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The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of 751 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, through the deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with salmonella. A leading group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the city so that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections. The incident was the first and single largest bioterrorist attack in United States history.〔 The attack is one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans since 1945, the other being the 2001 anthrax attacks across the USA.〔 Having previously gained political control of Antelope, Oregon, Rajneesh's followers, who were based in nearby Rajneeshpuram, sought election to two of the three seats on the Wasco County Circuit Court that were up for election in November 1984. Fearing they would not gain enough votes, Rajneeshpuram officials decided to incapacitate voters in The Dalles, the largest population center in Wasco County. The chosen biological agent was ''Salmonella enterica'' Typhimurium, which was first delivered through glasses of water to two County Commissioners and then, on a larger scale, at salad bars and in salad dressing. As a result of the attack, 751 people contracted salmonellosis, 45 of whom were hospitalized. There were no fatalities. Although an initial investigation by the Oregon Public Health Division and the Centers for Disease Control did not rule out deliberate contamination, the agents and fact of contamination were only discovered a year later. On February 28, 1985, Congressman James H. Weaver gave a speech in the United States House of Representatives in which he "accused the Rajneeshees of sprinkling salmonella culture on salad bar ingredients in eight restaurants".〔 At a press conference in September 1985, Rajneesh accused several of his followers of participation in this and other crimes, including an aborted plan in 1985 to assassinate a United States Attorney, and he asked State and Federal authorities to investigate. Oregon Attorney General David B. Frohnmayer set up an Interagency Task Force, composed of Oregon State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and executed search warrants in Rajneeshpuram. A sample of bacteria matching the contaminant that had sickened the town residents was found in a Rajneeshpuram medical laboratory. Two leading Rajneeshpuram officials were convicted on charges of attempted murder and served 29 months of 20-year sentences in a minimum-security federal prison. ==Planning== Several thousand of Rajneesh's followers had moved onto the "Big Muddy Ranch" in rural Wasco County in 1981, where they later incorporated as a city called Rajneeshpuram.〔〔 They had taken political control of the small nearby town of Antelope, Oregon (population 75), the name of which they changed to "Rajneesh". The group had started on friendly terms with the local population, but relations soon turned negative because of land use conflicts and the commune's dramatic expansion. 〔 After being denied building permits for Rajneeshpuram, the commune leadership sought to gain political control over the rest of the county by influencing the November 1984 county election.〔 Their goal was to win two of three seats on the Wasco County Circuit Court, as well as the sheriff's office.〔 Their attempts to influence the election included the "Share-a-Home" program, in which they had thousands of homeless people transported to Rajneeshpuram and attempted to register them to vote to inflate the constituency of voters for the group's candidates.〔〔 The Wasco county clerk countered this attempt by enforcing a regulation that required all new voters to submit their qualifications when registering to vote. The commune leadership planned to sicken and incapacitate voters in The Dalles, where most of the voters resided, to sway the election. Approximately twelve people were involved in the plots to employ biological agents, and at least eleven were involved in the planning process.〔 No more than four appear to have been involved in development at the Rajneeshpuram medical laboratory; not all of those were necessarily aware of the objectives their work served. At least eight individuals were involved with the distribution of the bacteria.〔 The main planners of the attack included Sheela Silverman (Ma Anand Sheela), Rajneesh's chief lieutenant, and Diane Yvonne Onang (Ma Anand Puja), a nurse practitioner and secretary-treasurer of the Rajneesh Medical Corporation.〔 They purchased salmonella bacteria from a medical supply company in Seattle, Washington, and staff cultured it in labs located inside the commune.〔 They contaminated the produce at the salad bars as a "trial run".〔 The group also tried to introduce pathogens into The Dalles' water system.〔 If successful, they planned to use the same techniques closer to Election Day.〔 This second part of the plan was never implemented.〔 The commune decided to boycott the election when it became clear that those brought in through the "Share-a-Home" program would not be allowed to vote.〔 Two visiting Wasco County commissioners were poisoned with glasses of water containing salmonella bacteria during a visit to Rajneeshpuram on August 29, 1984.〔 Both men fell ill and one was hospitalized.〔 Afterward, members of Sheela's team spread salmonella on produce in grocery stores and on doorknobs and urinal handles in the county courthouse, but this did not produce the desired effects.〔 In September and October 1984, they contaminated the salad bars of 10 local restaurants with salmonella, infecting 751 people. Forty-five people received hospital treatment; all survived. The primary delivery tactic involved one member concealing a plastic bag containing a light brown liquid with the salmonella bacteria, and either spreading it over the food at a salad bar, or pouring its contents into salad dressing. The perpetrators referred to the contaminated liquid as "salsa".〔 By September 24, 1984, more than 150 people were violently ill.〔 By the end of September, 751 cases of acute gastroenteritis were documented; lab results showed that all of the victims were infected with ''Salmonella enterica'' Typhimurium. Symptoms included diarrhea, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, headaches, abdominal pain, and bloody stools.〔 Victims ranged in age from an infant, born two days after his mother's infection and initially given a five-percent chance of survival,〔 to an 87-year-old. Local residents suspected that Rajneesh's followers were behind the poisonings. They turned out in droves on election day to prevent the organization from winning any county positions, thus rendering the terrorist plot unsuccessful.〔 The Rajneeshees eventually withdrew their candidate from the November 1984 ballot.〔 Only 239 of the commune's 7,000 residents voted; most were not US citizens and could not vote. The outbreak cost local restaurants hundreds of thousands of dollars and health officials shut down the salad bars of the affected establishments.〔 Some residents feared further attacks and stayed at home. One resident said: "People were so horrified and scared. People wouldn't go out, they wouldn't go out alone. People were becoming prisoners."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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