By Rocco B. K. Panangadan –

Rocco B. K. Panangadan

Malaria is a deadly virus that can have effects ranging from headaches and nausea to coma and death. Although it can be controlled by vaccines, if not properly treated it almost certainly leads to death.

Malaria comes from the infected female Anopheles mosquito. It is prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical regions like Africa and Asia.

Malaria is an annoyance in warfare, due to it’s prevalence around the globe, infecting soldiers everywhere. In the First World War, nearly 80 percent of 120,000 French soldiers stationed in Macedonia were hospitalized due to malaria. However, if malaria was used as a biological weapon, the results would be catastrophic. Third World countries like Afghanistan or Iraq would simply not be able to survive the immense number of casualties if malaria was to break out now due to the ongoing civil conflicts.

Malaria as a biological weapon would not be as easily detectable as other viruses or chemicals due to it not being a manmade virus or chemical. It’s natural. People would just think it was a malaria outbreak.

If terrorists were to release 1,000 infected Anopheles Mosquitoes into New York City, the results would be terrible. Tens of thousands of people would be infected. However, everyone would still think it is a malaria outbreak, not a biological attack. But remember, New York City is a big place. You could get

Malaria vaccines anywhere. And the UN can’t just ban the use of malaria in warfare, because, how would they know? It would take hundreds of years just to find out where the mosquito came from.

Of course, necessary precautions can be taken by spraying chemicals that kill Mosquitoes easily. But these chemicals are very unsafe to breathe in.

And malaria is easy to get. You just get a couple hundred female Anopheles mosquitoes and release them into any big city or country. You can mutate malaria too. All you need is a lab. The problem with malaria being so prevalent in developing countries is because they simply do not have any resources. If I released malaria into South Sudan today, there would be no South Sudan because it would simply not be able to stop a malaria outbreak and a large civil war at the same time. Same with Syria. They would not be able to support two conflicts at the same time. But if I was to spread malaria into the US, it wouldn’t be as bad. Sure, there might be millions of casualties, but they would all get efficient treatment because the US is a very rich and politically stable country able to survive dangerous outbreaks like this.

But if I spread malaria all around the world in the event of a world war, the results would be terrifying and shocking. After a few years, the countries of the world would not be able to survive a global conflict and a deadly virus at the same time. Malaria as a biological weapon can easily wipe out developing countries, but in larger countries it would only inflict some minor damage. However, if malaria attacks like this will occur around the world, it would be as bad as a stock market crash. People will suffer, turn to crime and corruption, and the infected would rise. Compare it to the 1918 influenza epidemic. Millions of people died and there was no way to control it. Remember, the influenza epidemic occurred right after the First World War, which made the results even more catastrophic than it should have been.

Natural virus are harder to maintain then man made ones because they break out easily undetected. One example is the swine flu that broke out in 2010. No one expected it, and doctors rushed to create vaccines before there were a vast number of infected. Finally, in August 2010, the World Health Organization declared swine flu officially over. Malaria in warfare has killed a vast number of generals and leaders. Alexander the Great purportedly died of malaria. Christopher Columbus contracted it. And if not controlled, it can wipe out entire armies and cities, making it as dangerous as an atomic bomb.