Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of obtaining Ebola virus. Their success in this
endeavor is unknown.
In April 1990, the Aum Shinrikyo outfitted three
vehicles to disseminate botulinum toxin. Their
targets were the Diet (Japan's congress), the town
of Yokohama, the U.S. Navy base at Yokosuka,
and Tokyo's Narita Airport. In June 1993, the cult
spread botulinum toxin in downtown Tokyo using
a specially equipped automobile, and attempted to
spread anthrax in Tokyo using a sprayer system on
the roof of a cult-owned building in east Tokyo
[65]. In July 1993, an attempt was made to spray
the Diet using a truck modified to disseminate
anthrax. In the same month, a similar attempt was
made to disseminate anthrax near the Imperial
Palace in Tokyo. Fortunately, problems with pres-
surization and clogging of the spray system likely
contributed to ineffective spore dispersal [66]. On
March 15, 1995, the Aum placed three briefcases
designed to release botulinum toxin in the Tokyo
subway. The cult member responsible for this
attack evidently reconsidered his intentions, and
substituted a non-toxic substance for the botulinum
toxin. The failure of this attack subsequently led
the cult to use sarin in its March 20, 1995 subway
attack. The Aum made mistakes either in the way
they produced or disseminated biological agents,
and all of their attacks failed. They may have relied
on a strain of
C. botulinum
that produced little
or no toxin, which may have been incapable of
producing illness. The quantities of toxin dissem-
inated may have been too small to cause lethal
effects. The Aum had also used a vaccine strain of
anthrax, Sterne 34F2, which was relatively harm-
less [66]. As far as is known, no one became ill or
died from these bioterrorism attempts by the Aum
[20,67].
drug (IND) submissions for Q fever, tularemia,
Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE),
Eastern (EEE) and Western equine encephalitis
(WEE), and Chikungunya vaccines. USAMRIID is
a national asset for biological defense and serves
as the nation's preeminent biomedical research
defense and training facility. Examples of USAM-
RIID's contribution to the national biomedical
defense include:
Relief efforts for the Rift Valley fever (RVF)
outbreaks in Egypt (1977) and Senegal and
Mauritania (1988) [58].
Agreements with the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), Atlanta, Georgia to house and treat any
high hazard infections at USAMRIID BSL-4
hospital care.
Containment of the 1989 outbreak of the Ebola-
Reston monkey virus in Virginia, as described
in Robert Preston's topic
The Hot Zone
[59].
Field investigation collaboration laboratory sup-
port for the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
(HPS) outbreak in the southwestern US, with
initial isolation of the responsible hantavirus
strain [60].
Confirmation of a diagnosis of West Nile virus
during the 1999 New York City outbreak [61].
Laboratory and criminal analysis of the anthrax-
containing letters during the 2001 bioterrorism
incidents [62].
Biodefense education of tens of thousands of
medical professionals through on-site and
satellite courses [63].
Development of a novel anthrax vaccine candi-
date now undergoing clinical trials after a
decade of research and development [64].
2.15 Aum Shinrikyo
In Japan during the 1980s, Shoko Asahara founded
the cult Aum Shinrikyo. Its membership grew to
about 10,000 with financial assets of at least $300
million. The Aum experimented with botulinum
toxin and anthrax, and also was thought to have
experimented with Q fever and mushroom spores.
In 1992, the cult traveled to Zaire with the intent
2.16 Rajneeshees
In September and October 1984, a religious cult,
known as the Rajneeshees, intentionally caused
illness among the 751 inhabitants of The Dalles,
in Oregon. On their Rajneeshpuram Commune,
the Rajneeshees had a state-certified clinical labo-
ratory, and purchased seed stock of
Salmonella
typhimurium
from a medical supply company.
