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Questions raised over safety of revived microbe.Kerri Smith   Natural Museum of Health and Medicine The 1918 influenza virus, which killed some 50 million people worldwide, has proved fatal to macaques infected in a laboratory. The study follows Nature's controversial publication1 of the virus's sequence in 2005, alongside a paper in Science that described the recreation of the virus from a corpse and its potency in mice2. Some scientists question the wisdom of reconstructing such a deadly virus. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Those who carried out the macaque study say yes, as a better understanding of how it...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has extended for two more years the imprisonment of a terror suspect linked to al-Qaeda's attempts to produce chemical and biological weapons, saying he has more information about terrorist operations. Yazid Sufaat, a U.S.-trained biochemist and former Malaysian army captain, was arrested in late 2001 as he returned home from Afghanistan, where officials say he was working on a biological and chemical weapons program for al-Qaeda that was ended by the U.S.-led war. Since then, he has been held without trial under Malaysia's Internal Security Act on accusations of being a member of Jemaah...

In a shocking intelligence report received by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has revealed Pakistan's Inter-State Intelligence (ISI) intentions to spread the AIDS virus among personnel of the Indian Army and para-military forces. According to the news agency, a recent intelligence report from Delhi had apprised the SSB of the ISI's design, likely to be implemented with the help of some militant organisations, SSB Deputy Inspector General G S Sarna told reporters in Siliguri. While addressing an awareness camp on AIDS on Saturday at Madan Jote village bordering Nepal, 30 km from here, Sarna asked SSB personnel to frustrate the...

I am looking for assessments of possible terrorist threats to the US that have been made in the past year. I work in preparedness efforts and need something that will motivate others I will be presenting to. The focus needs to be on biological threats but can include chemical and nuclear -- especially if they are in reference to public health impacts. This is a real opportunity to help prepare for possible acts of terrorism.

(Daily Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) URGENT calls have been made for the law to be changed to stop ingredients for deadly biological weapons being bought over the Internet. A shocking investigation has exposed how elements of the deadly smallpox virus can be purchased online then delivered through the post in Britain. It is feared terrorists could use the same tactics to create a biological weapon. Concern over the potential risk to public health last night prompted calls for the law to be changed to close current loopholes. Smallpox is one of the biggest killers in history, having claimed...

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2006 – A full-scale bio-exercise in the Pentagon parking lot today tested how the Pentagon police, in partnership with local emergency services, would respond to a biological attack at the military headquarters. Red Cross volunteers, acting as potentially anthrax-exposed Pentagon employees, remove their "contaminated" clothing before being "decontaminated" during Gallant Fox 06 May 17 in a Pentagon parking lot. The exercise tested the response of Pentagon police and local and federal agencies to a biological attack at the Pentagon. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency,...

Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller is on the lecture circuit, pulling down $15,000-$20,000 a speech plus first class airfare. When she left the paper, after spending 85 days in jail, she wrote that “In my future writing, I intend to call attention to the internal and external threats to our country’s freedoms¯Al Qaeda and other forms of religious extremism, conventional and W.M.D. terrorism, and growing government secrecy in the name of national security¯subjects that have long defined my work.” Those are noble sentiments. But it’s the Times, more than any other media organization, which has prevented the government...

Singapore, 27 March (AKI) - There is enough evidence to suggest that the al-Qaeda terrorist network is preparing to engage in biological warfare, according to the International Criminal Police Organisation or Interpol. At an Asian Bioterrorism Workshop in Singapore, Interpol said that bioterrorism cannot be ignored and that countries need to develop the laws to deal with such a crime. "It can't be that we as a world community have to wait for a September 11 type of attack in bioterrorism before we prepare," Interpol's secretary general, Ronald Noble was quoted as saying on Singapore's Channel NewsAsia website. "What needs...

Defense issued anthrax alert A female employee at Norway's Defense has undergone preventative treatment after opening an envelope that contained white powder. The incident took place at Jåttå in Stavanger, at a military base that houses both NATO's training center and the Norwegian Defense Joint Operative Headquarters. The envelope, sent from the USA, was addressed to American representatives. "The police have been called in and they took the powder, which is now sent for analysis," press spokesman Erling Kristiansen at DJOH told newspaper VG. The woman, a civilian employee, is being treated as a precaution as the Defense cannot rule...

Al-Qaida is recruiting suicide bombers who are infected with the AIDS virus, according to Britain's Sunday Mirror. The newspaper reported that terror chiefs are also targeting fanatics who suffer other lethal blood diseases such as hepatitis and dengue fever in order to increase their "kill rate" from an explosion. The chilling new threat is revealed in papers distributed to British military camps in Iraq and across Europe. Under the heading "HIV/Hepatitis" the document states: "There is evidence that terrorists might be deliberately recruiting volunteers with diseases that are spread by blood transference." Experts have found that bones and other blood-spattered...

Some scientists fear resources set aside for a new anti-bioterrorism center will be taken away from existing agencies doing similar work WASHINGTON -- Legislation moving rapidly through the Senate would create a secretive national research center to respond to bioterror threats and natural disease outbreaks. But some scientists cautioned Friday that the new agency could draw money away from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health and disrupt their work. The measure, said to be a priority of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., would shift the main responsibility for developing bioterrorism countermeasures out...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 - An outbreak of the avian flu virus in the United States could infect one-third of the population and kill as many as 1.9 million people, according to an analysis by the federal government released today. The report, by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, said that banning large gatherings and imposing quarantines would likely be necessary in order to contain the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus if it mutated into a form easily spread by human-to-human contact. There have been no reported cases of the virus being spread between humans. The...

One of the Centers for Disease Control's top five biological terrorism agents, the tularemia bacteria, has been detected in air monitors in San Jose but public health officials do not believe it is the result of any type of terrorist attack. The Francisella tularensis bacteria was found in an air-monitoring station in San Jose on Sunday morning. However, a subsequent test this morning at the same station found no evidence of the bacteria and no other stations in the area showed evidence of it, according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. "It is likely that the positive test...

TORONTO - A newly disclosed Canadian intelligence study says al-Qaeda might try to spread the deadly avian flu virus as part of its campaign to sow terror in Western nations. The report by the federal government's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre describes the avian flu as a "potential terrorist-induced" pandemic and specifically mentions Osama bin Laden. "It is significant to note that Osama bin Laden views chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons as legitimate," says the report, titled "Pandemics: Avian Flu." "In addition, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda representatives have repeatedly named Canada as a target," it says under the heading...

Bush Outlines $7.1B Flu-Fighting Strategy By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer 32 minutes ago President Bush outlined a $7.1 billion strategy Tuesday to prepare for the danger of a pandemic influenza outbreak, saying he wanted to stockpile enough vaccine to protect 20 million Americans against the current strain of bird flu.The president also said the United States must approve liability protection for the makers of lifesaving vaccines. He said the number of American vaccine manufacturers has plummeted because the industry has been hit with a flood of lawsuits. Bush said no one knows when or where a deadly strain...

OMSK, October 29 (Itar-Tass) - A quarantine was imposed in the village of Rozovka in the Omsk Region on Saturday in connection with the bird flu. The Novosibirsk inter-regional veterinary laboratory confirmed the diagnosis, a source at the regional veterinary and farm produce control department told Itar-Tass. More than 100 poultry birds died in Rozovka located not far from the Russian-Kazakh border. Deaths of wild and domestic birds from infection were reported in six districts of the Omsk Region last August and September. The tough preventive measures taken by local authorities at that time stopped the bird flu from...

Man Charged In Fake Flu Shot Case Shots Contain Purified Water POSTED: 4:56 pm CDT October 28, 2005 UPDATED: 5:15 pm CDT October 28, 2005 HOUSTON -- A man was charged Friday, accused of intentionally administering fake flu shots to hundreds of ExxonMobil employees, KPRC Local 2 reported. Iyad Abu El Hawa, 35, is accused of attempting to defraud Medicare by giving fake flu vaccines, according to U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg. Officials said El Hawa substituted a purified form of water for the vaccine. Investigators said the bogus flu shots were given at an ExxonMobil health fair on Oct. 19...

Bird flu 'will kill 50,000 people, but not this year' By David Derbyshire (Filed: 17/10/2005) A bird flu pandemic would kill about 50,000 people in Britain but will not necessarily strike this winter, the Government's chief medical officer said yesterday. Sir Liam Donaldson said that it was a question of "when, not if" the disease infecting birds in Asia and the fringes of eastern Europe mutated into a deadly form of human influenza. Sir Liam: deaths could be higher than 50,000 The number of deaths in Britain could reach 750,000 if the human strain were particularly serious, although a lower...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is scrambling to prepare the nation for a possible global rampage by a new flu germ that it fears could kill nearly 2 million Americans, sicken tens of millions more and shatter the economy. The key question is how much preparation can be done before a calamity strikes that, in a worst-case scenario, could make the health system collapse; overwhelm morgues; close schools, airports and harbors; end public gatherings; require strict quarantines; and cripple businesses and vital public services by mass absenteeism. "You're looking at a nation-busting event," warned Tara O'Toole, director of the Center...

AP SCIENCE WRITER NEW YORK -- Bird flu virus found in a Vietnamese girl was resistant to the main drug that's being stockpiled in case of a pandemic, a sign that it's important to keep a second drug on hand as well, a researcher said Friday. He said the finding was no reason to panic. The drug in question, Tamiflu, still attacks "the vast majority of the viruses out there," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Tokyo and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The drug, produced by Swiss-based Roche Holding AG, is in short supply as nations around the world...