OPERATION BIG ITCH

Operation Big Itch studied how fleas survive and their coverage, and was done by dropping uninfected fleas from a plane. The purpose of this experiment was to try to weaponize the bug for potential use against U.S. enemies.

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Fleas were used due to their significant role in transmitting the bubonic and wartime Plague. The Japanese were the first to weaponize fleas during the 1930s. The most successful design of the biowarfare fleas was the Uji bomb,   but it was never used because of their loss in World War II.

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The US looked to weaponize mosquitos, flies, even ticks as a potential threat against their enemies. Initially the test failed when the fleas were released too early and the pilot, an onlooker, and bombardier were bitten by fleas. The experiment was successful with the fleas not only surviving but covering a significant area as they were released. The one drawback that was that fleas gave up looking for hosts after a 24-hour time period. The use of fleas was seen as a new method of biological warfare. Civilians were plagued by bites from the fleas dispersed from their plane ride.

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Sources:

Home - Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia), www.mapw.org.au/files/downloads/Leeson%20-Bioterrorism%20and%20the%20public%20health_0.pdf.Test of Diethylstilbestrol on pregnant women

Lockwood, Jeffery. Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War. Oxford University Press, 2009.

"Operation Big Itch." Alchetron.com, 28 June 2018, alchetron.com/Operation-Big-Itch.

Wayback Machine, web.archive.org/web/20070611071747/www.wood.army.mil/chmdsd/pdfs/Jul-Dec%202005/Kirby.pdf

Yersinia Pestis., "Biological Warfare, and Bioterrorism." Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses |, idsa.in/cbwmagazine/yersinia-pestis-biological-warfare-and-bioterrorism