Anthrax:  Postal Service to Test Brentwood Facility Fumigation Equipment

The U.S. Postal Service is preparing to conduct a small-scale test Monday of the equipment that fumigators plan to use to clean the anthrax-contaminated Brentwood Road postal facility in Washington (see GSN, June 11).

Testers plan to set up a tent over three mail processing machines inside the facility, including the machine that handled the anthrax-filled letters sent to members of Congress last fall, according to the Washington Post.  They then plan to pump five pounds of chlorine dioxide gas into the tent, said Washington Health Department Senior Deputy Director Theodore Gordon.  Cleaning the entire facility will probably require 2,000 pounds of gas, officials said.

Cleaning crews successfully used chlorine dioxide gas to decontaminate the Hart Senate Office Building, which was also affected by last fall’s anthrax attacks (see GSN, Feb. 7).  Monday’s scheduled test should determine whether fumigation equipment would be able to decontaminate the entire Brentwood facility in a single application, Gordon said.  It would be the largest fumigation project ever attempted, he added.

There will be no one inside the Brentwood facility during the test and technicians will place air monitors outside, Gordon said.  Crews will seal the facility to prevent the gas from escaping, and even if some does escape, the amount that will be used during the test is too small to pose a health risk, he said.

“If gas is released, ultraviolet rays [from the sun] would cause it to break down very rapidly,” Gordon said.

The test is expected to last about 24 hours, said Thomas Day, Postal Service vice president of engineering.  Analysts will gather samples from the mail processing equipment inside the tent 10 days after the test is completed, and it will probably take 20 to 30 days to analyze the samples, according to the Post.  If the test is determined to be successful, the Postal Service is expected to begin fumigating the entire facility soon thereafter (Monte Reel, Washington Post, July 26).

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Threat Assessment:  Human Bombers’ Fragments Could Be Infectious

Israel has begun vaccinating surviving victims of suicide bombing attacks against hepatitis B due to concern that bone fragments from the bombers might transmit contagious diseases, New Scientist reported Wednesday (see GSN, June 6).

In the body of one survivor, Israeli doctor Itzhak Braverman and his medical team discovered bone fragments that they believe came from a suicide bomber.  The bone fragments tested positive for hepatitis B.

“This is possibly the first report of human bone fragments acting as foreign bodies in a blast injury,” Braverman said.  “All survivors of these attacks in Israel are now vaccinated for hepatitis B.” 

He suggested that bone fragments embedded in attack victims should be routinely tested.  Theoretically, bone fragments might also spread other diseases including HIV, dengue fever, syphilis and Creutz-Jakob Disease, according to New Scientist (Debora MacKenzie, New Scientist, July 24).

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U.S. Response:  USAMRIID Scientists Develop Vaccines

Researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., are working to develop vaccines for several diseases that could potentially be used as biological weapons agents, the Christian Science Monitor reported today (see GSN, June 27).

USAMRIID scientists are working to develop defenses against 40 known biological agents, the Monitor reported.  Researchers have begun developing vaccines for 10 diseases with the potential to be used as biological weapons, including anthrax, Ebola and Marburg (see GSN, July 23).

“We know the Russians were looking at weaponizing Marburg,” said USAMRIID scientist Col. Erik Henchal (see GSN, May 8).

USAMRIID employs 120 scientists to develop countermeasures against biological weapons, according to the Monitor.  They carry out research on diseases such as anthrax and plague in the facility’s 50,000-square foot biosafety level 3 laboratory.  USAMRIID also has a 10,000-square foot biosafety level 4 laboratory, where research is performed on the most deadly pathogens such as Ebola, the Monitor reported.

The process for developing vaccines and other treatments against biological weapons can last from two to five years, USAMRIID scientist Lisa Hensley said.  The work involves growing cell cultures, infecting them with a biological agent, determining which proteins the infected cells release and then performing tests on animals, she said.

USAMRIID research not only helps develop defenses but also has larger public health uses as well, Hensley said.  “That’s what drives us to put in as many hours as we do” (Faye Bowers, Christian Science Monitor, July 25).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Bioterrorism Agents

CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax

CDC Ebola Fact Sheet

CDC Marburg Fact Sheet

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U.S. Response:  Only One-Third of States Adopt Model Law

Less than a third of U.S. states have taken steps to implement laws that follow a federal model designed to give state officials increased powers to respond to a biological weapons attack, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Nov. 8, 2001).

The model law, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and distributed to state legislatures last year, would give officials the power to impose quarantines, conduct vaccinations, seize and destroy property without compensation and ration medical and other supplies in the event of a public health emergency, USA Today reported.  Such laws are necessary to give officials the authority to make quick decisions in the event of a biological weapons attack, U.S. officials said.

“We have not used emergency powers in probably 50 years,” said Gene Matthews, a lawyer for the Health and Human Services Department.  “This is something we need to attend to.”

While 16 states and Washington have enacted some or all of the CDC model law, 22 states have rejected it or seen its progress stalled, according to USA Today.  Opponents of the law have said it gives officials too much power and infringes on individual rights.

The model law “gives governors and state health officials a blank check to impose the most draconian sorts of measures,” said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union.  It is “designed to bring quarantine and other laws into the 21^st century, but in many ways it is a throwback” (Mimi Hall, USA Today, July 23).

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Anthrax:  Connecticut Student Kept Samples, Authorities Charge

Authorities yesterday charged a student at the University of Connecticut with keeping samples of anthrax at a campus laboratory (see GSN, July 12).

Two vials with anthrax-contaminated animal tissue were found in Tomas Foral’s freezer at a campus laboratory in November, the Associated Press reported.  Foral could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for possession of a biological weapons agent.  The U.S. Attorney General’s Office, however, has said Foral may be allowed to participate in a program that might include community service.

Officials said there is no known link between the spores and the Nov. 21 death of Connecticut resident Ottilie Lundgren — the fifth death in last fall’s anthrax attacks (see GSN, March 27).  The samples discovered in Foral’s freezer would have needed further processing to create infectious spores, the FBI said (Matt Sedensky, Associated Press/Chicago Tribune, July 22).

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Ebola:  Scientists Could Manufacture Disease

Viral biological weapons agents such as Ebola and the deadly 1918 influenza strain would be fairly easy to make from scratch with the technique that scientists recently used to make polio virus, New Scientist reported last week (see GSN, July 12).

Polio virus is relatively easy to make because it has a small genome — 7,500 base pairs, or “letters” in its genetic sequence — and it generally requires only that small amount of genetic material to reproduce, according to New Scientist.  Most other viruses would be difficult to make because they have larger genomes and require that genetic material plus additional material such as proteins to replicate, the magazine reported.  For example, the smallpox virus would be very difficult to manufacture because it has a genetic sequence of 185,000 base pairs, according to the magazine.

The Ebola genome, on the other hand, is only slightly larger than the polio genome, making it relatively easy to manufacture Ebola virus, New Scientist reported.  Ebola uses proteins to help it replicate, but scientists reported in January that they had used a process called “reverse genetics” to make the virus from its genome plus pieces of DNA that coded for the necessary proteins.

Scientists might also be able to use reverse genetics to manufacture the 1918 influenza virus, which killed as many as 40 million people, according to New Scientist.  Medical investigators have recovered fragments of the strain from tissue samples and researchers have published three out of eight of the virus’s gene sequences with another two expected to be published this year, according to Jeffery Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.  It will probably take a couple of years more to finish sequencing the genome, but once completed, scientists will be able to create the disease, Taubenberger said.

As for smallpox, it might be easier to take a cousin of that virus, such as camelpox or vaccinia virus, and modify a section of its genetic sequence to resemble smallpox, according to New Scientist (see GSN, June 10).  Head of Russia’s Vector biological defense laboratory Lev Sandakhchiev said, however, that scientists would eventually be able to manufacture smallpox from scratch.

“I am sure scientists may do it sometime,” he said (Sylvia Pagan Westphal, New Scientist, July 17).

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U.S. Response:  Pentagon Urges Fourfold Increase in Biotechnology Funds

By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department should quadruple its overall annual investments in biological science and technology research from $250 million to $1 billion a year, according to a new Pentagon study that says the military has failed to exploit developments in the life sciences.

The Defense Science Board, an internal Pentagon advisory group, completed a report this month recommending that the military immediately undertake a 20-year effort to dramatically reduce the time it takes to make viable drug treatments available once a new pathogen has been identified.

“A credible defense to deter biological warfare will require [the Defense Department] to tap promptly and effectively into the vast and expanding expertise in biotechnology,” says the report, Defense Science and Technology.  “Currently, [Defense Department] relationships with industry and academia are weak in this area, with limited expertise within the military.”

The study was headed by Anita Jones, a former Pentagon director of defense research and engineering, and Larry Lynn, a former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and assistant secretary of defense for advanced technology.

Catch-Up With Biotechnology Industry

The study concludes that the Pentagon is poorly prepared for the threat of biological warfare — terrorists can already choose from a menu of more than 100 naturally occurring microorganisms — because it has not taken advantage of commercial advances in the life sciences over the past two decades.

“The department has largely failed to exploit the rapid developments in the life sciences, and as a result is behind in its ability to combat the threat posed by these advances and to attract the necessary talent to develop the needed capability,” it says.

In 1980, venture capitalists invested $500 million in healthcare, but in 2000 those investments totaled $5 billion, according to the report.  The military, by substantially increasing its annual expenditures on biological science and technology research, can help reorient parts of the biotechnology community away from civilian lifesaving and commercial opportunities — its primary focus — toward military biological defense concerns, the report says.

According to the science board, the military’s biotechnology interests cover a variety of areas including agent-defeat weapons and technology for indications and warning, characterization and response, detection, prediction and protection.  These capabilities, however, must address both known and unknown biological agents, according to the report.

“The nature of the agents used might be very different than expected and thus could defeat warning and response systems,” the report says.

Bug-to-Drug in 24 Hours

Rapid identification of biological agents and their appropriate treatments is a major challenge, according to the study.

“Biological weapons are weapons of terror because the United States lacks adequate therapeutic responses,” it says.  “The ability to generate a therapeutic response and control of the consequences would be a deterrent.”

Shortening what the science board calls the “bug-to-drug” process of drug development requires a 20-year program at a cost of at least $100 million per year to compress key elements that currently take between 10 and 15 years and cost an estimated $500 million per drug.  Under this program, the Defense Department should set 2005 as a goal for compressing the bug-to-drug process from years to months, the study says.  Meanwhile, researchers should develop therapeutics for the top 50 known biological warfare agents.

By 2010, the report calls for compressing the drug development process to weeks and dramatically shortening toxicity and safety screening for new drugs.  The drug manufacturing process should be compressed by 50 percent and the construction of large manufacturing facilities should be initiated, the study says.

“By 2020, the [Defense Department] should create the capability to compress the overall process from identification of a new pathogen to a viable drug to 24 hours” under emergency conditions, according to the report.  Manufacturing facilities should initiate production, “and the process for emergency manufacture should be brought to within days or weeks.”

The project will require “significant collaborative efforts” between industry, academic and government personnel, according to the report.  “The collateral benefits and implications for world health are staggering.”

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Anthrax:  Field Tests Unreliable, White House Says

The Bush administration has warned that field tests used to detect anthrax when suspicious materials are discovered are too unreliable, the Associated Press reported Saturday (see GSN, May 28).

“This equipment does not pass acceptable standards for effectiveness,” said John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a memo to be issued today to local officials, emergency responders and more than 250 federal agencies.  “Field testing ... is not recommended and should not be used.”

Anthrax field tests often issue false positive results or fail to detect trace amounts of anthrax, according to a study conducted jointly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI.  The White House memo advises officials to stop purchasing the tests and to cancel any outstanding contracts, AP reported (Laura Meckler, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, July 20)

As a “stopgap” measure, the memo advises officials to take samples to a CDC-approved laboratory for testing, said an administration official.  Initial results can be determined within six hours, the official said.

President George W. Bush has noted that the United States is seeking to work with private companies to develop more capable field tests, the official said, adding that one flaw in the currently available field tests is a lack of performance standards.  The National Institute for Standards and Technology is working to develop a set of uniform performance standards for anthrax field tests, the official said (Mike Nartker, GSN, July 22).

The Office of Science and Technology Policy memo also includes guidelines for handling suspicious mail and recommends that U.S. agencies stop testing mailrooms for anthrax, since most mail is now irradiated (Meckler, Associated Press).

FBI Continues Broad Search

Meanwhile, the FBI is continuing to conduct a broad investigation into last fall’s anthrax attacks and has not yet ruled out a foreign source, Time magazine reported in its July 29 issue (see GSN, July 8).

While the FBI has focused its “Amerithrax” investigation on 50 U.S. biological weapons experts, the bureau still maintains a large pool of potential suspects, according to Time.  Investigators are continuing to consider several other biological scientists as well as businesses that could have profited from the attacks, Time reported.  They also have looked for evidence of anthrax in the remains of the hijackers onboard the Sept. 11 aircraft, which crashed in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon.  None was found.

“Remember, it doesn’t have to be a top scientist,” said a U.S. investigator.  “It could just be a good bench technician” (Cooper/Shannon, Time, July 29).

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