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September 15, 2008
The risk of terrorists using contagious psychosomatic illnesses
Fascinating post on Wired: courtesy of wikileaks, a government document [PDF] has emerged which discusses how
Americans' fear of a terrorism could create a mass outbreak of a psychosomatic illness -- even in absence of any real attack -- -- creating a fake epidemic that could overwhelm hospitals attempting to treat any real victims.Adding to the confusion, the symptoms of a mass pyschogenic illness look much like symptoms of an anthrax attack, avian flu outbreak or chemical attack.
This type of attack (there have been previous examples of such illness spreading) would be an interesting use of the virtual dimension: this is used operationally, and much of the impact of an attack is also in the realm of the virtual. Of course, the effects of a mass outbreak of psychosomatic illness wouldn't stay there: this would also have very 'real' effects.
Posted by jon_mendel at September 15, 2008 11:42 PM
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