2008 Q4 FReepathon. Target: $80,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $21,814
27%  
Woo hoo!! The first 27% is in!! Thank you all very much!!

Keyword: biowarfare

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Soup leak forces Ryanair plane to land

    08/31/2008 5:22:05 AM PDT · by billorites · 9 replies · 32+ views
    Irish Examiner ^ | August 27, 2008
    A plane was forced to land when a passenger had an extreme allergic reaction to a leaking jar of mushroom soup, it was revealed today. The soup fell on the man from an overhead locker on a Ryanair flight to Dublin from Budapest. He reportedly suffered allergic swelling in his neck and struggled to breathe, forcing staff to seek emergency medical treatment. The bizarre incident happened on Monday, the same day as another Ryanair flight had to make an emergency landing in Limoges after suffering a sudden loss of cabin pressure. And in a week of mid-air incidents, a Thomsonfly...
  • Patches (Chick) arrested, police say her scent made men pass out

    07/11/2008 11:40:35 AM PDT · by pissant · 66 replies · 9+ views
    WAFB Channel 9 ^ | 7/11/08 | staff
    HOUMA, LA (WAFB) - Houma police officers and Terrebonne Parish sheriff's deputies say an attractive woman named Patches has been arrested after her "calogne samples" made at least two men pass out. One of the incidents prompted a statewide alert to Louisiana law enforcement agencies. The first complaint happened in early June. Police say an 18-year-old man says he was leaving a Houma restaurant at lunchtime when he was approached by a woman who said she was selling cologne. Police say the woman asked the victim is he was interested in buying some cologne she was selling. "The suspect produced...
  • US Navy research lab under microscope in Indonesia

    05/02/2008 1:29:11 AM PDT · by Smokin' Joe · 21 replies · 1+ views
    AFP ^ | May 2, 2008 | unknown
    JAKARTA (AFP) — The future of a major US Navy research laboratory in Indonesia is in doubt amid allegations, dismissed as "crazy" by US diplomats, of espionage and secret experiments. Negotiations between Washington and Jakarta over the renewal of the operating contract of US Naval Medical Research Unit-2, or Namru-2, have stalled over a range of issues including diplomatic immunity for its US staff. Established in Indonesia in 1970 and charged with researching infectious diseases of military importance, the facility employs 19 Americans and more than 100 Indonesians and is based in Indonesian health ministry grounds. Its operations have attracted...
  • Syria’s Bio-Warfare Threat: an interview with Dr. Jill Dekker

    12/30/2007 2:23:08 PM PST · by ZeitgeistSurfer · 4 replies · 18+ views
    New English Review ^ | 12/2007 | Jerry Gordon
    When news leaked out of the September 6th Israeli Air Force and commando raid on a Syrian Nuclear facility followed by revelations about the deaths of dozens of Iranians and Syrians in a Chemical warfare missile accident in July the world was jarred. Recently, it was revealed that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) had aided Syria in its chemical warfare programs. I noted in a recent interview with former US UN Ambassador John Bolton his early concerns about the Syrian Bio Warfare threat. Questions arose, specifically about the size, nature and danger of the Syrian bio-warfare military...
  • anthrax - Widow wants answers

    10/06/2007 3:48:58 AM PDT · by ZacandPook · 78 replies · 1,110+ views
    Palm Beach Post ^ | October 6, 2007 | Minor
    Widow wants answers By EMILY J. MINOR Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Saturday, October 06, 2007 W hen she looks back - and how can you not? - it all makes so much sense. The tubes and the masks and the FBI agents. Video: See an exclusive interview with Maureen Stevens. The worried doctors and the sneaky reporters and the room where they told her the ending. "I should have known," Maureen Stevens says now. But back then, things like masks and tubes and a box of tissues on a meeting room table just didn't click. Now, of course, it...
  • Sabotage is suspected over foot-and-mouth

    08/08/2007 3:02:35 AM PDT · by listenhillary · 16 replies · 643+ views
    Timesonline ^ | 08/08/07 | Lewis Smith
    The deliberate release of viral material, possibly in an act of sabotage, may have caused the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, officials said last night. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said in a report ordered by the Prime Minister that “release by human movement [of the FMD virus] must be considered a real possibility”. Inspectors all but discounted theories that the virus escaped by air or water from the laboratory complex close to where the outbreak started, although they are continuing to investigate the possibility of equipment failure or a security breach.
  • Prof. Defends Right to Send Feces

    01/19/2007 9:31:30 PM PST · by conservative in nyc · 33 replies · 1,202+ views
    ABCNews.com ^ | 1/18/07 | AP
    A retired French professor sent dog feces to her congresswoman's office after becoming angry with receiving too many mailings and her lawyer says she had a constitutional right to do it. Kathleen Ensz faces a misdemeanor charge of "use of a noxious substance" after taking dog feces from her backyard, wrapping it in a political mailer from Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, and leaving the putrid package at the Republican's office, according to court documents. Ensz, a Democrat, was angered by repeatedly receiving mailings from Musgrave. Her lawyer calls the poo delivery a form of free expression, protected by the First Amendment....
  • Exercise Prepares National Guard for Worst-Case Scenario

    04/05/2006 5:59:36 PM PDT · by SandRat · 1 replies · 234+ views
    American Forces Press Service ^ | Samantha L. Quigley
    WASHINGTON, April 5, 2006 – Military and political officials, foreign nationals and media observed yesterday as Army and Air National Guardsmen from five states and the District of Columbia responded to a mock disaster staged at the D.C. National Guard Armory. Members of the 34th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team, from Blackstone, Va., work through the decontamination site after having been in the "hot zone" of a fictitious nuclear incident. "Vital Guardian," held at the D.C. National Guard Armory, was an Army and Air National Guard training exercise to strengthen response to a catastrophic event. Photo by...
  • HIV rate rises 8 percent among gay, bisexual men

    11/18/2005 10:56:00 PM PST · by Coleus · 17 replies · 730+ views
    Washington Times ^ | 11.18.05 | Joyce Howard Price
    HIV infections among homosexual and bisexual men in the United States rose 8 percent last year, after remaining relatively stable the three previous years, new federal data show. The increase for the virus that causes AIDS compares with average annual declines of 4 percent among heterosexuals and 9 percent among intravenous-drug users from 2001 to 2004, according to a report in this week's issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. The CDC said the recent increase in diagnosed HIV infections among men who have sex with other men "may reflect increases in HIV...
  • Homosexuality Triggering HIV Escalation

    11/18/2005 1:38:17 PM PST · by NYer · 77 replies · 2,109+ views
    LifeSite ^ | November 18, 2005 | Terry Vanderheyden
    WASHINGTON, November 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While the rates for new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, have been on the decline among heterosexuals and intravenous drug users, US health officials are expressing alarm at an eight percent increase in HIV rates in homosexual and bisexual men in one year.Measuring the increase in prevalence of the virus from 2003 to 2004, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the 8% rise in cases among men who commit sodomy with men, “was statistically significant” for the 33 states that reported on HIV cases, according to the...
  • Al-Qaeda could spread avian flu, report warns

    11/01/2005 7:38:53 AM PST · by markedmannerf · 21 replies · 744+ views
    NATIONAL POST ^ | 10-25-05 | Stewart Bell
    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

    11/01/2005 8:58:42 AM PST · by Solson · 90 replies · 1,737+ views
    AP ^ | 11/1/05 | LAURAN NEERGAARD
    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...
  • Russia - Quarantine imposed in Omsk Reg village where bird flu confirmed

    10/29/2005 3:45:27 AM PDT · by HAL9000 · 4 replies · 277+ views
    ITAR-TASS ^ | October 29, 2005
    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...
  • Bird flu outbreak sparks panic=(france surrenders)

    10/16/2005 5:35:54 PM PDT · by Flavius · 6 replies · 344+ views
    NT news ^ | 16oct05 | From correspondents in Brussels
    THE growing threat of lethal bird flu spreading across Europe will soar to the top of EU leaders' menu this week, after the deadly Asian strain of the virus landed on the continent for the first time. Scientists and the European Union's political chiefs are battling to allay public panic after the H5N1 virus was confirmed in Romania at the weekend, only two days after its presence was identified in Turkey. EU foreign ministers will discuss the outbreak at emergency talks in Luxembourg Tuesday, while the bird flu scare will inevitably dominate the agenda of a meeting of EU health...
  • Common Sense Key to Prevent Flu Spread

    10/16/2005 6:03:33 PM PDT · by Aracelis · 20 replies · 585+ views
    Center for Disease Control and Prevention ^ | September 23, 2005 | Center for Disease Control and Prevention
    Good Health Habits Good health habits are also an important way to help prevent the Flu. Avoid close contact. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too. Stay home when you are sick. If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness. Cover your mouth and nose. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Clean your...
  • Bird Flu 'Will Kill 50,000 People, But Not This Year' (UK)

    10/16/2005 5:58:25 PM PDT · by blam · 9 replies · 522+ views
    The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 10-17-2005 | David Derbyshire
    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...
  • Administration mobilizes to prepare U.S. for possible pandemic

    10/16/2005 6:13:36 PM PDT · by mdittmar · 28 replies · 872+ views
    http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12914692.htm ^ | Sun, Oct. 16, 2005 | Jonathan S. Landay Knight Ridder Newspapers
    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...
  • China Says It Has "Better Vaccine" for "Bird Flu"

    10/15/2005 6:54:02 AM PDT · by genefromjersey · 35 replies · 1,211+ views
    Reuters Alert Net ^ | 10/15/05 | vanity
    BEIJING, Oct 15 (Reuters) - China has developed a new and better vaccine for use on birds against the avian influenza strain that scientists fear could cause a global pandemic among humans, state media said on Saturday. The vaccine had the advantage of fighting another common bird disease, as well as the H5N1 influenza strain that has spread from Asia to Europe, state television reported. It identified this as avulavirus APMV-1, also known as Newcastle disease.
  • Bird flu virus resistant to Tamiflu

    10/14/2005 4:34:28 PM PDT · by neverdem · 27 replies · 836+ views
    Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | October 14, 2005 | MALCOLM RITTER
    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...
  • Power failure hits CDC germ lab (Fort Collins, CO)

    10/14/2005 8:13:53 AM PDT · by LurkedLongEnough · 14 replies · 625+ views
    Rocky Mountain News ^ | October 13, 2005 | Jim Erickson, Rocky Mountain News
    A power failure knocked out the security system at a federal germ lab in Fort Collins for 13 hours Monday and disabled freezers housing thousands of vials of plague and other potential bioweapons. A backup generator kicked on when the power failed. But an electrical short prevented the backup power from being routed through the building, said Colorado State University spokesman Brad Bohlander. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory was without power for 13 hours, beginning at 3:07 p.m. Monday, Bohlander said. CSU owns the building and leases it to the government.No germ collections were...
  • Officials Stockpile Vaccine, Drugs Against Avian Flu

    10/07/2005 3:39:56 AM PDT · by fifthvirginia · 78 replies · 1,947+ views
    American Forces Press Service | 06 OCT 05 | Jim Garamone
    Health officials estimate the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 killed 50 million people worldwide -- more than died in World War I. Now President Bush is concerned that a strain of avian flu that has killed millions of birds in Asia could mutate and cross over to humans. "I am concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world," Bush said during an Oct. 4 news conference. "I have thought through the scenarios of what an avian flu outbreak could mean." The Department of Defense is preparing in case the worst happens. DoD...
  • Followup- Tularemia Outbreak in Russia

    09/05/2005 2:03:35 PM PDT · by genefromjersey · 1 replies · 242+ views
    The Morning Paper-Special Edition | 09/05/05 | vanity
    Tularemia Outbreak in Russia – Might Have Been Natural A recent outbreak –over 400 cases of Tularemia – occurred in Russia during July and August. The sheer number of cases – as compared to prior years – seemed alarming ; as did the proximity of the cases to Russian biowarfare research facilities. (There were even cases in Sverdlosk – site of an Anthrax accident many years ago. ) It is well to be suspicious of coincidence ; but equally important to make sure all facts are in hand before drawing conclusions. In researching Tularemia “episodes” a few days ago, I...
  • Tularemia Outbreak in Russia-443 Cases-Origins Unknown

    09/01/2005 8:25:52 AM PDT · by genefromjersey · 15 replies · 914+ views
    The Morning Paper-Special Edition | 09/01/05 | vanity
    Tularemia Outbreak in Russia –443 Cases-Origins Unknown The ProMed site carried a report this morning concerning a Tularemia outbreak in Russia –updated to 08/29/05. The ProMed heading says 334 cases have been reported, but simple arithmetic shows the number to be 443. Breakdown follows: 135 Moscow (Shatursky District) 99 Nizhny Novgorod 83 Vladimir region ( Gorohovetsky) 67 Ryazan 28 Voronezh 29 Sverdlosk region 2 Yekaterinburg 443 Total Laboratory confirmation has been obtained in 128 of the cases,so far. (This is important, because influenza can cause similar symptoms , and there has been extensive migration of infected/infectious wildfowl into much of...
  • Biowarfare : Another "Sverdlosk Incident" in Russia ?

    08/25/2005 9:28:24 AM PDT · by genefromjersey · 22 replies · 1,807+ views
    The Morning Paper-Special Edition | 08/25/05 | vanity
    Biowarfare : Another “Sverdlosk Incident” in Russia ? I’ve been looking at two recent (and ongoing) outbreaks of Tularemia in Russia: (Source: ProMed : Archives # 20050824.2503; # 20050822.2467; # 20050718.2066 ) 1. 96 people –66 from Dzerzhinsk region; 30 from Nizhniy Novogorod. 2. 56 people – all from the Ryazan area , which borders on Nizhniy Novogorod and Vladimir. What makes it notable is that Tularemia is a fairly rare disease: the Ryazan area had only 4 known cases in 2004. (No historic stats were furnished on the Nizhniy Novgoros area or Dzerzhinsk , but the number of cases...
  • War Plans Drafted To Counter Terror Attacks in U.S.

    08/07/2005 10:09:16 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 78 replies · 1,974+ views
    The Washington Post ^ | Monday, August 8, 2005 | Bradley Graham
    COLORADO SPRINGS -- The U.S. military has devised its first-ever war plans for guarding against and responding to terrorist attacks in the United States, envisioning 15 potential crisis scenarios and anticipating several simultaneous strikes around the country, according to officers who drafted the plans. The classified plans, developed here at Northern Command headquarters, outline a variety of possible roles for quick-reaction forces estimated at as many as 3,000 ground troops per attack, a number that could easily grow depending on the extent of the damage and the abilities of civilian response teams. The possible scenarios range from "low end," relatively...
  • School Launches New Class for Bio Warfare Identification

    07/29/2005 7:24:14 PM PDT · by SandRat · 1 replies · 253+ views
    TransFormation DoD ^ | July 29, 2005 | Elaine Wilson
    The Army Medical Department Center and School’s newest multi-service course teaches its students the inner workings of a cutting-edge biological warfare identification device. The first formal Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System Course, taught at nearby Brooks City-Base, started mid-July with 24 military and civilian students from military installations throughout the world. The students’ job titles range from microbiologists and medical laboratory technicians to preventive medicine and food inspection specialists. But while their uniforms and jobs may vary, all have something in common – JBAIDS. JBAIDS is the latest weapon in the race to identify biological warfare agents quickly...
  • New sex disease diagnosed in Stockholm (Rectal Chlamydia)

    07/18/2005 3:41:27 PM PDT · by BurbankKarl · 27 replies · 791+ views
    The Local ^ | 7/18/05
    A virulent form of chlamydia that has infected hundreds of men in the United States and Europe has appeared for the first time in Sweden. Dagens Nyheter reports that three cases of Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, have so far been diagnosed in Stockholm. The disease is caused by a strain of chlamydia and is most common in parts of Asia, Africa and South and Central America. In Europe and North America the bacterial infection has started to spread between gay men, with the Netherlands and France both reporting around 150 cases each, and the UK around 30 cases. Early symptoms...
  • The Next 9/11

    07/17/2005 8:58:18 AM PDT · by genefromjersey · 31 replies · 995+ views
    The Morning Paper | 07/17/05 | vanity
    THE NEXT 9/11 The next “9/11” is apt to be something most people don’t want to hear about,read about,or even think about. I’m talking about biowarfare; and, unless I miss my guess,it is being studied-using human guinea pigs-by the People’s Liberation Army of China. They have succeeded in identifying a strain of “bird flu” , called H5N –RK7,that is extremely lethal to birds and to humans. ( It is just one of 10 strains they have been studying – via “controlled releases” into their own population ; and they are still looking for the “ideal strain”.) The goals seem to...
  • The Feminization of AIDS

    12/12/2004 7:42:49 PM PST · by Tumbleweed_Connection · 79 replies · 1,204+ views
    NY Times ^ | Dec 13, 2004
    This year, once again, the annual report from the Joint United Nations Program on H.I.V./AIDS and the World Health Organization tragically documents the way the global AIDS epidemic is still killing millions of people and spawning hot spots in Asia and Eastern Europe. The most striking news is that AIDS is fast becoming a disease that strikes younger women disproportionately. Ignorance is part of the problem, but the laws and social customs that keep women powerless and poor - and subject to sexual exploitation - are far more insidious. According to the new report's eye-opening analysis, AIDS is spreading quickly...
  • Biological agent shuts Indonesian embassy

    06/01/2005 2:44:00 AM PDT · by naturalman1975 · 28 replies · 2,376+ views
    Herald Sun ^ | 1st June 2005
    AN envelope found at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra today has tested positive for a biological agent. The embassy has been shut down and its 22 staff will remain in isolation for at least 48 hours after the envelope tested positive for an as-yet unidentified biological agent. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer condemned whoever had sent the package and said the incident would not help Corby's case. "Further analysis of the powder has tested positive as a biological agent so further testing will need to be carried out to find out what that substance actually is," Mr Downer told Parliament. "As...
  • Experts: Smallpox could be sent in mail

    04/26/2005 9:19:00 AM PDT · by aculeus · 6 replies · 354+ views
    Science Daily.com ^ | April 26, 2005 | UPI
    WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- Terrorists could spread smallpox via infected letters, similar to the 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks, bioweapon experts told United Press International. The experts' comments were spurred by an article in the May issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, which describes twin outbreaks of smallpox in 1901 that were traced to infected letters. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta doubted that smallpox could be spread through infected letters, but several bioweapons experts thought otherwise. D.A. Henderson, of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said it was possible to...
  • Terror in the Past And Future Tense

    04/25/2005 10:05:18 PM PDT · by neverdem · 3 replies · 492+ views
    NY Times ^ | April 26, 2005 | ROBERT WRIGHT
    OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR TIMOTHY McVEIGH'S bombing of the federal office building in Oklahoma City seems as if it happened less than 10 years ago, but its 10th anniversary, which happened a week ago, seems as if it didn't happen at all. And for practical purposes it didn't. Lots of stories made a bigger ripple in the week's zeitgeist - some of them understandably (new pope chosen), some less so (on "American Idol," Anwar's journey ends). This attention deficit is partly explained by what took place in Lower Manhattan six years after the bombing. Osama bin Laden's atrocity dwarfed Timothy McVeigh's along...
  • Bio-Chemical Warfare and You

    04/06/2005 10:18:06 AM PDT · by Roy Wilson · 1 replies · 358+ views
    Some interesting material here on this subject. Any comments.
  • Al-Qaeda 'making Agent X advances' (Bioterror)

    03/31/2005 8:50:54 PM PST · by Straight Vermonter · 16 replies · 734+ views
    Herald Sun ^ | 01apr05
    THE al-Qaeda terror group made unexpected advances in developing a virulent biological strain - dubbed "Agent X" - before the September 11, 2001, attacks, a US presidential commission on US intelligence operations said today. The commission said in its final report that intelligence analysts were "surprised by the intentions and level of research and development" uncovered after the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. The commission, appointed by US President George W. Bush in response to intelligence failures in Iraq, said US intelligence had long held that al-Qaeda members had trained in crude methods for producing biological agents such...
  • Data on ER visits, pharmacy sales may help war on terror (Syndromic surveillance)

    03/29/2005 4:26:13 AM PST · by freepatriot32 · 13 replies · 724+ views
    southbendtribune.com ^ | 3 29 05 | JOHN DOBBERSTEIN
    In the fight against terrorism, few stones are left unturned. Every day, patient data from a handful of emergency rooms is sent to the Indiana State Department of Health to be crunched and analyzed. An epidemiologist watches intently for upward trends in rashes, fevers and unexplained deaths. Or a sudden surge in over-the-counter drug sales. The practice -- called syndromic surveillance -- broke onto the public health scene immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and later anthrax deaths. The surveillance method is widely viewed as a tool to detect a possible bioterrorism attack. Computers allow the instant sharing...
  • Anthrax dumped near Saddam palace

    03/29/2005 1:00:58 AM PST · by JohnHuang2 · 13 replies · 1,060+ views
    Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, March 29, 2005 | By Charles J. Hanley
    ASSOCIATED PRESS An Iraqi scientist has told U.S. interrogators that her team destroyed Iraq's stock of anthrax in 1991 by dumping it practically at the gates of one of Saddam's main palaces, but never told U.N. inspectors for fear of angering the dictator. Rihab Rashid Taha's decision in 2003 to remain silent stoked suspicions of those who contended Iraq still harbored biological weapons, contributing to the U.S. decision to invade Iraq two years ago this month. "Whether those involved understood the significance and disastrous consequences of their actions is unclear," the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group says of Mrs. Taha and...
  • Avian flu candidate for terror weapon?(Canada)

    03/09/2005 8:55:56 AM PST · by concrete is my business · 12 replies · 1,332+ views
    The Globe and Mail ^ | March 8, 2005 | Canadian Press
    Toronto — The military's intelligence arm has warned the federal government that avian influenza could be used as a weapon of bioterrorism, a heavily censored report suggests. It also reveals that military planners believe a naturally occurring flu pandemic may be imminent. The report, entitled Recent Human Outbreaks of Avian Influenza and Potential Biological Warfare Implications, was obtained under the Access to Information Act by The Canadian Press. It was prepared by the J2 Directorate of Strategic Intelligence, a secretive branch of National Defence charged with producing intelligence for the government. The report outlines in broad terms the methods that...
  • Stanford scientists protest bio-terror research priority

    03/03/2005 6:15:26 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 1 replies · 299+ views
    Palo Alto Online ^ | Wednesday, March 2, 2005
    Ten Stanford University faculty members, including a Nobel Prize winner, have signed a letter with 700 other scientists nationally protesting a federal policy that prioritizes bio-terrorism research over public-health issues. The letter was sent to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias Zerhouni on Monday, Feb. 28. “The diversion of research funds from projects of high public-health importance to projects of high biodefense but low public-health importance represents a misdirection of NIH priorities and a crisis for NIH-supported microbial research,” the letter states. Stanford scientists who signed the letter include Arthur Kornberg, a Nobel Prize winner, and Charles Yanofsky, who...
  • US Biologists Having Hissy Fit Over Biodefense Research

    03/01/2005 9:04:07 AM PST · by genefromjersey · 3 replies · 456+ views
    How soon we forget !! The Anthrax murders of 2001-believed by many to have been a "second wave" accompaniment to the 9/11 outrages - spurred renewed interest in-and funding for-bioterror detection and prevention. A group of US scientists-apparently miffed because their pet projects have not received as much attention (although funding has not diminished-is pitching a national hissy fit. "How dare the government attempt to protect us against the horrors of biowar when we are working on important stuff -like dandruff,and athlete's foot,and,and...."
  • Top US biologists oppose biodefence boom

    03/01/2005 9:11:14 AM PST · by LibWhacker · 12 replies · 489+ views
    New Scientist ^ | 3/1/05 | Debora MacKenzie
    Efforts to defend the US against bioterrorists - by throwing money at research - are backfiring, says a 750-strong group of top scientists The US has poured billions of dollars into biodefence research since its anthrax attacks in 2001. More than half of the US scientists studying bacterial diseases have this week written to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) - their main funding agency - charging that the largess has created "a crisis for microbiological research". "We are staging a no-confidence vote," says Richard Ebright of Rutgers University in New Jersey, who organised the protest. In an open...
  • Blocking Cell Signaling Can Stymie Viral Infections, Approach to Smallpox Treatment

    02/27/2005 1:24:31 PM PST · by Paleo Conservative · 4 replies · 398+ views
    newswise ^ | Thu 27-Jan-2005, 09:50 ET | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
    Newswise ? In a finding that represents an entirely new approach to treating viral diseases such as smallpox, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and collaborating institutions have shown that infections can be stymied by interfering with signals used by viruses to reproduce in human cells. The results, reported in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, point to a possible strategy for broadly treating acute viral infections that affect millions of people worldwide. If the technique leads to a drug capable of treating people infected with the smallpox virus, it could eliminate the virus? potential as a bioterror...
  • Cancer drugs may fight smallpox

    02/27/2005 12:54:54 PM PST · by Paleo Conservative · 9 replies · 346+ views
    NewScientist.com news service ^ | 02 February 2005 | Debora MacKenzie
    Cancer drugs have unexpectedly led to an entirely new way to beat viral infections - and particularly smallpox - a new study suggests. Viruses are hard to stop and, with few exceptions, drugs aimed at killing viral infections have not worked nearly as well as the antibiotics that kill bacteria. Now, US scientists have found that an experimental drug aimed at stopping the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells actually prevents the smallpox virus from replicating inside human cells, and can save mice from dying of a closely related virus, Vaccinia. Viruses succeed by invading a cell and hijacking the "machinery"...
  • Burr helps shape bioterrorism plan

    02/27/2005 12:09:12 PM PST · by Paleo Conservative · 2 replies · 195+ views
    RrockyMountTELEGRAM.com ^ | Saturday, February 26, 2005 | George A. Chidi, Rocky Mount Telegram
    U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., talked broadly about health care Monday when he visited Rocky Mount, reprising a familiar call for medical liability reform and sounding an alarm about prescription drug costs to the public. But standing in front of the Rotary Club microphones, he didn't talk about what might be his most important job in government ? his role as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health. While serving in Congress, Burr sponsored the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act, a set of laws to provide money to train first responders and stockpile vaccines, along with a...
  • IMVAMUNE(TM) Vaccine - Protection Against Smallpox in 3 Days

    02/25/2005 1:03:58 PM PST · by Paleo Conservative · 5 replies · 251+ views
    YAHOO Financial News ^ | Thursday February 24, 10:27 am ET | Staff
    WASHINGTON and COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- IMVAMUNE(TM), a third-generation Modified Virus Ankara (MVA) vaccine under development by Bavarian Nordic of Denmark, is expected to be effective against smallpox three days after one vaccination compared to traditional replicating vaccines (i.e., DryVax(R)) that only show protection after 10-14 days. Presenting today on the status of the company's IMVAMUNE safe smallpox vaccine program at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York City, Peter Wulff, President and CEO of Bavarian Nordic said: "Based on data from a number of our animal models and clinical trials, Bavarian Nordic expects IMVAMUNE(TM) to...
  • NZ-based ex-spy exposes Soviet secrets (biological weapons)

    02/20/2005 11:44:28 AM PST · by FairOpinion · 7 replies · 968+ views
    News Zealand "Stuff" ^ | Feb. 20, 2005 | NZ news
    A former KGB spy and expert on biological warfare has been living quietly in New Zealand for a decade. Anthony Hubbard reports. Alexander Kouzminov, green-eyed and serious, helped prepare Soviet war plans to poison the west. Now he is a Ministry of Health scientist doing environmental health and safety in New Zealand. Yes, he says in his Russianised English, I was a poacher and now I am a gamekeeper. He doesn't smile. Kouzminov is short and hard, a kung fu exponent and painter of watercolours. He likes organ music, French poetry, Pushkin, and privacy. But the secretive former spy has...
  • Spy reveals Soviet attack plans

    02/17/2005 9:17:03 AM PST · by robowombat · 17 replies · 1,110+ views
    AEDT ^ | Feb 14 2005
    Spy reveals Soviet attack plans 05:50 AEDT Mon Feb 14 2005 Soviet agents were prepared to poison military targets, including an Australian naval base, a former KGB spymaster has revealed. Scientist Alexander Kouzminov said agents were ready to poison military figures, civilian settlements and political leaders with lethal bacteria should war break out between the Soviet Union and the West, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Dr Kouzminov said one of the places selected was an area used by the US Navy, close to an Australian naval base, believed to be at Townsville. Dr Kouzminov had to decide whether it was...
  • Russians knew West's germ warfare secrets

    02/11/2005 8:11:49 PM PST · by aculeus · 42 replies · 1,366+ views
    The Daily Telegraph ^ | February 12, 2005 | By Ben Fenton
    Britain and America's most guarded germ warfare secrets have been known to the Russians for decades and spies continue to operate at the heart of the West's biotechnology industry, a former KGB spymaster says today. Alexander Kouzminov also discloses that covert Soviet sabotage agents prepared secret sites where phials of lethal bacteria would be left, ready to poison western military establishments, civilian settlements and even assassinate political leaders in the event of war with the Soviet Union. The scientist, once a senior member of the KGB unit responsible for biological espionage, says that the secrets of Porton Down and the...
  • U.N. Plans Long-Term Monitoring of Iraq

    12/03/2003 7:42:32 PM PST · by TexKat · 3 replies · 319+ views
    AP via Yahoo News ^ | 12/03/03 | EDITH M. LEDERER
    UNITED NATIONS - U.N. weapons inspectors are planning for possible monitoring of Iraq's biological, chemical and missile programs despite being barred from the country by the United States, according to a report to the U.N. Security Council. The quarterly report released Wednesday by the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC, outlines a range of activities undertaken by the U.N. inspectors to seek new information about Iraq's weapons programs and to prepare for a possible future role. U.N. inspectors were pulled out of Iraq in March, just before the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime. After the...
  • Call for New 'Manhattan Project' to Fight Bioterror (Frist)

    01/27/2005 1:28:57 PM PST · by anymouse · 11 replies · 906+ views
    Reuters ^ | Jan 27. 2005 | Ben Hirschler
    DAVOS, Switzerland - The world needs an effort similar to that behind the creation of the atomic bomb to tackle the multi-faceted threat of biowarfare, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday. "We need to do something that even dwarfs the Manhattan project," Frist told the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Manhattan project was the codename for the United States's World War II effort to devise an atomic weapon. "The greatest existential threat we have in the world today is biological. Why? Because unlike any other threat it has the power of panic and paralysis to be global."...
  • Mollusks Said Can Neutralize Toxin

    01/19/2005 12:00:08 PM PST · by neverdem · 28 replies · 840+ views
    NY Times ^ | January 19, 2005 | NA
    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 5:50 a.m. ET DARTMOUTH, Mass. (AP) -- The war on terror could have an unlikely ally in a modest mollusk known as the quahog. Researchers who injected the clams with enough botulism toxin to kill 1,000 people found the shellfish somehow neutralized the enzyme, which is considered a potential bioterror agent. ``Botulism activity was cut in half by the blood of the quahog,'' Dr. Bal Ram Singh told The Standard Times of New Bedford in Wednesday's editions. ``So we think there is some sort of antidote in this blood. If we are able to...