Free Republic

MARILYN CHASE, The Wall Street JournalWednesday, June 26, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/06/26/financial1000EDT0060.DTL (06-26) 07:00 PDT (AP) -- ATLANTA -- In an experiment unfolding under tight security, six rust and silver monkeys this past week grew listless, refused to eat, and broke out in blisters. Four have become sick, and two have died. The cause: smallpox. On June 18, microbiologist Peter Jahrling and a team of spacesuited scientists passed through steel doors with key cards, and entered an air-locked laboratory -- the "Hot Suite" -- at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their mission: to infect animals with...

<p>The USA is amassing an abundant supply of smallpox vaccine, but health officials say they are not recommending that it be widely used — yet.</p> <p>The vaccine currently on hand, 15.4 million doses in a government stockpile and more than 85 million doses that drug maker Aventis Pasteur says it will add to that, is safe and effective but can cause problems, says D.A. Henderson, director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness. Many people develop painful swelling around the site of the inoculation, headache and nausea. In people with weakened immune systems, the live-virus vaccine can cause illness. And in one to two people per million, it can cause death.</p>

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-smallpox-vaccine-lab0329mar29.storyLab Almost Destroyed Smallpox Vaccine By DAVID B. CARUSO Associated Press Writer March 29, 2002, 3:27 PM EST PHILADELPHIA -- For three decades, 120 liters of smallpox vaccine sat in a walk-in freezer at a remote mountainside lab in the Poconos, stored at precisely minus-20 degrees Celsius, even though company officials thought the drugs were worthless. "We had actually been developing protocols with the (Centers for Disease Control) to destroy it," said Aventis Pasteur spokeswoman Beth Waters. Then a series of anthrax-tainted letters killed five people in the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, reviving fears that smallpox, eradicated...

In 1971, a Soviet biological weapons test caused an outbreak of smallpox in a nearby town, and three deaths. The accident, confirmed for the first time, suggests the current smallpox vaccine would work against the smallpox used in Soviet weapons, the type thought most likely to have fallen into terrorist hands.The report was presented on Saturday to a US government committee advising on whether authorities should offer smallpox vaccinations to the public amid growing fears of bioterrorism. Their decision is expected this week.Smallpox has been extinct in the wild since 1980. In 1959, universal vaccination had driven it from...

<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are meeting behind closed doors on June 19-20 to determine policy about the U.S. stockpile of smallpox vaccine-this after having four open forums to solicit public opinion and input. First of all, four hastily put together and not well-advertised (hence, poorly attended) forums in New York, San Francisco, San Antonio, and St. Louis hardly constitutes a wellspring of public input. But the CDC apparently prefers it that way.</p>

Hospitals are usually eager to tout their expertise in treating various diseases. But there is little upside, it seems, in becoming St. Smallpox.Across the country, state and local officials developing smallpox-response plans at the behest of the federal government are discovering that hospitals are reluctant to be tapped for the duty. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that planners identify a "Type C," or facility for contagious smallpox patients, in each community or region, to be activated in the event of an outbreak. Such centers would house confirmed and probable cases.Hospitals, though, see little advantage in being designated...

Theory Most of the many Americans who would label themselves as environmentalists, do so on the basis of a genuine advocacy of a proper stewardship of man's environment. Indeed, by such a yardstick we're all "environmentalists" - a conscious desire for a polluted and demonstrably hazardous environment would be patently irrational. Implicit but rarely explicit in such advocacy, is the premise that human health and well-being is at least a, if not the, standard of value and prime motivation. For this reason - and the fact that a majority of people are not versed in philosophy, much less Objectivist philosophy...

Panel urges small teams of vaccinated smallpox responders (original title) ATLANTA (AP) - A government advisory panel rejected smallpox vaccinations for the general public Thursday, instead proposing that the shots be given to special teams of people in each state who would be designated the first to respond in case of a bioterrorism attack. The recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which sets U.S. vaccine policy, came after two days of hearings on the threat of a smallpox attack versus the dangerous side effects of the vaccine. The recommendation is subject to approval by the Centers for Disease...

After months of public meetings, and with less than 24 hours to reach a decision, the group that will decide how many Americans receive smallpox vaccine still faces profound uncertainty. Meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices heard almost 12 hours of testimony on a single theme: whether to allow some segment of the public to be vaccinated before any potential bioterror attack begins. But the 15-person group, which makes vaccine policy recommendations to the federal government and is expected to announce a decision today, could not answer a key question underlying every argument pro or...

<p>Biological warfare is the subject of today's "Winds of Change" features. Lady Margaret Thatcher leads off in typically clear and inspirational style. The recently-passed Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2001 follows - it's a start, but large gaps remain. We look at the act and the gaps, and set out the 10-point plan for change. In-depth briefings on anthrax and smallpox round out today's features.</p>

Archive Number 20020612.4479 Published Date 12-JUN-2002 Subject PRO/EDR> Smallpox rumors - Pakistan: unconfirmed SMALLPOX RUMORS - PAKISTAN: UNCONFIRMED *************************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases [We at ProMED-mail go through special efforts to try to ensure that we do not contribute to "rumor mills" on disease outbreaks. Given the amount of attention and high volume of emails we have received related to this current rumor, we feel obligated to post these newswires (with moderator comments) below, as part of a rumor control effort. - Mods.MPP/LM/JW] [1] Date: 11 Jun 2002 From: ProMED-mail...

WASHINGTON — The United States has determined that Cuba is cooperating with such countries as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya in the development of both biological and chemical weapons. Assistant Secretary of State Carl Ford said Cuba both exports and imports weapons of mass destruction technology with Middle East rogue states. He said the United States has evidence of Cuban exports of dual-use biological weapons technology to Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya. "So that while I'm concerned about what Cuba and its biotechnological capability may be providing other countries like Iran," Ford told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee last week,...

SWABI, June 8: The smallpox epidemic is rapidly spreading in these parts of the province, but the district health department has failed to take any step to contain this deadly disease, Dawn learnt here on Saturday. It has been reported from different parts of the Swabi district that a large number of children have suffered from smallpox, but the authorities concerned have failed to take any action to prevent this disease or immunize the people against it. Smallpox is a fatal disease which causes high fever, leaves permanent marks on the skin and spreads very fast. Timely treatment and precautionary...

  Smallpox immunity is long gone   10:49 30 May 02   Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition   If you had a smallpox vaccination as a child and think you are still protected, think again - almost everyone vaccinated before smallpox was eradicated in the mid-1970s has now lost their immunity. The bad news comes from a study of 621 microbiologists in Maryland who received fresh vaccinations between 1994 and 2001 to protect them in their work. Only about 40, or just six per cent, were still immune from their earlier vaccinations."The study is, to the best of my knowledge, the...

For release May 15, 2002: MEDICAL JOURNAL EXPOSES CUBA'S BIOTERRORISM LINK May Have Been Source of West Nile Virus, Producing Anthrax-Like Toxins Washington -- Iraq may have unleashed the West Nile Virus in the United States via Cuba through the release of migratory birds infected with the virus, and may be producing antiobiotic-resistant toxins for future attacks, according to two articles published in The Medical Sentinel, The Official Journal of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (Volume 6, Number 4). In the first, "West Nile Virus - Is Castro's Bioterrorism Threat Being Ignored," author Ernesto F. Betancourt, Castro's Washington...

Bioterrorism preparedness plan expected this summer By Neil Munro, National Journal Top administration officials intend to announce in June or July a comprehensive plan for defending the nation against biological warfare. Senior officials are hoping that by then they can offer enough details to reassure citizens and to guide lower-level officials, said Anna Johnson-Winegar, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for chemical and biological defense. The plan, she said, is to include details on the availability of gas masks, the process for quarantining attack areas, the creation of a "national vaccine strategy," and an office to oversee the development of disease-fighting...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/05/020509075301.htm Source: University Of Michigan Health System (http://www.med.umich.edu/) Date: Posted 5/9/2002 University Of Michigan Study: Time To Resume Routine Vaccination Against Smallpox? BALTIMORE -- Immunizing young Americans against smallpox before a bioterrorist attack might save many more lives than a strategy focused exclusively on isolating and vaccinating those at risk after an attack. But a mass-vaccination approach would cost more up front and would have to be done cautiously because of illnesses and deaths the vaccine itself could cause. Those conclusions, from an analysis performed by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System, were presented May 7 at the...

Home Search   Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses May Be Used For Bioterror Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, and other viruses that cause deadly hemorrhagic fever illnesses could be used as biological weapons, according to a report from the Working Group on Civilian Biodefense.The Working Group is a panel of 26 experts convened by the Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The group’s consensus statement, which appears in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), is based on an analysis of published research and offers public health and medical guidelines for...

WASHINGTON – China and Russia "are unquestionably the two largest sources of” weapons of mass destruction that end up in the hands of rogue nations dedicated to the destruction of the U.S. That comment from Under Secretary of State John R. Bolton came in a Q&A session after a speech Monday in which he added Cuba, Libya and Syria to the list of rogue terrorist nations, second only to the "axis of evil” first described by President Bush in January when he bestowed that dubious honor on Iraq, Iran and North Korea. "I only had a half an hour to...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey April 23, 2002 HOMELAND HEALTH – AN UNHEALTHY ALLIANCE? First it was Homeland Defense with a director appointed by the President to pull all of the government agencies together to protect the country against terrorism. Other than issuing occasional warnings of impending terrorist acts based on unknown sources, little has been done in the public view. For that matter, even the Congress is in the dark as the President refuses to let Homeland Defense Director Ridge talk to them Now comes a new “cooperative” effort to provide protection against “bio-terrorism.” But this one is quite...