The Invisible Wars: Nano-Biological War with Virus

[Dalvinder Singh Grewal]

The Invisible Wars: Nano-Biological War with Virus

Dalvinder Singh Grewal, PhD

Ex Dean Reseaech, Desh Bhagat Univeresity​

dalvinder45@rediffmail.com

Introduction
Nano, a Greek word, means dwarf. It is so because, it is extremely small, one billion part of a metre i.e., 10-9 of a meter, not visible to an eye or even with a normal microscope. We have reaped the benefits of Nano through its objective use. There are, however, cases when Nanosciences are used for negative effect. We have seen the devastating effect of the Atom Bomb in World War II. Now we are watching the action of the virus globally. It is widely discussed as to how a market-oriented economic war has been converted into a biological war at nano-scale between USA and China though proofs are hard to come by. In 2011 AD, film Contagion was released which showed how Coronavirus originates, spreads and kills en-mass with tremendous speed. It was not taken seriously then. Now, when this contagious disease named COVID-19 by World Health Organisation (WHO) has spread all over the world infecting around 1.6 million and killing about 0.1 million in over 190 countries as on 10 April 2020, trains, flights, airports, shops, factories, business, schools, colleges and even Parliaments are all shut globally and people have to work from home and everyone is locked inside homes leaving the streets deserted, transport jacked and human being in jail-like conditions, the real danger of this virus is realised. There is fear everywhere. This war based on COVID-19 is going to change the shape of the world and its future functioning and relationships. This paper discusses a biological war at nano-scale; its need, process of preparation including research and development, its use and effects at the local, national and global level and ways of preventing it in future.

Nanoscale MaterialsExamples of nano-scale materials are given below:

Fig 1. Comparative size of nano-materials

Fig 2: Comparative Nano-materials sizes and shapes​

Sr	Object	Size = or ~
1	Blood Cell	10000 nm dia
2	Red Blood cell	7000 nm dia
3	Virus	75-100nm
4	Proteins	5-50 nm
5	Dendrimers	10 nm
6	Quantum Dots	8 nm
7	DNA	2 nm
8	Fullerenes	1 nm
9	Hydrogen	1 nm

Table 1: Comparative Figures of Nano-materials sizes​

Observe Table 1 and figures 1 & 2 carefully. You will find 1 Hydrogen Atom =1nm (nanometre) or equivalent to 10-9 metre. The virus is 100nm. A protein is 5-50 nm and the blood cells range from 7000 to 10,000 nm.

Biological Warfare:

Infectious agents like viruses, insects, bacteria or other such toxins or microorganisms produced with an intention either to incapacitate or kill targeted living beings are the weapons of biological warfare. These are the weapons of mass destruction.

Fig 3. US Soldiers practising Biological warfare ​

Thus the various weapons used during biological warfare may be a virus, botulin toxin, plague, anthrax etc. All these are well known for causing epidemics like Lasa virus, Ebola, Hepatitis B and C, SARS etc. Use of Coronavirus by China is one such agent which was created in a laboratory and is not a natural outcome.

USA is blaming China that it created Coronavirus now named as COVID-19 with an intention to destroy other nations since its economic war against the US did not succeed. An American advocate has filed a case against China for causing this pandemic. The International Council of Jurists (ICJ) and Al India Bar association (AIBA) have sought compensation from China for the irreparable damage caused by deadly coronavirus accusing China of having developed the biological weapon capable of mass destruction developed in the Wuhan Virology Lab. On the other hand, China is blaming the USA that they were responsible to spread the virus in China for its destruction in view of economic stand-off. An article in Russian Defence ministry funded paper Zvezda that it was the USA which has earlier invented this virus and used it on Chinese to break its economy. Pointing out to the US film ‘contagion’ and arrest of a Head of Biology Department of Stanford University along with two Chinese Officials; they blame US of knowing well about the Corona Virus and used it in China at this time. They also point out to various biological labs in Central Asia engaged in biological research.

Now China is blaming the USA for having sent the virus along with its military personnel to Wuhan and has started a counter-propaganda war against the repetitive comments of President Trump’s harping that Corona is a Chinese Virus which it says that ‘It is to malign China’.

This way the war on Corona on media is to augment the Corona biological war hence must be taken as such

Since bacteria, virus, insects and fungi are used as biological weapons, the use of the virus as a weapon is the point of contention which needs to be researched by WHO impartially. Virus and COVD-19 are studied here to analyse as the weapons of war.

Virus

The virus is a nano-scale invisible material which cannot be seen through a normal microscope. This cannot survive independently but it grows in animals like bats from which it gets transferred to human beings. It gets infected in human cells eating into proteins in the cell and spreading from one cell to another. It survives on the chemicals from the cells and creates a new virus with very fast speed, spreading all around into the cells of the body.

Figure 4.Corona Virus​

Speed of persons affected or becoming positive is exponential and contagious and is increasing day by day i.e. 1x3x3x3x……. meaning one person may affect thousands. For example, a patient no 13 in South Korea singlehandedly infected over 5000 people. Being contagious, this 5 lakh may even affect a half or even the entire population if it is not checked properly. There is no treatment since no medicine has been found yet. The only safety is to break this continuous spread by breaking the contact. This is why even a vast country India, with a population of 1.3 billion has gone for the most difficult solution i.e., lockdown completely since China could save itself through this lockdown process only.

There are numerous diseases caused by this virus. Some diseases get automatically treated through the immune system of the body but others may be more disastrous sometimes leading to death. It is not necessary that a virus may infect uniformly. Some virus may affect a cat but may not affect man. It is because the complex structure of these viruses and according to these structures they cause their impact. From RNAs or DNAs, this virus takes the cover of proteins of the cells over their body. Immediately after getting into contact with a cell, it establishes itself and gradually overpowers the cell and goes on creating new virus reducing the health of the cells. It is like iron rust or termite in a wood. Some cells make holes in cells such as HIV and Influenza which spread further diseases. The range of these diseases may be from simple diseases like sore throat, cough, fever etc., to smallpox, chickenpox, shingles, measles, rubella, Hepatitis B and C, SARS, Herpes, Dengue, Zika, Hanta Fever, Polio, AIDS, HIV etc.


Corona Virus

Korona virus is one from among the family of viruses which initially originates in animals and birds and then passes on to the human beings. COVID-19 is among the seven other such Coronaviruses. It means Corona (CO) Virus (VI) Disease (D) Serial 19. It means 18 other diseases have been already caused by the Corona. It spreads very fast. Its characteristics are that of cough and cold which cause the throat to dry as the mucus collects in the neck. This mucus takes the virus to the lungs and spreads in cells reducing immunity and causing breathing problem as well. It may thus cause death. MERAS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe acute respiratory Syndrome) took the lives of 1500 people in 2002 AD.

When, where and how this COVID-19 Virus originated?



COVID-19 is a virus which causes extremely dangerous disease due to its extremely aggressive nature, jumping from one person to another and spreading very quickly and easily.No effective medicine or vaccine exists as it is yet new to be dealt with. The disease appears to be about ten times as deadly as the flu.



It is widely accepted that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan in Hubei province of China in or around meat market where in addition to fish, birds, pigs etc, bats and snakes are also sold. Men are susceptive to such viruses in these types of markets because of uncleanliness of area and such like animals which are the source for these viruses. The origin may be a bat, snake or combination thereof. Also, there are many videos being circulated by US Official sources and media that it was the Chinese Military Chemical and Biological Laboratory at Wuhan wherefrom the virus leaked. Head of Department of Chemical and Biology at Stanford University and his two Chinese scholars who were involved in such research, were arrested at a US airport. They are stated to be behind the origin. The laboratory set up by the American Professor, in connivance with Chinese Army and intelligence personnel are believed to be the source of the leak of the virus. To counter this, the Chinese circulated videos showing that the American Army personnel who had come to Wuhan for a military competition had spread this virus. Its origin was natural or man-made needs to be investigated by WHO. However, the blame game through media has been heightened by President Trump’s repeated assertion that ‘it is Chinese Corona’. This smacks of hiding some truth. Now, there are three types of wars which are going on: (a) the Market-oriented economic war, (b) the Chemical and Biological war and (c) Propaganda or Media war.



The Effects

No one ever expected that such a thing would crop up all of a sudden. The entire globe has come to a halt having been locked down. The impact of this spread has been tremendous when we watch the uncontrollable death; disease spreading fast globally whose treatment is yet to be found out. It has caused very serious social, political, geographical and economic effects globally by putting a break to the entire development and progress globally. The effects of lockdowns will be far-reaching; to be precise it will change the future world altogether.

Social impact:

COVID-19 is so contagious that it spreads to men and then to communities in no time. As on 10 April 2020 active cases reported are 16,47,896 out of which 3,69,646 recovered cases while 1,00,273 dead. WHO has declared COVID -19 as pandemic since it has spread fast all around the globe and no one has the treatment of it as yet. Medically, COVID-19 has not only killed over twenty-five thousand people till date or incapacitated another 0.5 million, but it has put a break to the entire social activity. The lockdowns by the Chinese and India of 2.6 billion if added to the other lockdowns in other countries amount to be over 90% population in jail-like conditions. India had 4,281 cases with death toll At 111 on 07 April 2020.


Table 2 gives out the details of the confirmed cases, reported deaths and persons recovered from it in most affected leading countries as on 10 April 2020

Table 2: Novel Coronavirus Cases​

Places	Confirmed Cases 10 Apr 2020	Reported Deaths 10 Apr 2020
United States	4,78,366	17,927
Italy	1,47,577	18,849
France	1,17,749	12,210
Spain	1,57,053	15,970
Germany	1,19,624	2,607
China	81,639	3,326
Iran	68,192	4,232
United Kingdom	65,077	8,931
Netherlands	23,097	2,511

​

The human beings have now started realising their fragility and vulnerability where even a small virus can hold the entire world to ransom. We have also realised the importance of relationships and dependency. Feeling helpless, more people are now turning to God finding Him in their own hearts than in temples, mosques or churches. They are becoming more humble, humane, helpful, approachable, mixable and less haughty and God’s creation; nature is more appreciated. The world has realised that against virus no colour, clan, caste, creed or religion matters, it treated all equally giving a lesson to the human beings to live harmoniously. This has helped self-realisation to some extent. Now we will have to have a new lens to look towards the universe. Even the medical fraternity has realised that it is not they but the God Who is the ultimate saviour. Living simple and with minimum may be the future dictum as against the plenty and complex requirements of the past

Economic Effect:

The economic price of COVID-19 pandemic will be very heavy. It will impact the entire world economically. It is immaterial whether you have contacted coronavirus or not. What matters is that COVID 19 affects the lower strata more than the wealthy one. The industry, agriculture, business and service sectors; all have been brought to a standstill. With the losses mounting, job cuts continuing, supplies dwindling, demand-supply chain breaking, idleness increasing, the effects will be prolonged and the world will take considerable time to stand at its feet again. The markets are all shut and the share market has been falling with the increasing number of causalities and shutdowns. The period of this lockdown will take the world back for many years.
The USA is now one amongst the maximum affected nations where the infected and mortality is excessive. Trump had to request the Senate for a 2 trillion dollar bail-out. Their priorities remain to control the virus and they are spending billions on this. For this, they have lockdowns where the entire business is shut and the economy is at a halt. They can think of recovering only once the virus is contained. Hence, they are now hanging upside down on the wire and the share markets are falling at rapid speed. IMF Chief has warned that the global recession has started. This global recession may create mayhem with disastrous effects. We have seen that no nation or institution had prepared for such a crisis. No such contingency ever existed; hence no solutions were even attempted. Now what is happening is all trial and error method. Global economies are in the entire mess and healthcare is just surviving on a day to day basis, 90% of the nations have no resources to meet the coming calamity into their countries. Hospitals, beds, doctors, nurses, medicines and pharmacy personnel are not adequate to meet the demands of the increasing causalities globally. The world economy is in shatters now. The global recession is maybe even worse than of 2009 as per IMF Chief’s warning.



Political effect

The market-oriented economic war between USA and China has now changed into propaganda war. China, which was expected to be totally destroyed by this virus has been able to control it and has started speedy recovery, its share market showing increasingly positive trends. Out of its experience, it has innovated new methods, medicines, materials and equipment which are now being exported at a very large scale; Spain’s order in billions worth of imports being the tallest. All other nations are still caught in the web of the virus. Europe including England is the most affected area as of now. The USA, which tried to maintain superiority by playing gimmicks and threats to subdue other nations, is now reeling under the jaws of the virus. In the near future, China may replace the domination of the US. The future of present heads of both these nations, however, is at stake.


Geographical Impact:

The impact of globalisation has made the world one. The connecting air flights have made the communication faster and so have the movement of men from one country to another. This has helped rapid transportation and development of virus globally. The borders have no meaning for the virus. However, the assistance from one nation to another has become important and the concern of one nation for the other nations has increased. Mr Modi having discussions with SARC and G-20 Nations shows the concern among nations globally.

Future Warfare in the light of virus threat

Future wars based on Chemical and Biological warfare may be a borderless war, its spread may be global as well. It will not be restricted only to 5 to 7 nations.

• The start of war may be in the hands of the attacker but its spread or control will not be in his hands.
• The virus will turn out to be a double-edged weapon since the virus does not differentiate between friend and enemy. It is not necessary that the attacker’s plans will succeed in entirety. The same virus may engulf the attacker as well.
• It may lead to mass annihilation.
• Its economic cost will be unimaginable since the destruction of human beings en masse.
• It may lead to an ab-origin era, negating the advantage of the modern material world.
• Chance of survival is of those who are in remote areas and are not in frequent contact with the outside world.
• It will, however, remove pollution, allow nature to flourish and provide a happier life and relationships for the survivors. Other species will have a better chance to flourish.

Global Impact:

Earlier, the number of Atom Bombs and Missiles with their delivery means were considered as a deterrent even by small nations like Pakistan. In future, the deterrent will be the virus; the greatest chemical and biological weapon. Even the tiniest nations will be able to set up small laboratories to create a virus and leave it to destroy nations or even cause the extinction of the world. Not only tiny nations; even wealthy and powerful criminals may set up such labs and use the virus as a weapon to dominate the world-threatening not only the entire humanity but also the natural world. Thus, now the deterrent has passed in the domain of Chemical and Biological experts from the atomic experts. This will also decrease the importance of large forces. Since virus sees no borders, the importance of man-made borders will also reduce making the world borderless.

To stop these risks not only WHO but also its alma mater UNO has to step in a big way:

• To research and evaluate the source and purpose of origin
• To research the present and global impact of the spread of such a virus.
• Set up laboratories to counter the effects of such a virus.
• Put a moratorium on research on such chemical and biological warfare laboratories.
• A larger group of nations than the existing Security Council must oversee the control.
• The review of the Security Council membership should be done by excluding those who have been responsible for Coronavirus.

As Prime Minister of India has clearly said that the world bodies UNO and WHO have fallen short of their effort to control this virus, functioning and structure of these world bodies must be reviewed to create an effective mechanism able to control the present and the future spread of a virus or any other such disease or calamity in an effective manner.

Conclusion
Now, the realisation has dawned around the world that a human being is far lesser powerful than an atom or virus. A virus will turn out to be so deadly a weapon than the atomic bombs thrown in Japan during World War II; was never studied or analysed seriously. Nanomaterial has now proved to be deadly weapons which can cause this total annihilation. Atomic Bombs stopped the World War with horrendous destruction, virus war has started now but its end does not seem to be near even after 5 months. The number of causalities has been regularly increasing. There is no doubt that a biological nanomaterial in the form of COVID-19 has been created for the purpose of mass destruction. Fingers have been pointed out at both China and USA. China has started an investigation at its own end but it has not involved wither WHO or USA. For a free investigation, it is essential that WHO carries out an investigation involving neutral nations to do find the source, place and purpose of the origin of COVID-19 and to assess whether China took enough measures to stop it from spreading within and outside its country. Both USA and China must be kept out of it to ensure unbiased research. The committee should first find out whether it was natural or manmade. International Court of Justice should then try these culprits in open.

This biological war has now reached nano-scale and should be dealt as such. The solution to control of this epidemic lies in research at nano-scale. It is not the hammer-breaking the egg approach but a researching nano-material of much lesser size than a virus preferable of atom scale which should penetrate and separate affected DNA from RNA in the cells. The entire humanity is at stake since the virus sees no friends or enemies and attacks equally. As a warfare weapon, the use of virus for Chemical and Biological warfare and its research must be totally banned if the world wants to survive.

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