Case Assignment

Based upon your reading of the Background materials, and your own additional research, prepare an essay discussing the use of infectious disease as a weapon of international terror.  You should address the following questions: 

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of microbes, vis-à-vis destructive “hardware” such as guns and bombs?
• What would be the characteristics of an ideal “weapon bug?”  Things to consider:
  • Vector (i.e., carried by people, animals, in foodstuff, on other goods?)
  • Lethality
  • Transmissibility (ease with which it is spread)
  • Mode of transmission (airborne, direct contact, indirect contact)
  • Arrival mode (airplane, ship, on foot)
  • Based upon the above, select an organism. Explain your selection.
  • Describe the most effective countermeasures. 
  • What precautions, if any, should logistics companies take, in addition to those prescribed by government regulation?  Explain.

Make full use of sources.

Assignment Expectations

• Write a well-constructed essay.   Feel free to use tables and bulleted lists, if appropriate.
• The readings may not provide specific answers.  In that event, will need to “fill in the gaps,” using your understanding of the material presented in the Module, and the background sources.
• Style and format must comply with the Writing Style Guide.  (TUI Guide, n.d.) This is not an English course;  however, errors in spelling, grammar and style will be penalized.
• Provide citations and references.  Use of APA style is encouraged, but not required.  Please see the TUI Writing Guide, or visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL, 2015).
• There is no page requirement. Write what you need to write, neither more nor less.