rs79.vrx.palo-alto.ca.us
2015
"Camp Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, now called Fort Detrick, is to biological warfare what Transylvania is to the legend of Count Dracula"
- F. Barbarelli, 2009

Worker at Tulane possibly exposed to Burkholderia pseudomallei

Blood tests conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate the employee of the primate center's veterinary clinic has a "possible current or prior exposure" to the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, agency spokesman Jason McDonald said. The worker shows no signs of illness and additional testing is needed to confirm the exposure, he said.

It is the first indication that a worker at the huge research complex has been exposed to the bacteria, which can cause potentially fatal disease. Tests of other employees have been negative. McDonald said ongoing tests also identified an additional monkey that has antibodies to the bacteria, bringing to eight the number of monkeys that tests indicate have been exposed or sickened at the complex.

None of the exposed monkeys was being used in experiments and they never should have come into contact with the bacteria, which is tightly regulated as a research material because of its potential for use in a bioweapon.

Tulane officials did not immediately provide any comment.


anthrax

"It was with anthrax, in fact, that the germ theory of disease was firmly established." - Guillamin


Historical Dictionary of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare
https://books.google.ca/books?isbn=1538106841
Benjamin C. Garrett - 2017 - ‎History
The United States set about producing the Vollum anthrax strain in bulk, first in a cooperative venture with Canada at the War Disease Control Station, Grosse Île, Quebec, then at Camp Detrick (now Fort Detrick).

Anthrax
The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak
By JEANNE GUILLEMIN
University of California Press
http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/guillemin-anthrax.html


The Dorset Biological Warfare Experiments 1963-75

During the years 1949-1964 there was a growing realisation, confirmed by results from experiments conducted by Porton Down scientists, that a large area of the UK could be contaminated with simulated biological warfare agents by a single ship or aircraft. Experiments using the BW simulant, Zinc Cadmium sulphide, had shown that a spray aircraft, flying along the coast of the UK, could contaminate an area as large as 10,000 square miles from a distance of over 100 miles from the target area. This method of BW attack became known as the Large Area Coverage (LAC) concept.

During the early 1960s, scientists from the Microbiological Research Establishment Porton Down were tasked to investigate whether similar results could be obtained by using live bacteria instead of the chemical compound (ZnCds) that was used in previous experiments.

It was quickly realised that the Porton Range (area 7,000 acres) was far too small to be used in any of these proposed experiments. The Director of the MRE Porton Down, Dr D W Henderson, then suggested that spraying the bacteria at sea and detecting the resulting aerosol cloud inland might be a successful operational method, and so a search began for a suitable trials site in the UK.

According to declassified MRE Porton Down documents, South Dorset was eventually selected as the trials site because it met with three important, and still valid, requirements.


https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/212/suppl_2/S336/2194364

US weaponized Ebola in UK with Canadian Ebola Virus.

12 Marmoset monkeys were experimentally infected with the Ebola virus, via aerosol, at Porton Down under a Pentagon-funded project – Experimental respiratory infection of marmosets with Ebola virus Kikwit (the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus which killed more than 245 people in Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, in 1995). The project was part of a $6.3 million DTRA program running at Porton Down from 2012 to 2016 – Development of common marmoset models for category A/B pathogens and product evaluation in marmosets.



Experimental Respiratory Infection of Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) With Ebola Virus Kikwit
The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 212, Issue suppl_2, October 2015, Pages S336–S345,
https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiv371 Published: 01 September 2015

"...there is still a need for further understanding of the disease caused by aerosolized virus and the ability to test medical countermeasures against aerosolized virus..."

"EBOV Kikwit (EBOV/H.sapiens-tc/COD/1995/13625 Kikwit; hereafter EBOV-Kikwit) was provided by Public Health Agency of Canada."


The Reemergent 1977 H1N1 Strain and the Gain-of-Function Debate

ABSTRACT The 1977-1978 influenza epidemic was probably not a natural event, as the genetic sequence of the virus was nearly identical to the sequences of decades-old strains. While there are several hypotheses that could explain its origin, the possibility that the 1977 epidemic resulted from a laboratory accident has recently gained popularity in discussions about the biosafety risks of gain-of-function (GOF) influenza virus research, as an argument for why this research should not be performed. There is now a moratorium in the United States on funding GOF research while the benefits and risks, including the potential for accident, are analyzed. Given the importance of this historical epidemic to ongoing policy debates, we revisit the evidence that the 1977 epidemic was not natural and examine three potential origins: a laboratory accident, a live-vaccine trial escape, or deliberate release as a biological weapon. Based on available evidence, the 1977 strain was indeed too closely matched to decades-old strains to likely be a natural occurrence. While the origin of the outbreak cannot be conclusively determined without additional evidence, there are very plausible alternatives to the laboratory accident hypothesis, diminishing the relevance of the 1977 experience to the modern GOF debate.


How the British Government subjected thousands of people to chemical and biological warfare trials during Cold War

During the Cold War, the British Government used the general public as unwitting biological and chemical warfare guinea pigs on a much greater scale than previously thought, according to new historical research.


World Health Organisation 'intentionally delayed declaring Ebola emergency'

The World Health Organisation dragged its feet for two months over declaring the Ebola outbreak a global emergency for fear of damaging the economy of Guinea and other afflicted countries, leaked documents show. The internal documents obtained by the Associated Press in Geneva reveal that WHO’s Geneva headquarters was receiving emails by mid-April 2014 from staffers on the ground in Guinea calling for help with an epidemic that had already killed 100 people but was recognised to be largely hidden and spreading.

One of the emails was from an experienced Ebola expert with WHO’s Africa office, who wrote to a Geneva official saying the situation had taken a critical turn because many health workers at the Donka hospital in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, had been exposed to the virus. “What we see is the tip of an iceberg,” wrote Jean-Bosco Ndihokubwayo. The scientist requested the help of half a dozen veteran outbreak responders, writing in all capitals in the email’s subject line: “WE NEED SUPPORT.”




tulane leak: Worker at Tulane possibly exposed to Burkholderia pseudomallei
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/11/tulane-employee-bacteria-exposure/70181372/


dorset: The Dorset Biological Warfare Experiments 1963-75
http://www.nr23.net/govt/spray_dorset.htm


ebov: US weaponized Ebola in UK with Canadian Ebola Virus.
https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/212/suppl_2/S336/2194364


Rozo: The Reemergent 1977 H1N1 Strain and the Gain-of-Function Debate
http://mbio.asm.org/content/6/4/e01013-15.full.pdf


UK exposed: How the British Government subjected thousands of people to chemical and biological warfare trials during Cold War
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/how-the-british-government-subjected-thousands-of-people-to-chemical-and-biological-warfare-trials-10376411.html


WHO: World Health Organisation 'intentionally delayed declaring Ebola emergency'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/ebola-emergency-guinea-epidemic-who