June 2004

Below is a listing of bioterrorism-related events this month, part of an ongoing bioterrorism chronology that begins with Sep 11, 2001. To see events from other months, go to the Bioterrorism Watch index page.

June 30

Military to expand anthrax, smallpox vaccination programs
An expansion of the Pentagon's anthrax and smallpox vaccination plan for military personnel is announced. Troops in South Korea and additional troops going to Iraq will be getting the shots. Among the reasons behind the expansion is the increased availability of vaccine for the diseases. The Department of Defense has vaccinated more than 750,000 service members against anthrax and 625,000 against smallpox since the end of 2002. (See CIDRAP News story.)

June 29

Anthrax-hoax perpetrator convicted
Noel Davila, a Connecticut state prison inmate, is convicted by a federal jury for his role in a 2002 anthrax scare. He sent a letter containing white powder to the State Attorney General's office in August of that year, resulting in a 2-day closure of the office. Sentencing for Davila, who is already serving a 25-year prison term on weapons and drug charges, is scheduled for Sept. 16. Life in prison is a possiblity.

June 27

Spending on civilian biodefense has skyrocketed since 2001
A report from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Biosecurity Center says the federal government has spent $14.5 billion on civilian bioterrorism defense since 2001. The report, just released in the journal Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, says this number does not include federal spending for law enforcement or most expenditures by the departments of Defense, Energy, and Justice. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security account for more than 90% of the expenditures. The FY2005 budget presented by President Bush includes $7.6 billion for civilian biodefense, more that 18 times the amount in the 2001 budget.

Anthrax cleanup starts at former American Media building
Cleanup of the building in Boca Raton, Florida, that housed Amercian Media, where the first fatal case of anthrax occurred in the 2001 outbreak, begins. Bio-ONE, the company doing the decontamination, is testing equipment, with the actual fumigation scheduled for July 11. Testing to assure that no anthrax spores remain will continue for 6 to 8 weeks after that.

June 24

Emergency relocation plan for Parliament revealed
arliament Both Houses of Parliament have emergency plans for relocation to secret spots inside and outside of London in the event of a terrorist attack, says Sergeant-at-Arms Sir Michael Cummins at a security briefing. He acknowledges that the Palace of Westminster has been "high on the list of potential terrorist targets for many years," although no specific threat spurred the announcement. British lawmakers last met outside the capital in 1681, when a Catholic conspiracy to unseat King Charles II was suspected, according to the BBC News.

June 23

Rapid field test for suspicious powders on the horizon
The Center for Domestic Preparedness, part of the US Justice Department, has developed and may soon make available a field-test kit that can identify suspicious powders in about 10 minutes. Test results would need to be verified in a government laboratory but would allow faster identification of hoaxes and thus avoid distribution of unnecessary treatment in suspicious cases. The test, which can be purchased for about $10, has had a 99% accuracy in the laboratory.

Anthrax antibodies to be evaluated by government
Dutch pharmaceutical company IQ Corporation announces that the CDC has selected two of its anti-anthrax products for evaluation. The company's monoclonal antibodies against anthrax protective antigen and against anthrax lethal factor (LF) can provide potent postexposure treatment for anthrax, according to a news release. The neutralization capacity of the antibodies would make them a beneficial augmentation to the currently used antibiotic regimen for anthrax. This is thought to be the first time the goverment has evaluated an anti-LF antibody.

June 18

Mail-monitoring system among first products certified under SAFETY Act
The Department of Homeland Security announces the first certifications of products under its SAFETY (Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies) Act of 2002. Among four products receiving "Designation and Certification" is the Biohazard Detection System (BDS), made by Northrop Grumman and selected by the US Postal Service to monitor for biological agents in mail as it is processed by high-speed sorting equipment (see July 22, 2003, item). The SAFETY Act aims to protect vendors of antiterrorism technologies from legal liability in the event their product is deployed during an act of terrorism. The Office of SAFETY Act Implementation has received 91 preapplications and 19 full product applications since its opening in October 2003.

June 17

$849 million more for preparedness
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announces $849 million for states, territories, and four metropolitan areas (New York, Chicao, Los Angeles, and Washington) to improve public health and emergency response capabilities for bioterror attacks, infectious disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. This is in addition to the $498 million allocated earlier this month for hospital preparedness (see May 24 item). (See CIDRAP News story.)

June 16

Oral/nasal vaccine against botulism in development
DOR BioPharma and its academic partner Thomas Jefferson University announce their Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to develop a mucosally (oral or nasal) delivered vaccine against botulinum toxin. DOR has previously demonstrated 100% effectiveness of the agent in animals. Mucosal delivery would offer more convenience if mass immunization were to be required.

June 15

Australian feds to increase country's national stockpile
The Australian federal government has acted to exempt batches of smallpox vaccines and antibiotic treatments against anthrax from Therapeutic Goods Administration regulations, according to a story in the Australian Financial Review. The exemption will all faster production and acquisition of the agents for the country's emergency national stockpile. Funding in the amount of A$15.3 million has been allotted by the government. Experts in Australia are debating whether the risk of a bioterrorism attack merits the actions.

June 10

Possible exposure of lab workers to live anthrax raises safety questions
At least seven lab workers may have been exposed to live anthrax in an Oakland, Calif., lab. The researchers at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute thought they were working with dead Bacillus anthracis when they injected it into mice in experiments seeking an anthrax vaccine for children. Death of the mice led to discovery that the B anthracis was alive. The workers are receiving prophylactic antibiotics and have had no ill effects. Investigation is under way to determine how this mistake could have happened; Southern Research Institute, Frederick, Md., the supplier, says the organisms were dead when they were shipped. The situation is raising questions about safety and oversight in the quickly enlarging field of research involving dangerous biological agents.

SIPRI warns against misuse of new technologies
European think tank SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) issues in its annual yearbook a chapter warning that rapid developments in biotechnology, such as mapping the human genome, could be "a driving force encouraging states to pursue a biological weapon capacity and opening new possiblities for potential future military or terrorist misuse." Furthermore, the document says, free access to sequence data for human and other genomes, while a "great resource", could pose a significant threat in the wrong hands. It stresses too that careful monitoring is required to guard the boundary between defensive and offensive research.

Australian discovery could become 'pregnancy test' for anthrax
Research by scientists from La Trobe University has the potential to lead to a simple test for anthrax that is akin to a pregnancy test, in that it can detect the condition before symptoms appear. Exhibited at the BIO 2004 convention in San Francisco, the Australian researchers' technology uses a peptide that is code-named T1 to prevent lethal factor, the active part of anthrax toxin, from causing its damage within human cells, says a report from News-Medical.Net. The scientists hope to find other peptides that could, for example, sense anthrax in the air or in letters.

June 9

Companies still hesitant to invest in antibioterrorism work
The University of Maryland holds a conference focused on reluctance of biotech companies to enter the market for vaccines and treatments for diseases of bioterrorism. Balking by industry continues despite the passage by both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate of Project BioShield, which is designed to encourage business investment in such work (see May 19 item). President Bush is expected to sign the bill shortly. Companies' reluctance stems from concerns about liability, manufacturing issues, and whether government contracts with truly materialize, says an Associated Press story. The conference is the first of three meetings addressing the development of policies that encourage businesses to manufacture antibioterrorism products.

June 7

Mousepox findings hold promise for smallpox prevention/treatment
Scientists present in a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences findings from animal studies that have implications for better defenses against smallpox in humans. They have identified certain proteins that determine which mice will die from mousepox, a relative of smallpox, and which will not. Importance applications of the discovery could be improved treatments for complications of smallpox vaccination, overcoming acute smallpox infections, and inducing long-term immunity.

New anthrax test approved by FDA
The FDA approves the first blood test for anthrax. The test, developed by Immunetics, Inc, a Boston diagnostics technology company, can detect both inhalational and cutaneous anthrax with very high sensitivity and specificity. Called the Anthrax Quick ELISA, the test will be available to laboratories shortly. Results with the test are available in less than an hour, allowing early institution of treatment where needed. (See CIDRAP News story.)

Fed's rPA anthrax vaccine order on the horizon
The government will order enough anthrax vaccine for 25 million people by late this summer, reveals Philip Russell, a top bioterrorism advisor to HHS. Plans to stockpile the new vaccine doses were announced earlier this year (see March 12 item), but the timing was previously not known. The order will be for the new and safer recombinant protective antigen (rPA) vaccine (see CIDRAP News story).

Biosurveillance system in place in Atlanta area
FirstWatch Biosurveillance System software is in place in Chatham County, Ga., in time for this week's G-8 meeting in Atlanta, according to a story in the Savannah Morning News. The system monitors and analyzes 911 calls and updates every minute, looking for patterns of symptoms and patient complaints that could indicate exposure to, among other things, a bioterrorism agent. Emergency personnel and public health officials can, if a trend is spotted, be reached through the system by e-mail, pagers, faxes, and wireless messaging. By focusing on 911 calls, the system can, in theory, identify trends even before patients reach emergency rooms in the event of an outbreak.

June 4

Olympics to welcome NATO battalion
NATO's newly formed Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Battalion (see Dec 1, 2003, item) will arrive near Athens this month in preparation for the Olympics in August. This will be the 160-member battalion's first operational deployment, according to a story in Jane's Defense Weekly. Greece asked for NATO's security help earlier this year (see March 23 item).

Tenet resigns from CIA
CIA Director George Tenet resigns. He will continue in his post until mid-July, at which time John McLaughlin, deputy director, will become acting director. Although Tenet claims that personal reasons as his reason for leaving, some observers believe controversy over pre–Iraq war intelligence on weapons of mass destruction may have played a part.

June 3

Bioterrorism research prioritized by intelligence analysis, claim officials
Defending against Democratic charges that the Bush administration is not doing enough to prepare for a bioterrorist attack (for example, see May 4 item regarding Rep. Jim Turner's bill), officials tell the House Select Committee on Homeland Security that research priorities are based on the latest credible intelligence and so need to remain flexible. Turner, D-Texas, believes that more research should focus on new, potentially bioengineered pathogens that may be developed by terrorists. Speaking on behalf of the current agenda were Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID; Penrise Albright, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and committee chairman Christopher Cox, R-Calif. Fauci pointed out to the committee that NIH, parent organization of the NIAID, has "considerable experience in rapidly mobilizing research resources to conront new infectious-disease threats. This experience serves us well when called upon to adjust our research priorities in response to new intelligence information."

June 2

Postal Service biosensor program resumes
Installation of equipment capable of detecting dangerous biological agents in post offices resumes after being put on hold (see Apr 30 item). Fewer than 12 sites are now equipped with the sensors, but 283 mail-handling and sorting facilities are scheduled to receive the units.

June 1

Portion of state bioterrorism funding to be redirected
Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, gives his approval for HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson's request (see May 20 item) to take more than $1 million from each state's allottment of bioterrorism funds and distribute those funds instead to 21 large cities, the US Postal Service, the federal BioSense program, and an expansion of federal quarantine capacity. Many observers disagree with Thompson's "Cities Readiness Initiative," claiming it will hamstring states and delay important work in progress. (See CIDRAP News story.)

Scientists and bioterrorism regulations sometimes clash
An increasing number of scientists are forgoing research on "select agents," biological substances and toxins that could be used by bioterrorists, because of the increased scrutiny they, their labs, and their workers are subjected to under the strict regulations imposed by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. Using examples of researchers in that area who have decided compliance with the law isn't worth the trouble, the story notes that researchers working with the agents now have to undergo lengthy FBI clearance and federal inspections of their labs as well as invest in costly security equipment and time-consuming inventory control. Other factors discouraging researchers are delays in embarking on research while the regulations are dealt with and fear of criminal penalities if mistakes are made.

For other months' installments, go to the Bioterrorism Watch index page