May 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.

May 27

Food-related provision of Bioterrorism Act finalized
The third of four food-related provisions of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 is finalized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It establishes procedures for the detention of food judged from inspection, examination, or investigation to present a threat of adverse health consequences or death in humans or animals. (See CIDRAP News story.)

May 26

Vaccine effective against aerosolized smallpox
Results of new studies from Saint Louis University show that a new smallpox vaccine is effective against aerosolized smallpox virus in mice. The vaccine candidate, called LC16m8, is attenuated and so would be safer for populations at increased risk of serious side effects from the existing vaccine. Researcher Dr. Mark Buller says the study design closely models how smallpox might be delivered in a terrorist attack. The vaccine was developed by VaxGen; human trials are expected later this year. Buller presented the study results at the 7th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research.

May 25

Ebola accident kills Russian scientist
A Russian scientist working at a former Soviety biological weapons laboratory, stuck herself with a Ebola virus–containing needle earlier in the month and died from the disease, reports the New York Times. (See CIDRAP News story.)

May 24

HHS allots $498 million for hospital preparedness
Grants totaling $498 million for improving hospitals' emergency response capabilities are announced by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. States, territories, and four large metropolitan areas (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC) will receive the funds, which are intended for work in strengthening health facilities' readiness for bioterrorist attacks, infectious disease outbreaks, and natural disasters involving mass casualties. (See CIDRAP News story.)

New bioterrorism center in Singapore
A new regional bioterrorism center set up jointly by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Food and Drug Administration, and the Singapore government opens in Singapore. Called the Regional Emerging Diseases Intervention Centre, the facility is intended to strengthen surveillance for infectious diseases and management of outbreaks. It will work on emerging diseases such as SARS but was established against the backdrop of the threat of bioterrorism, officials have said.

May 20

Thompson intends to shift preparedness funds from states to key cities
Bioterrorism funds to the tune of $55 million will be redirected from states to selected large cities in 16 states if Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson gets his way. His new "Cities Readiness Initiative" is intended to train letter carriers to deliver emergency medical supplies, installing high-tech surveillance equipment, stockpiling vaccines, and building quarantine stations at airports. Bipartisan protests began within hours of Thompson's description of the program to key lawmakers, reports a Washington Post article.

Grant awarded for crop biosecurity
Two scientists at North Carolina State University, a plant pathologist and an entomologist, along with their collaborators at Kansas State University and the University of Florida, receive a $450,000 grant to develop a training program aimed at protecting US crops from bioterrorist attack. The grant, from the US Department of Agriculture's National Research Initiative homeland security program, will allow training of such personnel as county extension agents, private crop consultants, and agriculture department employees, according to a story in Triangle Business Journal.

May 19

Project BioShield one important step closer to reality
The US Senate unanimously passes legislation establishing Project BioShield and providing $5.6 billion over 10 years. The project, passed last year in the House, encourages industry to invest in drug, vaccine, and medical device research to protect against diseases determined to be potential weapons for bioterrorists. Such investment is unlikely without a the incentives and the ready market provided by the government for any products developed. BioShield also allows the goverment to use treatments in emergency situations that are not yet approved by the FDA. Secretary of HHS Tommy Thompson states in a news release that "Project BioShield helps take our biopreparedness to a whole new level" and that the program is "absolutely vital to our safety." (See CIDRAP News story.)

New research network to study eczema vaccinatum
A new research group, the Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network (ADVN), intended to reduce the risk of eczema vaccinatum is launched by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This severe disease is a reaction that occurs in some recipients of smallpox vaccination. NIAID director Anthony Fauci, MD, says, "Launching this network is an important step toward our goal of helping to protect everyone against the msallpox virus without the risk of life-threatening complications." (See CIDRAP News story.)

More debate over supposed Iraqi mobile bioweapons labs
White House officials state that it still is undetermined exactly what mobile laboratories discovered in Iraq were intended for. Their statement refutes claims made over the weekend by Secretary of State Colin Powell that the CIA was wrong in saying that the vehicles, found in Iraq last year, were biological weapons labs. Powell had used the CIA's claims as evidence early in the war effort that Iraq possessed biological weapons. (See Aug 8, 2003, item and follow links there to earlier items on the labs.)

May 18

Smallpox false alarm mobilizes Kentucky hospital
A smallpox scare disrupts a Kentucky hospital when a truck driver comes to the emergency department with symptoms suggestive of the disease. His condition is later determined to not be smallpox, but the situation provided a real-world test of bioterrorism planning that has been conducted since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Hospital personnel put the man in isolation, closed the hospital, and contacted the CDC, which shortly thereafter contacted the HHS emergency command center.

May 17

Experts question new lab at Ft. Detrick
Three biological arms–control experts say a new DHS lab at Ft. Detrick, Md., established by Congress last year, may violate the Biological Weapons Convention and encourage other countries to follow. Called the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, the lab's work could include development of more dangerous bacteria and viruses to in turn develop stronger vaccines and drugs, and development of new methods of delivering germ-warfare agents. The experts, whose statement is posted on the Web site of Politics and the Life Sciences, say other countries may see this research as something they should do as well. The situation points up the difficulty in making sure defensive biological research does not overlap with, or appear to overlap with, development of bioweapons.

May 13

CDC reorganization: bioterrorism preparedness, health promotion
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces a reorganization intended to better protect the United States against biological attack as well as promote better health. The agency's two "overarching health protection goals" will be (1) preparedness against infectious, environmental, and terrorist threats and (2) prevention of disease, injury, and disability. Plans were developed under the year-long Futures Initiative project. (See CIDRAP News story.)

Mass vaccination may not be best in smallpox outbreak
A report in the journal Science by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico says mass vaccination may not be the best plan in the event of a smallpox attack. Using a high-power computer model that combined population data for the city of Portland, Oregon (eg, traffic flow, shopping habits, social contacts) with simulation models of how disease spreads, they tracked they determined that fast detection and then a swift response involving such actions as getting people—particularly those with fever or other symptoms—to stay home, closing heavily visited locations, and vaccinating targeted individuals may be more efficient. Mass vaccination, they point out, may cause widespread panic, cause delays, and waste resources.

May 12

Robots to test water for contamination
Underwater robots may soon play an important role in biosecurity. The robots, whose technology was developed at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, should be able to serve as an early warning system for contamination of the water supply, according to an Associated Press story. Areas where testing is under way include New York, Minnesota, Washington, Nevada, and North Carolina.

May 10

Philadelphia tests preparedeness
Philadelphia and its surrounding areas begin a major 2-day bioterrorism exercise a year in the making. Numerous "victims" of exposure to a biological agent are showing up at hospitals, setting off actual responses by medical, emergency, and law enforcement personnel. No details were given to players ahead of time in order to make the exercise as realistic as possible.

Biological sensors high on Batelle list of innovations for preparedness
Battelle Science and Technology International releases a listing of what a panel of experts see as the top 10 innovations needed in the war on terror. Second in importance, behind "forward-looking intelligence," is "biological and chemical sensors that will mimic nature (biomimetrics) to enhance detection of bombs, weapons, and chemical and biological threats."

May 8

Fast-track vaccine factory planned in Britain
Experts at Porton Downs, Britain's well-known microbiology research laboratory, have submitted plans to the government for the world's first "rapid response" vaccine factory, reports London's The Times. The goal will be a facility capable of identifying and mass producing emergency antidotes to virulent diseases, including emerging infectious diseases and diseases of bioterrorism, within months of an outbreak. A permanent staff of 20 researchers is planned, with a "critical mass" of trained standby scientists.

May 7

Lieberman takes stand to protect public health funding for bioterrorism
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D, Conn.), of the Senate Govermental Affairs Committee, calls on Congress to protect public health funding he says is vital to bioterrorism preparedness, according to a Global Security Newswire story. In a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, he criticizes the administration's follow-through on the initiatives set forth in the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Among his complaints are that no national bioterrorism preparedness plan yet exists and that cuts in funding for bioterrorism preparedness are being sought. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, speaking at a press conference, expressed similar concern over pending budget cuts: "We get our hands almost around it, and then they wirhdraw funding. . . . That's happened with tuberculosis, and it's going to happen with bioterrorism." Thompson responded to Lieberman's letter within hours, saying his accusations were "absurd," that the problem is that states have not spent the monies already allotted for preparedness, and that the budget is not being cut but rather shifted away from cities and states to go instead to federal programs.

May 6

Anthrax "smoke detector" unveiled
California company Universal Detection Technology (UDT) presents a new device to better detect trace amounts of anthrax. The detector, called the Anthrax Smoke Detector, is based on technology developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It can detect as few as 50 spores per liter of air; humans must breathe in about 3,000 spores to become infected with a deadly disease, according to UDT's director of research and development. One of the devices, about the size of a wall safe, can monitor the air in a large building, according to the company.

May 5

Indonesia plans anti-bioterrorism agency
The Indonesian government is setting up an anti-bioterrorism agency to protect the country's export commodities on the international market, according to a story in the Jakarta Post. The plan stems from interest in protecting the economic interests of India and is also a response to US regulations issued in late 2003 that "require facilities and individuals that use, stores, or transposrt chemical and biological substances to adhere to specific biosecurity procedures designed to maintain oversight and control over those materials," says the article. Indonesia sold about $1.75 billion in goods in the first quarter of this year.

May 4

Bill introduced to reduce counterterrorism drug development time
to Rep. Jim Turner (D, Texas), ranking member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, introduces legislation called the RAPID (rapid pathogen identification to delivery) Cures Act aimed at shortening the time needed for developing and bringing to market drugs for new or bioengineered agents. Project Bioshield (see item below), Turner says in a report titled Beyond Anthrax: Confronting the Future Biological Weapons Threat is targeted at fostering development of drugs against "classical agents, not the laboratory-altered pathogens of the future" and does not change the actual drug development process. Turner's bill, he says, focuses on drastically reducing "bug-to-drug" time frames.

MIDAS funds computer modeling for disease outbreaks
Four research groups receive grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health, for work on computer models capable of containing outbreaks of bioterrorism-related and other infectious diseases. The grants, totalling $28 million over 5 years, are part of the Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS) project. Groups receiving the grants are Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Emory University, and Research Triangle Institute International. (See CIDRAP News story.)

May 3

What happened to ABthrax?
Although Human Genome Sciences, Inc's, quick development (see Aug 19, 2003, item) and promising phase I trials (see Mar 9, 2004, item) of its new anthrax treatment ABthrax, raised high hopes, the drug has been shelved, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal. The reason is that the federal government, the only customer for the agent, has not committed to buying it, and the company cannot pour further resources into testing with no guaranteed market for the product. Project Bioshield, the administration's 10-year program to foster industry work on antiterrorism drugs and vaccines and the likely source of funding and/or purchasing products like ABthrax, passed the House overwhelmingly in 2003 but has been tied up in the Senate ever since. Industry observers fear that the longer Bioshield is bogged down, the less likely are biotechnology companies to do work in this area. (See also Jan 22 item.)

May 2

Anthrax decontamination system unveiled
A 2-door portable anthrax decontamination system is announced by its developer, BioDefense Corporation, in Lexington, Ma. The units, which cost $60,000, use such proven disinfection technologies as ultraviolet light, microwaves, and a proprietary antimicrobial compound to stop pathogens. The company says the product, called MailDefender, can rid air of anthrax, ricin, smallpox, plague, E coli, influenza, and botulism.

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