Odd Pneumonia in Sverdlovsk

ProMed list | 11/21/01

[atafak]

Sverdlovsk was the Soviet BioWar center that had the accidental anthrax release that killed 70 or so.

PNEUMONIA, UNKNOWN CAUSE - RUSSIA (SVERDLOVSK): REQUEST FOR INFO
****************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: 19 Nov 2001
From: ProMED-mail 
Source: Interfax Moscow, 15 Nov 2001 [edited]


One hundred & eighty nine residents of Kachkanar, in Russia's Sverdlovsk
Region in the Urals, 90% of whom are children, have contracted an
infectious pneumonia whose origin is unknown to doctors.  

The outbreak began in a number of town schools in late September [2001],
sources in the sanitary and epidemiological department of the Sverdlovsk
Region told Interfax. The disease's origin is still unknown, but it is
curable.  

Epidemiologists fear that some of the infected have not been reported.
Early phases of the disease look like an average upper respiratory
infection, and patients come to see the doctor only after the symptoms
develop into a grave case of pneumonia.  

Measures against epidemics are being taken in Kachkanar schools.
Bactericidal lamps are being installed, and additional instructions are
being given to school doctors. 

--
ProMED-mail


[ProMED-mail would appreciate receiving further details. - Mod.JW]

[Husker24]

Well if this happend in Late September and they still havent thought it to be anthrax then it probably isnt.

[atafak]

As it's infectious, it's not likely anthrax, but who knows what else the Soviets were working on there, or how well they cleaned up after themselves.

[11B3]

BTTT

[aristeides]

Measures against epidemics are being taken in Kachkanar schools. Bactericidal lamps are being installed, and additional instructions are being given to school doctors.

Well, if it was bacterial, it was presumably not SARS. But one does wonder. Isn't Sverdlovsk the center of bioweapons research in Russia?

[Judith Anne]

Article states the cause is unknown, if I'm reading correctly.

Imho SARS is a possibility here.

[Judith Anne]

Whoopsie! Reading even more carefully, the date is 2001....

[aristeides]

2001, yes, but it's conceivable this was an early instance of the same disease.

[Betty Jo]

Late September 2001.

As in after September 09,2001.

Whats the name of that place,Muslim rebels,..Cheznia?

As in Bin Laden helping his buddies kill Ruskies?

No news so far to convince me SARS is not an Islamic Terrorist WMD.

[flutters]

Yes, it was. From the top part of the post: Sverdlovsk was the Soviet BioWar center that had the accidental anthrax release that killed 70 or so.

[flutters]

Whoopsie! Reading even more carefully, the date is 2001....

Exactly. I know that before Dr. Urbani died (the doctor that identified SARS) he was ready to confirm that the disease had started as far back as November 2002. Maybe it started before that???

[Judith Anne]

I too have read that rural Chinese farms had instances of the illness five months before it came into the news...which would be November, 2002.

In my opinion, it's naturally occurring and not terrorism. Not that it couldn't be used.