National Institutes of Health Awards $85 Million for Biological Defense Research

The U.S. National Institutes of Health announced plans last week to establish five biological defense research centers nationwide (see GSN, Sept. 4).

Officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will distribute $85 million over more than four years to the newly established Cooperative Centers for Translational Research on Human Immunology and Biodefense.  The centers will be located at the Baylor Research Institute in Dallas, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, the Emory University medical school in Atlanta, the Stanford University medical school in California and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, according to the NIAID.

“A particular emphasis of these cooperative centers will be moving new findings about immune system function out of the lab and into clinical trials,” said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci.  “The flexibility of the program will allow research projects to be redirected quickly as new information is generated in the lab and the clinic,” he added.

Because of the ethical prohibition against exposing human subjects to actual biological agents, research on human immunity is difficult, according to a NIAID release.  The new research centers will focus on the human immune system, the release said.

“NIH is dedicated to supporting research that will help in fighting the war on terror,” said NIH Director Elias Zerhouni (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases release, Sept. 17).

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Bush Plan to Deploy Public Health Officials Draws Criticism

The Bush administration is attempting to convert the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps into a quick-response team to fight bioterrorism, but public health officials are concerned that the plan could damage other initiatives, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Sept. 15).

Sending vital scientists on missions to fight bioterrorism could damage efforts to combat other diseases, including severe acute respiratory syndrome, AIDS and West Nile virus, according to opponents of the White House plan. 

The corps currently has 6,000 members, and many volunteer for deployment on biological defense missions.  Under the new plan, deployment would be mandatory, but critics worry that new requirement could keep top young scientists away from the corps.

Health and Human Services SecretaryTommy Thompson said in July that he would convert the corps to a globally deployable force.  The U.S. surgeon general, who has led the corps since 1871, would be replaced by a civilian in the Health and Human Services Department.

“This is a complex issue, and it’s evolving,” said Surgeon General Richard Carmona.  “My opinion is that the surgeon general needs to be in control,” he added (Steve Sternberg, USA Today, Sept. 22).

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U.S. Scientists Find No Smallpox in Iraq

Senior U.S. military officers involved in the search for evidence of alleged Iraqi WMD efforts have said that a team of U.S. scientists has found no evidence of smallpox stockpiles or production capabilities, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept, 18).

A six-member team of scientists, known as “Team Pox,” conducted a three-month search for evidence that Iraq had the capability to produce smallpox, as some Bush administration had previously claimed.  The team found, however, only equipment that had been previously dismantled by U.N. inspectors and abandoned facilities, AP reported.

“We found no physical or new anecdotal evidence to suggest Iraq was producing smallpox or had stocks of it in its possession,” a U.S. military officer said, adding that the team’s findings do not preclude that smallpox could still be found (Dafna Linzer, Associated Press/USAToday, Sept. 19).

Prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom, several senior Bush administration officials raised the prospect of Iraq either possessing smallpox or having the capability to produce the agent, according to the Associated Press.

“One of the real concerns about [former Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein, as well, is his biological weapons capability, the fact that he may at some point try to use smallpox … against other nations, possibly including even the United States,” Vice President Dick Cheney said Sept. 8, 2002 (Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 18).

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Indian Authorities Concerned Terrorists Could Conduct Ricin Attacks

Indian security agencies are concerned that terrorists could conduct attacks using the toxin ricin after learning how to do so from al-Qaeda, the Times of India reported today (see GSN, June 3).

Recent references by al-Qaeda to the disputed region of Kashmir have raised concerns that al-Qaeda may have ties to terrorist groups operating there, a senior home ministry official said.  According to intelligence reports, al-Qaeda leaders have provided information to operatives on the production and use of ricin, the official said.

Some experts suspect that several outbreaks of “mysterious diseases” occurring in various parts of India could be “tests” of biological attacks, the Times reported (C.R. Jayachandran, Times of India, Sept. 19).

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2001 Anthrax Survivors Report Lingering Symptoms

Survivors of the 2001 anthrax attacks have said they continue to suffer from lingering physical symptoms and psychological effects that interfere with their daily lives, the Baltimore Sun reported today (see GSN, Sept. 5).

“Some days I get up, and after an hour and a half I have to lie back down,” said David Hose, who became infected while working at a U.S. State Department mail-handling facility.

Tyler Cymet, head of family medicine at Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital, has conducted telephone interviews with five of the anthrax survivors every three months since late 2001, according to the Sun.  He has found they all continue to report similar symptoms, such as weakness, memory problems and low-grade fever.

“It’s tough to ferret out what’s psychological, what’s physiological and what’s post-traumatic stress disorder,” Cymet said.

Some of the families of the anthrax survivors have complained that Washington has “forgotten” those affected by the attacks.

“These guys are also victims of terrorism,” said Ramesh Patel, whose wife, Jyotsna Patel, a New Jersey postal worker, survived inhalation anthrax but still has lingering symptoms.  “I would say they should be treated like anyone who was at the World Trade Center or the Pentagon.  But they’ve been completely forgotten,” Patel said (Scott Shane, Baltimore Sun, Sept. 18).

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U.S. Researchers Seeking Thai Help on Potentially Deadly Bacteria

U.S. biologists have recently sought to collaborate with their Thai counterparts to learn more about a deadly bacterium that appears commonly in Thailand, the Bangkok Nation reported yesterday.

The collaboration was an effort to improve U.S. defenses against terrorists using the bacteria as a weapon, said Sirirurg Songsivilai, a molecular biology professor at Mahidol University.

Burkholderia pseudomallei appears widely in northeastern Thailand and could be used as an weapon agent because it is a catalyst for the disease called melioidosis, which has no vaccine (see GSN, Jan. 16, 2002).  About 5,000 Thais die annually from the disease, according to Stitaya Sirisinha, also a Mahidol University molecular biology professor (The Nation, Sept. 17).

Melioidosis, also called Whitmore’s Disease, is an infection that can usually be treated with antibiotics if detected early, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control fact sheet (CDC release, Sept. 18).

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Soldiers, Families Ask Pentagon to Investigate Pneumonia Cases More Thoroughly

U.S. soldiers who have experienced pneumonia-like symptoms have complained that the U.S. Defense Department has not adequately investigated whether vaccines they received played a role in their illnesses, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 10).

Some of the ill soldiers have said they started suffering pneumonia-like symptoms after receiving vaccines, particularly the anthrax vaccine, according to UPI.  Air Force Staff Sgt. Neal Erickson said he was hospitalized at Incerlik Air Force Base in Turkey in March 10 days after receiving the fourth in a series of anthrax vaccinations.  He said that he received another anthrax vaccination in August and 10 days later was hospitalized again with the same symptoms.

Erickson said the Pentagon has not considered that the vaccines are what made him ill and that he is now afraid of receiving the next planned anthrax vaccination, scheduled in five months.

“I’m real touchy here.  Come a few more months, I’m in line to get another.  It’s not like we have a choice in the matter,” he said.

The Pentagon is currently investigating an outbreak of 19 pneumonia cases among U.S. troops in southwestern Asia.  Statistical analysis has indicated that vaccinated military personnel are no more likely to develop pneumonia as those who have not been vaccinated, said Pentagon officials.  They added that there is also little evidence that military personnel are more likely to develop pneumonia after being vaccinated.

“We knew beforehand that the rate of pneumonia in anthrax-vaccinated people and in anthrax-unvaccinated people were essentially the same, so our starting point was that this was unlikely,” said Col. John Grabenstein, deputy director of the Military Vaccine Office (Mark Benjamin, United Press International, Sept. 16).

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