Islamic State (IS) may use Ebola virus for terrorism

Expert Al Shimkus said that IS could use the human body as an intermediary to spread the Ebola virus around the world.

According to security expert Al Shimkus, professor at the Navar War College, the Islamic State organization may have thought of using the Ebola virus as a biological weapon for terrorism in a strategy to spread the virus globally.

The organization will use the bodies of infected people in West Africa to spread the deadly virus. Professor Shimkus said: "Bodies that have been exposed to the Ebola virus are the intermediate carriers of the disease. In the context of increasingly sophisticated terrorist activities, the use of humans as intermediate carriers of the disease is possible."

Could IS militants use the Ebola virus as a biological weapon? (photo: AP)

Many areas of West Africa are ravaged by the Ebola epidemic, so it would be easy for terrorist groups to create infected bodies and use them for their own purposes elsewhere, at any time they want.

To do this, the Islamic State simply sends its people to areas where the disease is spreading and deliberately infects them. Once they are infected, they try to contact as many people as possible in the target cities and countries, Shimkus explained.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average fatality rate for Ebola is 50%. Without timely treatment, this number can fluctuate up to 90%. The WHO also notes that although there are currently two vaccines that can cure the disease, both are still under testing and have not been licensed.

The Ebola virus is spread from person to person through contact with infected bodily fluids (blood, saliva, urine, sweat, etc.). According to Shimkus, the idea of ​​using humans as vectors is not new. In the Middle Ages, countries used to throw infected bodies into other countries to spread the plague.

The Islamic State (IS) could use the same approach today, Shimkus said. We can test people who are infected as they enter and leave the country, but the probability of finding them is not 100%.

However, even if IS wanted to use infected bodies to spread Ebola in Western countries and the United States, the virus would not spread exponentially, Shimkus said, because, in theory, advanced health care systems in these countries would be able to quickly isolate patients and contain the virus.

It is known that in the May 2013 issue of Global Policy magazine, Amanda Teckman, author of the article "Bioterrorist threats from Ebola and their impact on global security and health", also concluded that the threat of a terrorist attack using biological weapons from the Ebola virus should not be ignored./.

According to VOV.VN