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July 02, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Flu Bioweapon Fears"

BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk) (07/01/03)

Researchers writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine warn that terrorists could create a virulent strain of influenza and unleash the virus as a bioterror weapon even more deadly than anthrax or smallpox.  The scientists said that the information used to create the deadly flu virus could be gleaned from the sequencing of the 1918 flu epidemic, which was responsible for the deaths of up to 40 million people.  The scientists noted that flu is common enough that it can be easily obtained by terrorists, and it becomes even more attractive to terrorists because it can be disseminated as an aerosol.  Further, the commonness of flu would make the virulent strain difficult to detect until an epidemic was underway, and the incubation period of the virus is so short that it would be difficult to immunize against.  The team of researchers, led by U.S. scientist Mohammed Madjid, is calling upon the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to study the issue and to improve security at laboratories.  Madjid predicts that the use of a virulent flu strain as a bioweapon will become a serious possibility within just six to 12 months.