Despite the Fact Smallpox Was Declared Eradicated in 1980, the UN is Putting Off Destroying the Last of the Virus, Saying Smallpox Could Still Be Used as a Biological Weapon (There Is No Treatment; the Only Prevention Is Vaccination)

UN Puts Off Destroying Last Smallpox Viruses

May 24, 2011

The Associated Press - Health ministers from around the world agreed Tuesday to put off setting a deadline to destroy the last known stockpiles of the smallpox virus for three more years, rejecting a U.S. plan that had called for a five-year delay.

History of Smallpox c. 1000 BC Earliest smallpox inoculation, practiced in India 430 BC Plague of Athens described by Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War, thought to be caused by variola 700-800 AD Arab armies carry smallpox out of Africa to Southwestern Europe 1095 Pope Urban II gives the speech which spurs the first of the Crusades 13th C. European trade with China via the Silk Road begins 1519 Hernando Cortes and his troops arrive in the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan 1717 In England, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu spurs experimental variolation on prisoners 1719-1746 London suffers 5 major smallpox epidemics 1796 Jenner performs the first vaccination Late 18th C. Smallpox kills 400,000 Europeans a year and is endemic in Eurasia Australia, South Africa, and North and South America; variolation slowly spreads across Europe and to America 1840 English Parliament passes the Vaccination Act 1880 Pasteur advances the germ theory of disease 1928 Start of the Soviet bioweapons program 1939 Downey discovers that the virus used in vaccinations is no longer cowpox but a new virus, vaccinia 1942 US army begins germ warfare research 1939-1945 World War II, smallpox infection swells across the globe 1941-46 Percentage of countries in which smallpox is endemic rises from 69% to 87% 1949 Last outbreak of smallpox in the US 1956 US intelligence discovers the existence of the Soviet Union bioweapons program 1965 atomizers with mock smallpox germs are tested in Washington international airport 1967 WHO launches the Intensified Smallpox Eradication Program; KGB agents obtain samples of a virulent strain of variola major in India 1969 Nixon ends the US biological warfare program 1972 US begins phasing out mandatory vaccination in schools; Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention treaty 1977 Last reported case of smallpox in Somalia 1980 WHO declares global eradication of smallpox 1989 Soviet scientist Pasechnik defects to Great Britain 1999 The year previously set for destruction of US and Russian smallpox stockpiles 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks 2002 Deadline for destruction of smallpox stocks extended indefinitely; NIH bioterror defense budget increased to $1.5 billion annually

After two days of heated debate, the 193-nation World Health Assembly agreed by consensus to a compromise that calls for another review in 2014.

The United States had proposed a five-year extension to destroying the U.S. and Russian stockpiles, arguing that more research is needed and the stockpiles could help prevent one of the world's deadliest diseases from being used as a biological weapon.

But opponents at the decision-making assembly of the World Health Organization said they saw little reason to retain the stockpiles, and objected to the delay in destroying them.

Dr. Nils Daulaire, head of the U.S. Office of Global Health Affairs and the chief American delegate to the assembly, expressed some disappointment but said the compromise was satisfactory.

"We were disappointed that despite the fact that we had extremely strong support for a resolution that would have even more strongly endorsed the program of research and that a majority of that support came from the global south, that Iran almost unilaterally blocked that," he said. "We could have won a vote if we had chosen to go that route, but it was not the way we view the well-being of both WHO processes and global health."

The assembly, like the U.N. General Assembly, is a world forum whose decisions aren't legally binding. It declared smallpox officially eradicated in 1980, and the U.N. health agency has been discussing whether to destroy the virus since 1986.

Then in 2007, the health assembly asked WHO's director-general to oversee a major review of the situation so that the 2011 assembly could agree on when to destroy the last known stockpiles.

Daulaire said the U.S. would act in accordance with the decisions made by the assembly.

"We're very committed to consensus decisions at WHO," he said. "We believe even more strongly that WHO is a very important institution and that it has moral force and that maintaining consensus and acting on the basis of that consensus is critical for global public health."

WHO officials said in a statement that the assembly "strongly reaffirmed the decision of previous assemblies that the remaining stock of smallpox (variola) virus should be destroyed when crucial research based on the virus has been completed."

Smallpox as a Biological Weapon

FreeMd.com - In addition to natural epidemics, smallpox has been used as a weapon. Infected bodies or articles of clothing have been used to intentionally spread smallpox through enemy populations.

During the French and Indian wars, smallpox-contaminated blankets were given to Native American Indians. About 50% of infected Indians died from the disease.

For decades, many experts have recognized smallpox as a potential weapon. The virus is easily produced and delivered as an aerosol.

Today, the virus exists only in a few laboratories around the world. In the early 1970s, about 100 countries agreed to destroy their stores of smallpox and other biological weapons. Despite this, the former Soviet Union developed a large biological warfare program, which included smallpox stores.

In 1980, the World Health Organization officially declared that smallpox was eradicated in humans.

Official virus storage sites are located at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, and the Institute of Viral Preparations in Moscow, Russia. Viral stores also exist at the Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo. The World Health Organization Committee on Orthopoxvirus Infections has recommended destruction of the remaining viral stores, but political factions, including the US government, have delayed this action.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, there is concern that smallpox biological weapon expertise may have migrated to other countries. It is unknown whether stockpiles of smallpox exist in other countries.

As a biological weapon, smallpox could be delivered to large populations as a fine aerosol. Infection results when membranes of the nose or throat come in contact with the virus. Experts believe that only 10-100 virus particles are needed to assure infection and that 1 infected patient will infect about 20 others.

New Smallpox Vaccine Delivered to U.S. National Stockpile

August 17, 2010

Homeland Security Newswire - According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the last case of smallpox in the United States was in 1949, and the last naturally occurring case in the world was in Somalia in 1977; the virus still exists in laboratory stockpiles, however, and after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, "there is heightened concern that the variola virus might be used as an agent of bioterrorism," the CDC says.

The U.S. federal government has stockpiled the nation’s first smallpox vaccine made especially for people with compromised immune systems, including those with HIV, even though smallpox has been eradicated.

Susan Jones writes in CNSnews.com that under a Bush-era program called Project Bioshield, a Danish company, Bavarian Nordic, received a $505 million contract from the U.S. government in 2007 to manufacture and deliver twenty million doses of smallpox vaccine for “immune-compromised populations.”

“Addressing the needs of such special populations is mandated under the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA),” the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) said in a news release announcing delivery of the first million doses of the special smallpox vaccine to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.

Delivery of the first new smallpox vaccine began in May and will continue through 2013.

Press reports note that Project Bioshield itself may be nearing an end, just as it delivers its first new vaccine. According to a report in the Hill, a war supplemental bill passed by the House cuts $2 billion from Project Bioshield, whose effectiveness has been questioned by the Obama administration (“Senators harshly criticize plan to cut $2 billion from BioSheild,” 23 July 2010 HSNW). President George W. Bush, who signed legislation creating Project Bioshield in 2004, said it would help America purchase, develop and deploy cutting-edge defenses against catastrophic attack.

“Project BioShield is part of a broader strategy to defend America against the threat of weapons of mass destruction,” Bush said at the time.

In an e-mail to the Los Angeles Times, Obama White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said Project BioShield “has demonstrated limited success in providing incentive for private-sector (vaccine) developers and has not provided a robust pipeline of medical countermeasures.”

Jones writes that the law creating Project Bioshield authorized $5.6 billion over ten years for the government to purchase and stockpile vaccines and drugs to fight smallpox, anthrax, and other potential bioterror agents. The contract is administered by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In an emergency, such as the smallpox virus being obtained from a secure lab and used in an act of terrorism, the vaccine may be authorized for use to protect people who have weakened immune systems, specifically HIV persons who have not progressed to AIDS, HHS said.

The Strategic National Stockpile is operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It contains large quantities of medicine and medical supplies to protect the American public if there is a public health emergency, such as a terrorist attack or flu outbreak, and if that medicine is ever needed, it can be delivered to any state in the United States within twelve hours, HHS said.

BARDA says it is now supporting Bavarian Nordic’s work to develop a freeze-dried version of the specially formulated smallpox vaccine, which would have a longer shelf-life and incur lower storage and transportation costs.