Operation Big Itch was a U.S.

entomological warfare Entomological warfare (EW) is a type of biological warfare that uses insects to interrupt supply lines by damaging crops, or to directly harm enemy combatants and civilian populations. There have been several programs which have attempted to instit ...

field test using uninfected

flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...

s to determine their coverage and survivability as a vector for

biological agent Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and Toxin#Biotoxins, biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,2 ...

Bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

is an infection of the lymphatic system, usually resulting from the bite of an infected flea. The tests were conducted at

Dugway Proving Ground Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a United States Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons, located about southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah and south of the Utah Test and Training Range. Location Dugway Provin ...

in 1954.

Operation

Operation Big Itch was a September 1954 series of tests at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The tests were designed to determine coverage patterns and survivability of the tropical rat flea (''

Xenopsylla cheopis The Oriental rat flea (''Xenopsylla cheopis''), also known as the tropical rat flea or the rat flea, is a parasite of rodents, primarily of the genus ''Rattus'', and is a primary Vector (epidemiology), vector for bubonic plague, plague and murine ...

'') for use in

biological warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or Pathogen, infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and Fungus, fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an ...

as disease

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

. The fleas used in these trials were not infected by any biological agent.Croddy, Eric and Wirtz, James J. ''Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Encyclopedia of Worldwide Policy, Technology, and History'',
Google Books
, ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 304, (). The fleas were loaded into two types of munitions and dropped from the air. The E14 bomb and E23 bomb, which could be clustered into the E86 cluster bomb and E77 bomb, respectively. When the

cluster bomb A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...

s reached 2,000 or 1,000 feet (600 or 300 m) the bomblets would drop via parachute, disseminating their vector. The E14 was designed to hold 100,000 fleas and the E23 was designed to hold 200,000 fleas but the E23 failed in over half of the preliminary Big Itch tests. E23s malfunctioned during testing and the fleas were released into the aircraft where they bit the pilot, bombardier and an observer. As a result, the remaining Big Itch tests were conducted using only the smaller capacity E14.

Guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...

s were used as test subjects and placed around a circular grid.Kirby, Reid.
Using the flea as weapon
,
Web version
via '' findarticles.com''), '' Army Chemical Review'', July 2005, accessed December 23, 2008.

Results

Big Itch proved successful;Novick, Lloyd and Marr, John S. ''Public Health Issues Disaster Preparedness'',
Google Books
, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2001, p. 89, (). the tests showed that not only could the fleas survive the drop from an airplane but they also soon attached themselves to hosts.Leeson, Kate.
Biological Weapons: Bioterrorism and the Public Health
, ''Medical Association for the Prevention of War'', 2000, p. 12, accessed December 25, 2008. The weapon proved able to cover a battalion-sized target area and disrupt operations for up to one day. The one-day limit was due to the activity of the fleas; the air dropped fleas were only active for about 24 hours.Rose, William H.

, U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command,

, March 1981, via '' thesmokinggun.com'', accessed December 25, 2008.

Notes

{{U.S. biological weapons Big Itch Big Itch Big Itch 1954 in the United States

Operation

Results

See also

Notes