EBOLA COULD BE USED
BIOLOGICAL WEAPON
Extremists could capture infected samples,
an outgoing Defense official says, though the disease's U.S. spread is still
unlikely.
Weber spent much of the beginning of his career studying
former Soviet biological weapons laboratories. Many of the viruses and bacteria
the Soviets tried to develop into weapons, including Ebola and the deadly
Marburg virus, originated from Africa and Southeast Asia, he said.“There’s a
risk, and we need to make sure that’s not exploited in the current
circumstances, but it’s not a grave risk,” he said while speaking with a small
group of reporters this week.President Barack Obama has authorized as many as
4,000 U.S. troops to be deployed to West Africa to support the effort to quell
the outbreak. Roughly 350 troops are already in Liberia and Senegal, mostly
working on logistics, engineering and medical support. None of these troops
will focus on counterterrorism as part of their mission, a Defense official
says, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Ebola is "not something that lends itself to easy
exploitation by terrorist groups,” Weber said. “It’s not like other diseases
like the spore-forming bacteria anthrax that’s hardy in the environment and can
be released in a way that many, many people can be exposed.”Weber's comments
come as U.S. health officials are desperately trying to convince Americans they
are not at risk of an Ebola pandemic at home.“Ebola poses no substantial risk
to the U.S. general population,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
says on its website. “CDC recognizes that Ebola causes a lot of public worry
and concern, but CDC’s mission is to protect the health of all Americans,
including those who may become ill while overseas. Ebola patients can be
transported and managed safely when appropriate precautions are used.”Dr.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, said at a White House briefing last week he was confident an Ebola
outbreak in the U.S. is very unlikely, despite its spread in West Africa.“The
reason there is an outbreak now is because the health care infrastructure and
system in those countries is inadequate and incapable of actually handling the
kind of identification isolation, rapid treatment, protection of the people who
are coming into contact, and contact tracing,” he said.
“That's something that we have very, very well established
here. So we have a case now, and it is entirely conceivable there may be
another case,” he said, referring to reports about Thomas Eric Duncan, a man
infected with the disease who traveled from Liberia to Texas and has since
died. “But the reason that we feel confident is that our structure, our ability
to do those things, would preclude an outbreak.”The next Ebola outbreak also
will be detected in time to fully contain it, Weber said, due to a
U.S.-sponsored international initiative unveiled in February. The Global Health
Security Agenda calls for closer coordination between health and security
agencies throughout the world, and the outbreak in West Africa that has flared
up since has only drawn more international support, he said.“There’s a renewed
political will,” Weber said. “The fact of the outbreak has just re-energized
the need for the effort.”Within five years, every country will have the
capability to detect, prevent and respond to disease outbreaks, Weber said,
regardless of whether they are caused by bioterrorist attacks or are naturally
occurring.Weber said he will continue supporting the U.S. response to the Ebola
crisis after leaving his position at the Pentagon on Wednesday to become deputy
to Nancy Powell. Powell, the former U.S. ambassador to India, was tapped in
late September to lead the State Department’s Ebola Coordination Unit.Ebola
Hemorrhagic Fever is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to
humankind, causing death in 50-90% of all clinically-ill cases. Consequently,
it has figured prominently in popular discussions of biological warfare,
although its practical applications as a biological warfare agent remain
speculative. While all Ebola virus species have displayed the ability to be
spread through airborne particles (aerosols) under research conditions, this
type of spread has not been documented among humans in a real-world setting as
of 2007. The disease has its origins in the jungles of Africa and Asia and
several different forms of Ebola virus have been identified and may be
associated with other clinical expressions.
Different hypotheses have been developed to try to uncover
the cycle of Ebola. Initially, rodents were suspected, as is the case with
Lassa Fever whose reservoir is a wild rodent (Mastomys). Another hypothesis is
that a plant virus may have caused the infection of vertebrates. Insects may be
another candidate. Laboratory observation has shown that bats experimentally
infected with Ebola do not die and this has raised speculation that these
mammals may play a role in maintaining the virus in the tropical forest.There
are four types of Ebola: Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Reston, and
Ebola-Cote-d'Ivoire. A 30%-45% difference in nucleotides has been established
between these strains.The Ebola virus was first identified in a western
equatorial province of Sudan. The outbreak began in the Nzara Cotton
Manufacturing Factory and spread to the Nzara and Maridi areas of Sudan.
Between June and November 1976 the Ebola virus infected 284 people in Sudan,
with 53% mortality (117 deaths). That same year, an accident in a laboratory in
England resulted in 1 non-fatal case of Ebola-Sudan. In 1979, another outbreak
occurred in Nzara of Ebola-Sudan, and 65% of the 34 cases resulting in
fatalities. Ebola-Sudan was again found in 2000-2001 in the Gulu, Masindi, and
Mbarara districts of Uganda. Fatalities reached 53% of the 425 cases.Closely
following the outbreak in Sudan, Ebola surfaced in a nearby region of Zaire in
1976 after significant epidemics in Yambuku, northern Zaire, and Nzara,
southern Sudan. This strain, known as Ebola-Zaire, is the most deadly of the
four strains. The Yambuku case in 1976 proved deadly to 88% of the 318 cases
(280 people). It began on September 1st with a 44-year-old male Mission school
teacher who sought treatment for what he thought was a case of malaria at the
Yambuku Mission Hospital. He received an injection of malaria medication, and
the Ebola virus spread through medical equipment that was no sterilized. The
hospital shut down on September 30th, and on October 18th, a World Health
Organization Commission was formed. The last case died on November 5th. One
case was discovered in Tandala, Zaire, in 1977. The next major outbreak of
Ebola-Zaire was in Gabon in 1994 in the Mekouka and other gold-mining camps in
the deep rain forests. The fatality rate was 59% (29 out of the 49 infected).
In 1995, a severe outbreak of Ebola-Zaire began in Kikwit,
Zaire, beginning with a charcoal worker on January 6th. The disease spread by
person-to-person contact and through ritual cleansings of the victims' bodies
before burial. Of the 315 cases, there was a 77% case-fatality rate (244 dead).
The outbreak officially ended on August 24th. In 1996, an outbreak in the
Mayibout area of Gabon occurred following the ingestion of a dead chimpanzee
found in the forest. The fatality rate was 68% of the 31 victims. A similar
outbreak occurred in 1996 in the Booue area of Gabon that spread from a hunter
who lived in a forest camp. 75% of the 60 cases resulted in fatalities. The
virus was transported from Gabon to Johannesburg, South Africa, via a medical
professional who had treated Ebola patients. While he recovered, a nurse who
treated him died from the Ebola virus. In 2001-2002, an outbreak of the
Ebola-Zaire strain occurred on the border area between Gabon and the Republic of
the Congo. Of the 122 cases, there was a 79% fatality rate.In 1989 and 1990, a
filovirus, named Ebola-Reston, was isolated in monkeys being held in quarantine
in a laboratory in Reston (Virginia), Alice (Texas) and Pennsylvania. Four
humans developed antibodies without showing symptoms. In the Philippines,
Ebola-Reston infections occurred in the quarantine area for monkeys intended
for exportation, near Manila. A similar outbreak occurred in monkeys in 1996 in
Texas and the Philippines. In 1992, Ebola-Reston virus was introduced into
quarantine facilities in Sienna by monkeys imported from the same export
facility in the Philippines that was involved in the episodes in the United
States.
One human case of Ebola hemorrhagic fever and several cases
in chimpanzees were confirmed in Côte d'Ivoire in 1994-95. A Swiss scientist
became ill after conducting an autopsy on a wild chimpanzee in the Tai Forest,
but the case did not result in a fatality.As a biological weapons agent, the
Ebola virus is feared for its high case-fatality rate. Because of its rarity,
the disease may not be diagnosed corrected at the onset of an outbreak. Reports
suggested that the Ebola virus was researched and weaponized by the former
Soviet Union's biological weapons program Biopreparat. Dr. Ken Alibek, former
the First Deputy Director of Biopreparat, speculated that the Russians had
aerosolized the Ebola virus for dissemination as a biological weapon. The
Japanese terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo reportedly sent members to Zaire during
an outbreak to harvest the virus.
Prof. John Kurakar
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