APFN

UN's smallpox terror alert

Sun Oct 21 19:04:08 2001


UN's smallpox terror alert

War on Terrorism: Observer special

Anthony Browne, health editor
Sunday October 21, 2001
The Observer

Governments around the world have been warned to prepare
against a terrorist smallpox attack which could kill millions. The
World Health Organisation has told them to ensure they can
produce enough vaccine to protect their population against the
disease, and is preparing to order mass precautionary
vaccination of all citizens.

'The unthinkable is no longer unthinkable and we need to
prepare for that,' said a spokesperson for the WHO, the United
Nations' health agency. 'There has been a lot of concern about a
smallpox outbreak. The numbers it would kill are scary.'

The British Government last week issued emergency guidance
to health professionals on how to deal with an outbreak. The
guidance, seen by The Observer, says smallpox is a serious
threat because it is easily passed from person to person, has a
fatality rate of up to 90 per cent, can kill in 48 hours, and few
people have been vaccinated. 'In the event of a deliberate
release, it is unlikely that single, mild cases will occur - it is
more likely that clusters of moderate to severe disease will be
seen.'

The WHO masterminded the eradication of smallpox in 1977
and since the early Eighties has advised governments not to
vaccinate. Most under-40s in the UK have not been immunised.

Following the US anthrax attacks, which by last night had
infected a reported 38 people, concern there about a smallpox
outbreak is so high that it has ordered 300 million doses of the
vaccine from Cambridge-based biotech company Acambis.
Medical studies suggest that an out break in the US would kill
around a million people in three months. The NHS has ordered
supplies, but it is not thought to be enough to cover the
population.

Last week, Gro Harlem Bruntland, the WHO's director-general,
told its Smallpox Advisory Group to consider whether to tell all
governments to go ahead with mass vaccination.

It is a devastating setback for the WHO, which considers the
eradication of smallpox its greatest achievement. It is also not
without danger, since vaccination can cause severe side-effects,
including permanent brain damage, or even death.

After its eradication, the smallpox virus was kept in only two
laboratories in the world - in Atlanta in the US, and Koltsovo in
Siberia. The last two samples were due to be destroyed next
year. However, a Soviet defector revealed that the dying
Communist regime used smallpox in a missile programme.

There have also been allegations that supplies were sold to Iraq
and North Korea.

Initial smallpox symptoms include fever, severe headache, back
and chest pains and intense anxiety. Victims develop blotchy
rashes, often with purple lesions, followed by a face rash similar
to sunburn and severe scarring.

Death can take from 48 hours to two weeks. There is no
treatment.

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,578056,00.html
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Smallpox: The Triumph over the Most Terrible of the Ministers of Death
http://38.232.17.254/journals/annals/15oct97/smallpox.htm
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.. Captain Simeon Ecuyer had bought time by sending smallpox-infected blankets and handkerchiefs to the
Indians surrounding the fort -- an early example of biological warfare -- which started an epidemic among them.
Amherst himself had encouraged this tactic in a letter to Ecuyer. [p. 108] - derrico@legal.umass.edu
http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/amherst/lord_jeff.html
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Ten points on smallpox vaccination
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/sm.html

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Smallpox articles
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/smallpox4.html

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COULD SMALLPOX RE-EMERGE AT RIETFONTEIN? = epidemiology@niv.ac.za
http://www.niv.ac.za/features/smallpox1.htm

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Tell me more about smallpox
http://www.accessexcellence.com/arc/smallpox.html

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Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future
http://www.allsouthwest.com/cia.html

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