ReferenceMaterial

US Biological Symbols(21 January 2013)

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ABOUT� e association of military symbols with etiological agents was considered SECRET information throughout the US biological weapons program. � e list below was compiled from various publically available historical and archival documents.

� e presence of a military symbol does not necessarily imply a biological proved suitable in biological weapons. With the exception of biological simulants, the symbols herein are from 1944 through 1968.

� e etiological agents herein are more-or-less broadly defi ned, though in some specifi c cases the strain or isolate is included. Formulations are broadly divided as either wet-type, a concentrated liquid slurry, or as dry-type, a freeze-dried milled powder. � e United States designated wet-type formulations with a “1” (e.g., UL1), and dry-type formulations with a “2” (e.g., UL2). N.B. – the a ual agents of the biological weapons program represented a specifi c militarized strain and recipe of formulation (including various prote ants, adjuvants, and stabilizers) that is not necessarily reproducible outside of the original program.

In 1968 the biological symbols were revised to refl e a new ontology, viz. a separate symbol for the etiological agent and another for the agent formulations. � is made the older system obsolete and thereby reasserted the security associated with using military symbols. � e authoritative reference on military biological symbols at the time was AMCTC Item 6339. � e common abbreviations used in medicine appear in parentheses.

Opinion: Since military symbols are symbols, and not abbreviations, in scholarly works the use of a distin type face from the text is warranted. In works on biological weapons, where etiological agents are engineered in a formulation not seen in nature and disseminated to produce disease syndromes uncommon to public health medicine, the preference is to use the military symbol over the common disease name. � is is to avoid confusion with medicine and emphasize the technology of the weapons.

� e fi rst use of a military symbol should be accompanied by defi nition: e.g., Anthrax (TR), and the wet slurry of Anthrax (TR1). � e 1968 ontology of biological symbols should be followed whenever possible, except when inconsistent with preserving historical accuracy.

Conta Reid Kirby (rkirby@eximdyne.com) concerning information in this publication.

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AntipersonnelToxins

Symbol Toxin NameAlternateSymbol

WA Ricin Toxin (RT) W

XR Botulinum Toxin A (BTX or BoNT) X

PG Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) UC

TZ Saxitoxin (STX) SS

- Tetrodotoxin (TTX) PP

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AntipersonnelBiologicals

Symbol Biological Name Wet-Type Dry-TypeAlternateSymbol

TR Anthrax TR1 TR2 N

SR Tularemia [Lethal schu S5] TT ZZ UL

JT Tularemia [Incapacitating 425] - - -

LU Yellow Fever (YFV) - - OJ

SI Psisticosis - - -

LE Plague - - -

UY Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) - - RI

LM Q Fever MN NT OU

FA Rift Valley Fever (RVF) - - -

RR Chikungunya - - KG

DK Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) FX TD NU

HO Cholera - - VO

AA Bovine Brucellosis - - A

OZ Porcine Brucellosis NX - US, AB

AM Caprine Brucellosis BX - -

Y Shigella Dysentery - - -

ZE Paratyphoid - - -

ZO Typhoid - - -

LA Glanders - - -

HI Melioidosis - - -

OC Coccidioidomycosis - - -

ZX Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) - - -

ZL Smallpox (SPV) - - -

YE Human Typhus - - -

AN Japanese B Encephalitis - - -

ZQ O’nyong-nyon (ONN) - - -

TQ Listeriosis - - -

AV Murine Typhus - - -

KB Rabies - - -

ZP Tuberculosis - - -

- Diphtheria DX - -

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AntipersonnelAgent-Vector

Symbol Biological NameAlternateSymbol

- Aedes aegypti mosquito AP

UT Yellow Fever - Mosquito Combination OJAP

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AntipersonnelVaccines

Symbol Vaccine NameAlternateSymbol

MO Aerogenic Tularemia Vaccine [LVS] -

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AntianimalBiologicals

Symbol Biological NameAlternateSymbol

FD Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) OO

R Rinderpest GIR-1

OE Newcastle -

SK Actinomyces bovis -

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AntiplantBiologicals

Symbol Biological Name Wet-Type Dry-TypeAlternateSymbol

TX Wheat Rust TX1 TX2 -

SX Rye Rust - - RX

LX Rice Blast - - II, IE, IR

LO Potato Blight - - -

C Southern Blight - - -

E Rice Brown Spot - - I

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BiologicalSimulants

Symbol Simulant NameAlternateSymbol

BS Bacillus subtillis var. niger BG, U

SM Serratia marcescens EA, P

AF Aspergillus fumigatus mutant C-2 -

EC Escherichia coli -

EH Erwinia hebicola -

BT Bacillus thursidius -

FP Florescent Particle (Zinc Cadmium Sulfi de) -

T2 Talc Powder -

- Yersinia pestis (avirulent) EV76

BE Bentonite BN

LS Red Lipstick -

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AntiplantChemicals

Symbol Chemical NameAlternateSymbol

LNA 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid LN8

LNB 2, 4, 5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid LN14

LN32 Calcium-2-methyl-chlorophenoxyacetate -

LN33 Isopropyl N-phenyl Carbamate IPC

LNF Butyl 2-chloro-4-fl uorophenoxyacetate -

KF 4-fl ourophenoxyacetic Acid -

CA Cacodylic Acid -

LNX 1:1 mixture of n-butyl esters LNA and LNB -