search
Serratia marcescens
Trends
- 1Secret Cold War bioweapons test exposed millions in Bay Area●The secret Cold War bioweapons test that exposed millions in the Bay Area
A newly detailed account revisits the 1950 Operation Sea-Spray, in which the US Navy sprayed Serratia marcescens bacteria over San Francisco from ships offshore to study how a biological attack might spread. The tests exposed an estimated 800,000 residents to the bacteria without their knowledge, and have since been linked to infections and at least one death. Readers are debating the ethics of secret government experiments on civilians and what accountability, if any, followed.