The U.S. Army said yesterday it could account for all anthrax made at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, after the Baltimore Sun had reported that researchers have produced weaponized anthrax there over the last decade (see GSN, Dec. 12).  Meanwhile, federal health officials are looking into using anthrax vaccine as a post-exposure treatment, according to reports.

Army officials acknowledged that small amounts of anthrax were made at Dugway for testing purposes, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Officials added the Army could account for all the material produced.

“There is a rigorous tracking and inventory program to follow the production, receipt and destruction of all select agents,” an Army statement said.  “The facility is well protected with robust physical and personnel security systems.”

The Sun reported that live anthrax in a paste was regularly mailed from Dugway to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Maryland to be sterilized and then shipped back.  Those shipments met “strict federal regulations governing transfer of hazardous materials” and none of the paste was lost, the statement said.

“Anthrax in paste form cannot be the source of contamination for the anthrax letters mailed after Sept. 11, and Dugway has never shipped any dry anthrax by commercial carrier,” the statement said.

The Army did not comment on whether the spores used in the recent anthrax incidents were similar to those produced at Dugway, the Times reported.  One biological weapons scientist said, however, that based on the available evidence, many people might have made the anthrax used in the letters.

“I remain open about whether anything’s been proven about where this stuff comes from,” said C.J. Peters, a former Army biological defense researcher who heads the Center for Biodefense at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (Garvey/Zitner, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 13).

The New York Times reported that, according to government records, Dugway has had samples of the Ames strain of anthrax since 1992.  William Patrick, a former scientist for the U.S. biological weapons program, said in 1999 that he had explained to researchers at Dugway the previous year how to turn wet anthrax into a powder, according to transcripts. The process was not as sophisticated as that used in the former U.S. offensive weapons program, but it did work, Patrick told U.S. military officials.

“We made about a pound of material in little less than a day,” Patrick said.  “It’s a good product.”

Researchers at Dugway “never produced more than a few grams” of anthrax powder in a year, said Dugway spokesman Paula Nicholson (Broad/Miller, New York Times, Dec. 13).

Even though the United States is permitted by the Biological Weapons Convention to make small amounts of biological warfare agents for defensive purposes, experts said they were stunned that the United States was producing such a deadly agent.  “It comes as a bit of a shock,” said Jonathan Tucker, director of the Monterey Institute of International Studies’ Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program (Weiss/Warrick, Washington Post, Dec. 13).

Vaccine Examined as Treatment Option

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acquired 220,000 doses of anthrax vaccine from the U.S. military and federal permission to begin research on using the vaccine to inoculate people at high risk, such as postal workers, or as a post-exposure treatment option, CDC officials said yesterday.

Researchers estimate that anthrax spores can last inside the body for 60 days, which could lead those who stop treatment early to later develop anthrax, according to the Washington Post.  CDC officials think the anthrax vaccine could be used on people who have early failures with antibiotics or who stop taking them prematurely.  “If we have any evidence of failure,” such as new symptoms of anthrax disease, “the vaccine is available as a contingency,” said CDC anthrax researcher Bradley Perkins.

Federal health officials could inoculate between 36,000 and 73,000 people, depending on whether the vaccine is used to prevent the disease or as a later treatment, the Post reported.  About 32,000 people have been placed on anthrax antibiotics, according to the Post.

“One of our biggest concerns is people who don’t take the full course [of antibiotics],” said CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan.  “They really need to take all of those antibiotics that were available to them, because that’s what kills those lingering spores when they turn into bacteria” (Ceci Connolly, Washington Post, Dec. 13).

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