Global Security Newswire

The U.S National Institutes of Health has awarded a $1.7 million grant to a Canadian scientist to develop vaccines against two potential bioterrorism agents, the Canwest News Service reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 16, 2002).

Roughly half of all people infected with glanders or melioidosis die.

"It's easy to grow them in the lab.  It would probably be easy to disperse them," said Donald Woods, a microbiologist at the University of Calgary researcher.  "There is a very real threat they could be used."

Glanders and meliodosis are highly similar, meaning that one vaccine could potentially provide protection against both diseases, Woods said.  Researchers have selected 12 vaccine candidates and plan to begin testing on small animals and then horses.

While other diseases might be more likely to be used by terrorists, these two cannot be counted out, said researcher Richard Moore.

"They (the U.S. government) want this in their arsenal," he said (Michelle Lang, Canwest News Service/Calgary Herald, July 10).