Biosecurity

Biological weapons of mass destruction with the ability to spread deadly diseases like Ebola and Zika 'could wipe out up to a fifth of the world's population'

Biological weapons of mass destruction with the ability to spread deadly diseases like Ebola and Zika could wipe out up to a fifth of the world's population, it has been claimed.

Ex-Nato commander James Stavridis described the prospect of advanced biological technology being used by terrorists or 'rogue nations' as 'most alarming'.

He said that it could lead to an epidemic 'not dissimilar to the Spanish influenza' a century ago.

Writing in Foreign Policy, Stavridis said: 'In that plague, by some estimates, nearly 40 percent of the world’s population was infected, with a 10 to 20 percent mortality rate. 

'Extrapolated to our current global population, that would equate to more than 400 million dead.'