[HLTH] Lab accident in Russia results in Ebola death

[CanadaSue]

Yeah, this woke me up. Article first, then comments:

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,25465


***Date: Sat 22 May 2004
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: ITAR_TASS News Agency, Fri 21 May 2004 (in Russian) [edited]


Russia: research scientist dies of Ebola fever in lab accident
--------------------------------------------------------------
While working with guinea-pigs infected with Ebola virus, a female member of staff of the Vector State Scientific Centre of Virology and Biotechnology was accidentally injected. This accident occurred in the course of a scientific experiment in the Department of Dangerous viral Pathogens of the Molecular Biology Scientific Research Institute.

The woman scientist was hospitalized in the dangerous infections department of a special hospital with the greatest possible level of biological defence. There were constant consultations with Health Ministry specialists regarding treatment. A doctor who has often been involved in treating patients with Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Africa was consulted. In spite of the treatment, the scientist died.

According to the Vector press office, an analysis of clinical materials is currently underway. The staff who were involved in the treatment and investigation of the patient will be kept under observation for 21 days:

they will undergo a daily medical examination and twice-daily temperature measurement.

The Vector State Scientific Centre of Virology and Biotechnology under the Russian Health Ministry was set up in 1974 to study dangerous virus pathogens and to develop treatment and diagnostic preparations in the interests of health care and defence. All viruses, bacteria and microbes known to be dangerous pathogens have been assembled within its walls.

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[A similar accident occurred in a US Laboratory in February 2004. In this instance the female scientist involved was fortunate not to develop hemorrhagic fever. - Mod.CP]***


First, guniea pigs are often used for initial stage research when working with Ebola - they're 'nicely' susceptible to it & react quickly - perfect for lab work. No hint as to what was being researched but there are no shortage of candidates. Many aspects of this puppy remain unknown.

The only 'treatment' I can think of that's been tried in the past in injection with serum from recovered patients. That was done in Zaire in their second gid outbreak - late 90s I believe. 8 patients were given blood serum from recovered patients & I THINK, all recovered. Several caveats - they were 'late generation' infections & thus had clinically mild disease. They most likely would have recovered anyway. Secondly, the blood serum was never screened for other pathogens or contaminents - a real ethical problem. No protocols were followed - it was a desperation move.

21 days is the outside window for incubation - the average is 10. As long as the staff caring for the patient maintained barrier protection, there should be zero decondary cases. Ebola as it is now, isn't easy to catch unless you follow certain cultural practices. Being accdently injected or even pricked with an Ebola loaded needle is invariably a death sentence - you're putting a max load of virions right into the blod stream.

I'll try to find followups to this one...

 

[Cheval]

I've seen many tv programs on the Soviet Union's chemical/biological programs. The place is accident just waiting to happen. With all the shoddy--or non-existant--security there, you have to wonder how long before we're all facing something that came out of there?

 

[delta lady]

Anyone ever read the book The Hot Zone : A Terrifying True Story
by Richard Preston ...??

Scare the pants right off you.

 

[kittyinva]

Yes Delta Lady, that was a great book. About the same time, another book was on the market titled, I think,"Ebola", which was written by Glenn Close's father who is, I think, an epidemiologist. Really frightening stuff. The only good thing is that it kills people so fast that it usually burns itself out in about 6 weeks.

 

[inspirations]

Lab Accident

Yep, DL, I read the Hot Zone and Preston's latest (I think) The Demon in the Freezer, about smallpox. It was equally chilling.

inspirations

 

[Lynn]

Anyone ever read the book The Hot Zone : A Terrifying True Story
by Richard Preston ...??

Scare the pants right off you.

Yes I read it, I had a hard time sleeping for a week. It reminded me of a Robin Cook book.

 

[CanadaSue]

I enjoy Rcihard Preston BUT

I have 2 beefs with him.

1) He does not reference his boks. He alludes or directly mentions stuff I'd love to read myself; read the source material that is.

2) He's a 'popular non-fiction' writer & as such, can get a tad sensationalist. His facts are accurate but often couched in the most gruesom terms - beyond what is necessary.

But oh yeah, his stuff can keep me up nights.

A really good medical author & her stuff is proving out is Laurie Garrett. She 'indexes, annexes & appendiceses' to the max & is generous is her use of footnotes. I've had some great reads after finding some of her references stuff. Try Betrayal of Trust for an idea of where our medical systems are going - she condemns public & private health equally in terms of inewquities - if you want to lok at access to health in terms of inequities.

Another good one is the brilliant effort by Judith Miller & 2 co-authors from the New York Times - Germs. THAT is a 'don't miss' book if you want to know how easy it COULD be if you can hire the right people.

I fully expect a full blown infectious disease disaster out of the former Soviet Union by the end of the decase. To be honest, THEY aren't even sure what they have stashed in what freezers & where. Some ma be well past its best by date - other material is a frozen, (we hope), time bomb.

There's been a quite a diaspora of former bioweaponeers since the breakup - not all were full dleged dangerous but enough of them were & far too many simply disappeared for nations unknown. My only hope is that their egos will keep them publishing - even if its under 'new' names, research directions & writing style MAY help keep tabs on some of them.

The ones who we know about, who work for the 'good guys'; some are downright scary in what they COULD do.

 

[CTCStrela]

Uh LMFAO

The Vector State Scientific Centre of Virology and Biotechnology under the Russian Health Ministry was set up in 1974 to study dangerous virus pathogens and to develop treatment and diagnostic preparations in the interests of health care and defence. All viruses, bacteria and microbes known to be dangerous pathogens have been assembled within its walls.

Uh, yeah nice pablum.

VECTOR was the Soviet Union's premier biological weapons research/production orginization. At their peak, they could produce an estimated 10 tons (yes you read that right) of anthrax per month.

The fact that they are playing with ebola is VERY WORRYING.

For background on this research Ken Alibek and Vector. Enough to put the hair up on the back of your neck, I assure you.

Notable books on this are:
"Germs"
"Biohazard"

 

[CanadaSue]

You got that right, CS

Biopreparat & Vektor have a very long, very fuzzy history of work on bionasties. As their peak I believe they employed something like 40k specialists - not all full fledged bioweaponeers but the sheer number. I HOPE Alibek & Paseshnik were correct when they assured us most staffers did very compartmentalized work.

While many of the labs & their contents are accounted for, there are growing suspicions that many are not & who knows what's out there in the wilds of wherever - lots of places, lots of ways to hide small repositories of stuff.

A lot of pretty 'out there' theorizing was done & written up that could now possibly BE done - we have the GE techniques to enact some of the theory & planning. I certainly have no knowledge of specifics - some of the actualities were bad enough. But I don't need to let my imagination roam too far with very little REAL knowledge of genetic recombination to know that once some not too minor technicalities are worked out, some frightening potentials are out there.

My money would be plaved on an accidental release though - something they THINK they know but when it ends up 'in the wild' will tutn out to havre some unanticipated VERY unpleasant consequences.

 

[Martin]

New Ebola strain found in Sudan

By Karen Allen
BBC News, on the Kenya-Sudan border



There is no cure for Ebola
Teams of international scientists are travelling to southern Sudan, following an outbreak of a new strain of the deadly Ebola virus.
World Health Organisation officials have traced an Ebola-like disease to the town of Yambio, in the Western Equatorial region of south Sudan.

Fifteen cases of the potentially fatal virus have been confirmed over the past fortnight and four people have died.

More than 100 others are being kept under surveillance.

Four people are in isolation at Yambio Hospital, so the total infected could still rise.

The Ebola virus in its early stages is hard to diagnose because some of the symptoms, like fever and joint pain, mimic malaria.

Many people go on to develop internal bleeding, a characteristic typical of Ebola, and without medical attention the prospects are bleak.

A crisis group has been set up with aid agencies in the region, in an attempt to curtail the spread.

The last major outbreak was in Uganda two years ago; hundreds died.

The hope is that quick action now will avert a similar crisis in southern Sudan


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3741137.stm

 

[CTCStrela]

Sue, according to Alibek, the had Blackpox ready to go in the late 80's.

 

[CanadaSue]

A new one...

Thanx Martin, I wondered. The numbers were 'off' for Ebola & although Ebola samples will cross react with Marburg tets, they react more strongly to other strains of Ebola & apparently that is what had happened - a cross reaction with known Ebola strains.

So this would make the second strain to 'arise' out of the Sudan, after the initial 76 outbreak. Any outbreak our Ebola results in tons of international help & experts flying in but an outbreak of a new strain makes for a bigger response - lots of new data to collect, analyse & compare to previous outbreaks with other strains. Too, there's always the hope that THIS time, they'll find a host.

Countries where Ebola is endemic have done a decent job over the decades of telling people what to do & more importantly, what NOT to do in the face of an outbreak but if it begins in remote areas, it can run through several generations of infection & spread 'nicely' before it comes to anyone's official notice.

Yambio is pretty much right on the border with Uganda & close to the Congolese border as well. In 1979, there was a small outbreak in a town near Yambio, a place called Nxara. It was reported in August of the year & of 34 cases, 22 died. So this makes the third outbreak in that country since 1976.

A WHO fact sheet has good detail about transmission, nature of response & all aspects of covering such an outbreak. It's too long to post here but can be found at:

http://www.who.int/emc/diseases/ebola/ebola7.html

Annex 4 of that report details outbreaks up to 1997.

CTS, one thing I can't remember - did Vektor also develop a vax for blackpox?

 

[CanadaSue]

Ebola confirmed in The Sudan

I'm not being fair here, nevertheless I'm thumping my firstsa in frustration - when did this outbreak begin? If it's been ongoing a few weeks & they still only have possibly 19 cases with 4 deaths, then yup, it sounds like a milder strain. Deatn with the 'classic nasty strains' can take a week or more, so knowing when this was first noticed is important.

I'd also be curious to know which known strain the samples cross reacted to most strongly - might give us early clues as to its genetic makeup in comparison to other strains affecting humans.

Here's the ProMed latest. I didn't c & p the second article they put up as it was a repeat of the article Martin posted from the BBC:

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,25475


***
Archive Number 20040524.1387
Published Date 24-MAY-2004
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Acute hemorrhagic fever - Sudan (W Equatoria) (03): Ebola conf.


ACUTE HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - SUDAN (W EQUATORIA) (03): EBOLA CONFIRMED
***********************************************

[1]
Date: Mon 24 May 2004
From: Marianne Hopp <mjhopp12@yahoo.com>
Source: World Health Organization (WHO), CSR, Disease Outbreak News, Mon 24
2004 [edited]
<http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_05_24/en/>


Ebola hemorrhagic fever in south Sudan - WHO update
-----------------------------------------------
As of Mon 24 May 2004, the health authorities of Yambio County have reported a total of 19 cases, including 4 deaths, of Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) in Yambio, Western Equatoria, south Sudan. Laboratory testing performed by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) United States, have confirmed EHF.

WHO South Sudan Early Warning and Response Network (EWARN), along with a team from WHO headquarters, have been working closely with the health authorities and partners in Yambio County helping with the creation of a Crisis Committee to control the outbreak.

This committee includes UNICEF, Medecins sans Frontieres-France, and other non-governmental organizations and churches working in public health. The committee is working actively in social mobilization, supporting case management in Yambio hospital, and organizing the follow-up of contacts of people who have been ill with the disease.

Currently, the outbreak appears to be restricted to the environs of Yambio, however, neighboring countries have been notified. At this stage, WHO recommends no special restrictions on travel, or trade, as a result of this outbreak.

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>***

 

[Martin]

WHO: Sudan Outbreak May Be New Ebola Strain

Monday, May 24, 2004



NAIROBI, Kenya — Scientists suspect that a new milder strain of the Ebola (search) virus may have caused the latest outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever in southern Sudan (search), the World Health Organization said Saturday.

Four of the 10 people infected with the Ebola-like virus have died in Yambio, a Sudanese town near the border with Congo (search), said Abdullahi Ahmed, head of WHO's southern Sudan office.

Tests of blood samples taken to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta indicated that the oubreak is not linked to the known strains of Ebola-like viruses that cause the severe viral infection, Ahmed said.

There are four known strains of Ebola-like viruses, three of which cause the deadly disease, the CDC said on its web site. The viruses are probably preserved in an undefined reservoir in the rain forests of Africa.

"The investigation could not match the known variants, so it could be a new variant," Ahmed told The Associated Press.

Scientists at the CDC will conduct genetic tests to characterize and classify the suspected new strain of the Ebola virus, Ahmed said.

So far the death rate is lower than has previously been experienced with Ebola outbreaks, he said, adding that this may indicate that the new virus is milder than other strains.

The suspected new variant has killed between 25 and 30 percent of the people infected, while other variants kill between 50 and 90 percent of those who contract the disease, Ahmed said.

The symptoms of the illness around Yambio include general malaise, fever, vomiting blood and bloody diarrhea.

There had been no new cases reported in the last four days, Ahmed said, adding that one person remains under investigation. The incubation period for the virus is 21 days. The most recent case began on May 15.

Southern Sudan has been wracked by civil war since 1983; thousands of people are periodically displaced by fighting, and public health facilities are rare.

The first recognized Ebola epidemic occurred almost simultaneously in southern Sudan and in a nearby region of the Congo in 1976, according to the CDC.

At the time, Ebola killed 117 of the 284 people who were reported with the viral infection in southern Sudan. In Congo, it killed 280 of the 318 people infected.

In 2000, an Ebola outbreak killed 173 people in Gulu district in northern Uganda, which also borders southern Sudan.

The Ebola virus is spread by contact with body fluids, including sweat and saliva. Outbreaks of the disease are rare, and no one knows where the virus lives when it is not infecting humans. The disease usually kills its victims so fast that it also destroys the host for the virus.

Ugandan health officials said they had circulated warnings in areas that border Sudan and had put health workers on high alert.


http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,120813,00.html