Incidents




Date Incident Organism Details Sources
1984 Rajneeshee religious cult attacks, The Dalles, Oregon Salmonella typhimurium Contaminated restaurant salad bars, hoping to incapacitate the population so their candidates would win the county elections

751 illnesses, Early investigation by CDC suggested the event was a naturally occurring outbreak. Cult member arrested on unrelated charge confessed involvement with the event

1990s Aum Shinrikyo attempts in Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo subway sarin attack, Matsumoto incident

Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium botulinum Dissemination: Aerosolization in Tokyo

Shoko Asahara was convicted of criminal activity Aum Shinrikyo ordered C. botulinum from a pharmaceutical company and attempted to acquire from Zaire outbreak under guise of a "humanitarian mission" Resulted in around 20 deaths and more than 4000 injuries

2001 "Amerithrax" Bacillus anthracis Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to media offices and senators

Suspected perpetrator was a US DOD scientist

22 infected, 5 deaths

1995 Larry Wayne Harris, a white supremacist, ordered 3 vials of Yersinia pestis from the ATCC Yersinia pestis
2003 Thomas C. Butler, United States professor Yersinia pestis 30 vials of Y. pestis missing from lab (never recovered); Butler served 19 months in jail
1987-1990 David J. Acer, Florida dentist HIV Infected 6 patients after he was diagnosed with HIV
1998 Richard J. Schmidt, a gastroenterologist in Louisiana HIV Convicted of attempted second degree murder for infecting nurse Janice Allen with HIV by injecting her with blood from an AIDS patient
1999 Brian T. Stewart, a phlebotomist HIV Sentenced to life in prison for deliberately infecting his 11-month-old baby with HIV-infected blood to avoid child support payments
1964-1966 Dr. Mitsuru Suzuki, physician with training, Japan Shigella dysenteriae and Salmonella typhi Objective: Revenge due to deep antagonism to what he perceived as a prevailing seniority system

Dissemination: Sponge cake, other food sources Official investigation started after anonymous tip to Ministry of Health and Welfare. He was charged, but was not convicted of any deaths; later implicated in 200 – 400 illnesses and 4 deaths

1996 Diane Thompson, clinical laboratory technician, Dallas, TX Shigella dysenteriae Type 2 Removed Shigella dysenteriae Type 2 from hospital's collection and infected co-workers with contaminated pastries in the office breakroom

Infected 12 of her coworkers, she was arrested, convicted, & sentenced to 20 years in prison

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