Japan waged biological warfare against China during WWII: "Between 1932 & 1945, the Japanese conducted an extensive program to study biological weapons, which they tested on Chinese prisoners. At a site near the town of Pingfan in Northeastern China, close to the city of Harbin >

> a program was set up that included about 150 buildings, 5 satellite camps, & a staff of more than 3,000 scientists & technicians. Additional units were located at Mukden, Changchen, & Nanking. Observations were made on prisoners infected with pathogens, including Bacillus >

> anthracis which causes anthrax; Neisseria meningitides, the cause of cerebrospinal meningitis; various species of Shigella & Salmonella, which cause dysentery; Vibrio cholera, the agent of cholera; & Yersinia pestis, the cause of bubonic plague. At least 10,000 Chinese >

> prisoners died as a direct result of these experimental infections or were executed after experimentation. In addition, the Japanese also mounted biological attacks on at least 11 Chinese cities. The attacks include contamination of water supplies & food items with cultures >

> of the organisms that cause anthrax, cholera, & dysentery. Cultures were sprayed directly into homes from sources on the ground or sprayed on urban areas from aircraft. The Japanese purposely tried to start an epidemic of bubonic plague by breeding fleas in a laboratory & >

> allowing them to feed on plague-infected rats. The infected fleas were then released from aircraft over Chinese cities. As many as 15 million plague-fed fleas were released per attack when flea bombs with small amounts of explosive were released over Ningpo, in October 1940. >

> The Chinese noticed that the Japanese planes came in very low & that the ground was white with jumping, snowlike particles, after the bombs fell. Cases of plague appeared in the town, & panic spread. About 500 deaths resulted, & a local shortage of coffins made it necessary >

> for survivors to bury victims 2 to a coffin. Some attempts by the Japanese to spread diseases among the Chinese backfired. In 1941, a biological attack on Changteh reportedly sickened the assaulting Japanese troops, causing approximately 10,000 casualties & 1,700 deaths among >

> them, mostly due to cholera." - Plagues and Poxes The Impact of Human History on Epidemic Disease by Alfred Jay Bollet