Using the Flea

as a Weapon
By Mr. Reid Kirby

Deliberately spreading disease through arthropods is A rare secondary complication in natural epidemics is the
the vector effect of biological warfare. Its modern occurrence of the lethal pneumonic plague (spread from
application in warfare started in the 1930s with Japan. human to human), which is an indicator of a biological
Germany and the Soviet Union also conducted their own attack when prominent. Pneumonic plague has a rate-of-
investigations in this area around the same time. During action course of one to seven days, a duration-of-action
World War II, Canada pioneered the vector effect for the course of one to two weeks, and a lethality rate of about
Allies. 90 percent in one to two days.
Interest in vector weapons by the US Army Chemical The rate-of-action course of bubonic plague is two to
Corps did not start in earnest until after the Korean War. eight days, with hospitalization required for up to ten days
Today, largely thought of as a throwback of the early days to avoid a relapse. In untreated cases, death usually occurs
of biological warfare, the possibilities of the vector effect two to four days after the onset of symptoms. The bacteria
have emerged again after conjecture of the potential rapidly spreads through the body, releasing endotoxins after
introduction of West Nile Virus to North America. Of the reaching critical mass. The endotoxins cause the victims
agent-vector combinations, the plague flea has the richest to go into shock and develop a high fever, rapid pulse, and
military heritage and is worth studying to understand this low blood pressure. The mortality rate in untreated cases
effect in biological warfare. is 30 to 60 percent; treatment in state-of-the-art health
care facilities reduces the rate to 5 to 15 percent. Though
Natural History vaccines are available, they are generally only effective
against moderate doses and, without semiannual boosters,
Plague, a lethal epidemic disease since biblical times,
provide only three months to a year of protection. Recovery
has long been associated with rodents. The ancient
from bubonic plague provides only a temporary immunity.
Philistines made golden images of mice to ward off
epidemics. It was not until the golden age of microbiology Plague epidemics occur naturally in endemic regions
that plague was recognized as being caused by the following an epizootic. Epizootics tend to occur in five-
microorganism Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis is named year intervals in endemic regions where fleas transmit the
in honor of Alexandre Yersin, a student of Louis Pasteur, disease from rodent to human. Because of the role of the
who isolated plague in patients in Hong Kong in 1894. flea, epidemics tend to be self-limiting at temperatures
under 45 degrees. The optimum temperature for fleas to
The role of the flea in spreading plague followed the
transmit plague is 70 degrees; temperatures exceeding 85
discovery of the microorganism. Masanori Ogata of Japan
degrees kill the bacteria. The temperature-dependent
first outlined the possible role of the flea in the spread of
contagion explains why plague epidemics peak during
plague in 1898 (later confirmed by Paul-Louis Simond in
warm, dry seasons and rapidly disappear with the onset
France a year later). It was not until 1911 that medical
of hot temperatures. Rainy seasons sharply reduce the
entomology recognized the flea as the vector of plague.1, 2
incidences of plague.
The rat was the most likely reservoir for the disease and
easily defined the natural spread of the disease along trade There is a biomolecular basis for the temperature
routes. elasticity of epidemics. Several days after ingesting infected
blood, fleas become blocked. Proliferated bacteria forms
Bubonic plague, the form transmitted by fleas, is so
a clot that prevents food from entering the flea’s stomach.
named due to the large oval buboes formed at the lymph
Being famished, the flea attempts to feed through multiple
node near the flea bite (such as in the groin or the armpit).

30 Army Chemical Review

bites and regurgitates infected blood into its victim. An that other nations also used fleas as a weapon⎯as
enzyme that contributes to the blocking of the stomach is indicated in the infamous Hirsch report on German
active at 77 degrees. When the temperature rises above intelligence of Soviet biological warfare efforts⎯but there
98.6 degrees, the clot begins to dissolve. Blocked fleas are too few details to recount.
can live up to 23 days in high humidity and normal room The Japanese started their biological warfare efforts
temperatures but die within three to four days from in the 1930s during their occupation of Manchuria and
desiccation when exposed to optimum (moderate) later during their invasion of China. At first, the Japanese
temperatures.3 experimented with sprays and bursting munitions to release
History has accounts of four plague pandemics: Egypt bare germs for a lung effect. But the Japanese lacked an
in 542, Asia Minor in the 14th century (which resulted in understanding of aerosols and respiratory pathology and
the death of nearly a quarter of Europe’s population), soon changed their focus to disseminating plague using
Europe in the 15th and 18th centuries, and China in 1860 the human flea Pulex irritans. The flea protects plague
(an epidemic that continued to rage through the Vietnam bacteria from environmental strains and delivers a dose to
War). 4 its victims through bites. The Japanese experimented by
Plague is an endemic disease in the western United employing plague fleas against China and contemplated
States, with about ten cases a year reported by people use against the United States.6 The efforts to weaponize
who have had encounters with wild rodents. The first case plague fleas were conducted under the auspices of Unit
occurred in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1900. The 731, the notorious Japanese biological warfare unit
elimination of plague from endemic regions does not disguised as a water purification unit. In 1940, the cities of
appear to be feasible, but reduced rodent populations, Chü Hsien and Ningopo were attacked with planes
increased public education, and continued monitoring of dropping rice, wheat grain, and paper packets of fleas.
flea counts on captured rodents will help with the fight. The drops resulted in an epidemic that killed 120 people.
A similar attack followed a year later in Changteh City,
Military History killing 24 people. The Allies began investigating the activity
of the Japanese, but the investigations failed to uncover
The second plague pandemic draws the most interest any conclusive evidence. Suspicions continued throughout
from scholars of biological warfare. The plague epidemic the war.
in Asia Minor started from an epizootic in Mongolia and
The most successful plague flea weapon developed
was carried westward by the Tartars. The spread to
by the Japanese was the Uji bomb. The older-type Uji,
Europe may have resulted from a biological assault on
invented in 1938, was a frangible weapon with a porcelain
the city of Kaffa. The Venetian historian, Gabriel de
casing and an inlaid strip of Primacord® to activate an in-
Mussis, described the siege of this trade center on the
Crimean coast by the Tartars in 1346. After a
three-year siege, plague broke out in the Tartar
camp. Kaffa fell in 1348 after the Tartars
catapulted their plagued dead over the city walls.
The refugees that fled Kaffa by ship may have
initiated the second plague pandemic that seeded
throughout Europe from seaport to seaport.5
The impact of plague fleas during wartime
(though unwittingly), continued in innumerable
siege situations (like that of Kaffa) well after
the Black Death period. In 1422, infected
cadavers were catapulted into the city during the
siege of Carolstein. Russian troops attempted to
spread plague among Swedish forces using the
bodies of plague victims.
It was not until World War II that plague
fleas became a distinct biological weapon. Japan
made the most pronounced efforts, followed by A US Army medical doctor examines a Japanese prisoner of
Canada and then the United States. It is probable war for signs of biological warfare vaccinations.

July–December 2005 31
flight rupture and plague flea release. It weighed 55 pounds the biological weapon and conducted around 4,000 dispersal
and had the capacity to hold 4.7 gallons. Early field trials trials and 2,000 human trials to demonstrate the
demonstrated that thin-walled, metal-cased bombs effectiveness of the weapon.8
required excessive quantities of explosives and thus In May 1944, Unit 731 was prepared to use plague
destroyed most of the plague fleas. The Type 50 Uji bomb fleas against the United States in the Pacific. With the fall
(introduced in 1940) contained a contact fuse that of their garrison at Saipan in June of that year, Unit 731
destroyed the weapon (and its contents) if it failed to burst assembled a team of Soldiers to contaminate the Saipan
in the air. It also weighed 55 pounds, but could hold 3 airfield with plague fleas. A shipload of specialists and
gallons. The Type 100 Uji bomb was a larger version of biological weapons were en route to a staging area when
the Type 50, weighing 110 pounds and holding nearly 7 a US submarine sunk the ship, killing all but one crew
gallons. The Japanese considered the Type 100 inferior to member.9
the Type 50 due to its size and the possibility of damage
In 1944, the Japanese built four gigantic submarines
during ordnance handling.7
(the I-400 Class) that were capable of launching aircraft
The Type 50 Uji bomb contained about 30,000 plague to bomb targets on the US West Coast and New York
fleas. Intended to burst at an altitude of 660 to 980 feet City. The mission, Operation PX, was designed to use
above ground level, field trials at Anta, Manchuria, submarines to launch biological strikes against the
concluded that 80 percent of the fleas survived continental United States and the Pacific Islands.10, 11 In
dissemination and that coverage was best under conditions March of 1945, the Chief of Staff for the Imperial Japanese
with high wind. The Japanese did not give up on producing Army cancelled the mission and declared it ethically
unacceptable.
In many ways, Canada was the pioneer in biological
Type 1 impact
warfare for the Allies during World War II. While Great
fuse (delay) Britain and the United States only pondered the possibility
of developing a weapon with psittacosis, Canada was
Brown powder intent on developing one. After Great Britain and the United
(TNT) States formally established their biological warfare
180 mm programs, the Canadians worked in areas that the other
Porcelain case two nations tended to ignore. Developing biological
weapons for the vector effect was one of those areas.
Primacord
While workers at Canada’s Grosse Ile⎯a secret germ
warfare research facility⎯labored to produce anthrax for
the Allies, G.B. Reed, a professor at the Kingston Biological
Warfare Laboratory on Queen’s University Campus, was
seeking an entomologist to develop a different class of
700 mm

weaponry. The intent was to create a colony of fleas for

use in combination with both plague and murine typhus.
This concept of using a single vector to spread two
different diseases simultaneously was an innovative
approach.12
During the Korean War, the Sino-Soviet block alleged
that the United States was employing biological weapons.
Celluloid fins
Contrary to the allegations made by the Sino-Soviet block
Time fuse during the Korean War, interest in agent-vector
Safety pin combinations started after the war.13, 14 Operation Big Itch
used uninfected fleas to determine the coverage patterns
and the suitability of the tropical rat flea (Xenopsylla
cheopis, formerly termed the oriental rat flea) in terms of
survival and appetence. The field trials were conducted
The Type 50 Uji bomb weighed 55 pounds and held at Dugway Proving Ground in September of 1954. The
3 gallons. trials used guinea pigs, placed at stations along a 660-yard
circular grid, to detect the presence of fleas.

32 Army Chemical Review

 Originally intended for use as an anticrop weapon, made significant contributions to the research in the aerosol
the E-14 and E-23 munitions were converted to vector dissemination of plague, and the British conducted a series
munitions for the field trials. The E-14 munition was a 13- of aerosol field trials in the Bahamas. The flea no longer
inch-diameter, 9 3/4-inch-long cardboard container with attracted interest.
an internal actuator that released carbon dioxide, a piston
that moved to expel its contents, and a small chute for Discussion
clustering the E-86 aerial bomb. The E-23 munition was a
The nuclear burst over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945
9 3/4-inch-diameter, 18-inch-long cardboard container with
resulted in 0.13 pounds of weapon per prompt casualty.
an external actuator that reversed a plastic bag to expel
One of Japan’s plague flea weapons approximated this
its contents. It too included a small chute for clustering
same rate of destructiveness. With vector weapons, the
the E-77 aerial bomb. Both weapons functioned at 1,000
issue is not the weight but the volume. For each vector,
to 2,000 feet above ground level after release from the
there is considerable dead volume needed to sustain life in
cluster bomb, and Operation Big Itch proved a success.
the atmosphere.
Using a functioning height lower than that originally
intended, the weapon proved capable of covering a The Japanese Uji Type 50 held 11,000 fleas per gallon
battalion-sized target and disrupting operations for a 24- of space. The United States improved the 1.5 ratio to 3.5.
hour period. The E-14 could deliver fleas with a 1 percent loss in viable
content, which was a significant improvement over Japan’s
An important consideration was the use of carriers.
20 percent loss more than a decade earlier. The difference
The carriers allowed the fleas access to air and moisture
between the efforts was likely the choice of plague
to keep them alive during delivery. The Japanese filled
vectors⎯the human flea (used by Japan) and the tropical
their Uji bombs with sand and plague fleas. The United
rat flea (considered by the United States)⎯and their
States considered two methods: sponge fragments and
abilities to adapt to host habitats. But regardless of the
small paperboard tubes with crepe paper streams to keep
habitat, both fleas attacked people with equal vigor.
the open end closed when rolled. Using the sponge
fragments, the E-14 carried 100,000 fleas and the E-23 The qualities taken into consideration for biological
carried 200,000. Because half of the E-23s failed to vector weapons were the16⎯
function in preliminary tests, only the E-14 was used for • Dispersal and flight ranges. The maximum
the remainder of Operation Big Itch. The E-14 was capable distance fleas tend to migrate is around 220 yards.
of carrying 80 loop tubes, each containing 3,000 fleas.15 A flea jumps up to a foot at a time and can jump
more than 600 times an hour when questing for a
In the United States, the plague flea concept was
host. In comparison, mosquitoes tend to migrate
competing against the use of mosquitoes, flies, ticks, and
up to 1.5 miles.
lice. Of these concepts, the United States put most of its
energies behind weaponizing yellow fever in combination • Extrinsic-incubation periods. The incubation
with the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The United States Navy period is usually temperature-dependent, but
irradiation or the addition of certain chemicals can
hasten the results. In ideal temperatures, a flea
can transmit disease about 15 days after feeding
from a plague-infected rodent.
• Infective periods. Fleas remain infective
throughout their lifespan, but they do not transmit
the disease to subsequent generations. The limiting
factor is the survival rate of a blocked flea.
• Infective threshold. To transmit plague, a rodent
must have more than 100 million organisms per
milliliter of blood to be able to infect a flea during
feeding.
• Transmission rates. Only 58 percent of tropical
rat fleas are capable of spreading disease after
feeding on infected animals. Other species of fleas
The E-23 munition proved to be unreliable during
have lower transmission rates.
Operation Big Itch.

July–December 2005 33
 • Vectoral capacity. In a blocked flea, a single bite before replenishment is required to maintain a barrier.
inoculates a person with a sufficient number of Without the use of some clearance mechanism (pesticide),
microbes to result in plague infection. the target would not be safe for friendly occupation for
In 1959, the US Army Chemical Corps board provided about a week (with fleas) or a month (with mosquitoes).
guidance for what has often been termed Entomological The minimum safe distances would be in the order of miles
Warfare.17 The report acknowledged that no formal (due to the uncertainties of vector migration).
requirement existed for such weapons, but that there was Conclusions
a belief that guidance was necessary for research and
development activities for weapon systems. Like many The vector effect offers biological warfare with
World War II commanders, the Chemical Corps board extended options not available with the more traditional
believed that the adoption of any vector weapon system aerosol weaponry⎯diversifying the arsenal with additional
was dependent on the persistence, predictability, and control agents and employment methods, circumventing
measures. respiratory protective means, and offering persistence to
Along with recommendations for planning aids, deny the utility of terrain and facilities. However, in the
logistics, and employment, the Chemical Corps board end, agent-vector combinations are labor-intensive, prove
considered the combinations designed specifically to to be unreliable with the uncertainties of complex animal
confuse enemy medical and intelligence personnel (such behavior, and infect limited areas (in comparison to other
as using a current system to deliver an incapacitating agent aerosol weapon options).
in place of a lethal agent, using multiple agents in a single Many assume biological warfare is limited to strategic
vector type, or using a single agent with multiple vectors). applications. The vector effect allows biological warfare
The range that a vector can spread is significantly larger to transcend through the operational phase and into tactical
than what appears in nature or within the experience of situations. The drawback, like any biological weapon, is
medical entomology. For example, fleas can spread the community health consequences that may persist after
tularemia.18 a conflict is resolved.
The casualty potential of the vector effect results from The vector effect has had its place in augmenting other
calculations with finite sets. With such a small number of weapons in a comprehensive biological arsenal (as with
fleas, the expenditure is dependent on the population density the United States) or as a stopgap measure when there is
of the target. The table below illustrates the hypothetical insufficient technology for an aerosol effect (as with
coverage properties for a vector munition (comparable to Japan). Nonetheless, on its own, it represents a minor
four E-14s). For comparison between flying and crawling curiosity with imaginative possibilities that time and ability
disease vectors, the table includes a virus-mosquito have passed by.
combination. The information shows a hypothetical
coverage of 50 percent caused by a single vector munition.
The hypothetical estimates represent a battalion-sized
target, but may require layering munitions in areas with
high population densities. The persistence is the length of
time that the vector effect will continue to inflict casualties

Carrier
Agent-Vector Persistance
Sponges Loop Tubes Aircomb Waffles
Combination (days)
Area Density Area Density Area Density

Plague flea 1 90 35 40 180 NA NA

Virus mosquito 15 NA NA 40 290 90 110

Area = hectares covered
Density = maximum target of people per hectare in the target area

34 Army Chemical Review

 10
Endnotes: “The Transpacific Voyage of H.I.J.M.S. I-400, Tom Paine’s
1
Brendan Lehane, The Complete Flea: A Light-Hearted Chronicle, Journal: July 1945 to January 1946,” 1991, <http://
Personal and Historical, of One of Man’s Oldest Enemies, Murry www.pacerfarm.org/i-400/>, accessed on 1 August 2005.
11
Publishers, 1969. Hawiian Undersea Research Laboratory, “I-401 Submarine
2
Thomas G. Hull, Diseases Transmitted from Animals to Man, Found Off of Barbers Point,” 2005, <http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/
Charles C. Thomas Publishers, Springfield, Illinois, 1930. HURL/I-401.html>, accessed on 1 August 2005.
3 12
Thomas Butler, Plague and Other Yersinia Infections, Current John Bryden, Deadly Allies: Canada’s Secret War 1937–1947,
Topics in Infectious Disease, Plenum Press, New York, New York, McClelland & Stewart Inc., Toronto, Canada, 1989, p. 111.
13
1983. The Sino-Soviet allegations remain the stated historical policy
4
Dr. Alexandre Yersin settled in Nha Trang, Vietnam, after leaving of North Korea and China, but they have been rather explained away
France and established the Pasteur Institute. Dr. Yersin remains a by most scholars. Central to the allegations is the fact that the United
celebrated local hero in his adopted country well after his demise. States granted Japanese Biological Warfare researchers immunity from
Thomas Butler’s book, ibid, describes what the United States war crimes prosecution at the end of the World War II.
14
experienced during the VietnamWar. Kathryn Weathersby and Milton Leitenberg, “New Evidence
5
Vincent J. Derbes, “De Mussis and the Great Plague of 1348: A on the Korean War,” Cold War International History Project Bulletin
Forgotten Episode of Bacteriological Warfare” Journal of the American 11, George Washington University, 1999, pp. 176–199.
15
Medical Association, Vol. 19, No. 1, 4 April 1966, p. 180. Biological Warfare Assessment Laboratories, “Suitability Test
6
Peter Williams, David Wallace, Unit 731: Japan’s Secret Biological of E-14 and E-23 Munitions as Disseminators of Arthropod Vectors.
Warfare in World War II, The Free Press, New York, New York, 1989. BW 1-55, Operation Big Itch,” BWALR 6-A, US Army Dugway
7
Lieutenant Colonel Arvo T. Thompson, “Report on Japanese Proving Ground, Utah, 17 November 1954.
16
Biological Warfare (BW) Activities” Army Service Forces, Camp William Rose, “An Evaluation of Entomological Warfare as a
Detrick, Frederick, Maryland, 31 May 1946. This document contains Potential Danger to the United States and European NATO Nations,”
descriptions of the biological weapons Japan investigated, along with DPG-S-445A, US Army Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, March 1981,
a technical drawing based on interviews with Lieutenant General Shiro pp. 33–34.
17
Ishii. The report is devoid of descriptions of human experiments and Chemical Corps Board, “Insect-Borne Antipersonnel BW,”
the use of plague fleas (revealed in US investigations in 1946 and Army Chemical Center, Maryland, 1 May 1959.
18
1947). Frank Prince, “Tularemia, Attempted Transmission by Each of
8
Sheldon Harris, Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Two Species of Fleas: Xenopsylla cheopis (Rotts) and Diamanus
Warfare 1932–45 and the American Cover-Up, Routledge, New York, montanus (Baker),” Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.,
New York, 1994. 1946.
9
Peter Williams, David Wallace, Unit 731: Japan’s Secret
Biological Warfare in World War II, The Free Press, New York, New
York, 1989, p. 81. Mr. Kirby is a project manager for TALX Corporation. He holds
a bachelor’s degree in valuation science from Lindenwood
College, with a minor in biology and special studies in
behavioral toxicology and biotechnology.

Repair of the Chemical-

Agent
Monitor Simulator
(CAMSIM)
Ahtna Development Corporation, through the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and
Instrumentation (PEO STRI) in Orlando, Florida, has been awarded the contract for maintenance of the CAMSIM.
For additional information on CAMSIM repair, contact Ron Richards at e-mail <Ronald.Richards@peostri.army.mil>
or Milton Cates at <Milton.Cates@peostri.army.mil>, or call (407) 384-3613/3717.

July–December 2005 35