common sense and basic human emotion would be severely damaged. The brain of the infected individuals would begin to look like the brains of psychopaths. The infected would no longer behave as humans as they would be primarily driven by the need to kill others and destroy property. 

As the virus begins to spread the government would need to involve the military to be able to quickly quarantine the infected individuals from healthy individuals. As the disease would spread quickly within heavily populated areas the military may need to blockade whole sections of infected areas. They would have to attempt to imprison infected individuals through stunning the individuals, handcuffing them and then placing them into locked cells. The military would need to create holding areas that would be locked facilities where these infected individuals would be held. It would be important to detain individuals rather than killing them as there may be a possibility of a cure. Also, if healthy individuals see the military shooting people it would incite panic that would make containing the situation even more difficult to manage. The military’s main focus would be to control and manage the situation so that infected individuals are contained, and healthy people are kept safe. 

Once these individuals are contained through blockades the Center for Disease Control would begin to work towards developing a vaccine that would protect healthy people from being infected with the virus. Cieslak (2000), found in his study that immunization from a biological agent would be the most efficient way of preventing the virus from spreading. “From a military perspective, an important component of the protective pre-exposure armamentarium against this threat is immunization. In addition, certain vaccines are an accepted component of postexposure prophylaxis against potential bioterrorist threat agents” (Cieslak, 2000 843). The vaccine would need to have antibodies against the virus from occurring in a healthy individual. A cure would also need to be developed for the individuals that are infected. Even though individual may be protected from becoming infected as a result of the virus they would still be harmed as a result of becoming attacked by infected individuals. However, a cure may be hard to come by especially since the virus affects the composition of the brain. Infected individuals could be studied by the CDC for possible ways to cure the disease. If these individuals were not able to be cured and there may be a threat for reinfection, they would have to be put down to protect the rest of the population.

Finally, a comprehensive effort would need to be made by the government to find the terrorists who spread the disease. They would need to quickly be found and detained before they continue to develop other hazardous biological agents. They may continue to spread the virus around the world. Due to the globally interconnected world we live in the virus would spread quickly and would become impossible to detain. The government would need to begin efforts as soon as knowledge of the virus spreads to make other nations aware of the condition that is affecting their population. These steps would ensure that the virus is controlled and eventually eradicated from the country.

References

Boyle, D. (2003). 28 Days Later. USA: 20th Century Fox. 

Cieslak, T. J., Christopher, G. W., Kortepeter, M. G., Rowe, J. R., Pavlin, J. A., Culpepper, R. 

C., & Eitzen, E. M. (2000). Immunization against potential biological warfare agents. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 30(6), 843-850.