Who do you think leads in the field of biological threats and warfare, and in protecting our forces from such threats?
We do not want the Army to turn over military survival against bio agents and operations in disease zones to civilians.
At the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a small team of scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Ft. Detrick, Md., has trained its microscopes on severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID; pronounced: you-SAM-rid) is the U.S Armys main institution and facility for defensive research into countermeasures against biological warfare. It is located on Fort Detrick, Maryland and is a subordinate lab of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), headquartered on the same installation.
USAMRIID is the only U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) laboratory equipped to study highly hazardous viruses at Biosafety Level 4 within positive pressure personnel suits.
USAMRIID employs both military and civilian scientists as well as highly specialized support personnel, in all about 800 people. In the 1950s and 60s, USAMRIID and its predecessor unit pioneered unique, state-of-the-art biocontainment facilities which it continues to maintain and upgrade. Investigators at its facilities frequently collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and major biomedical and academic centers worldwide.
USAMRIID was the first bio-facility of its type to research the Ames strain of anthrax, determined through genetic analysis to be the bacterium used in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
This [research] does in fact fit into our overall mission in that although we have not had an outbreak in the military yet, if we were operating in an area where the SARS virus was in fact transmitting, this would be a significant military problem, said John Huggins. An expert in viral research and chief of the laboratorys viral therapeutics branch, Huggins major concentration has been on screening drugs against viral agents, including Ebola, Marburg, smallpox and now SARS.
Scientists at the Army institute normally work to develop strategies for protecting military personnel against biological warfare threats and naturally occurring infectious diseases.
Using military gained technology for medical purposes is one thing. Using troops as hospital builders is another. Huge difference.