Experts debate destroying last smallpox viruses

[Guest guest]

Smallpox, one of the world's deadliest diseases, eradicated three decades ago,

is kept alive under tight security today in just two places -- the United States

and Russia.

Many other countries say the world would be safer if those stockpiles of the

virus were destroyed.

Now for the fifth time, at a World Health Organization meeting next week, they

will push again for the virus' destruction. And again it seems likely their

efforts will be futile.

U.S. and Russian government officials say it is essential they keep some

smallpox alive in case a future biological threat demands more tests with the

virus. They also say the virus samples are still needed to develop experimental

vaccines and drugs.

It was in 1996 that WHO's member countries first agreed smallpox should be

destroyed. But they have repeatedly delayed a demand for destruction so that

scientists could develop safer smallpox vaccines and drugs. That's now largely

been done: There are two vaccines, a third in the works, and there are

experimental drugs being developed for treating it, but not curing it.

Yet even if most of WHO's member countries vote to set a new date for

destruction, the agency doesn't have the power to enforce the decision.

The scientific community remains divided over whether the smallpox samples

should be destroyed. The respected journal Nature editorialized against it

earlier this year, arguing that scientists need the ability to do further

research, and perhaps develop new vaccines and treatments in an era of possible

biological attack. However, one of the most prominent figures in wiping out the

deadly, disfiguring disease is in favor of destroying all remnants of it.

" It would be an excellent idea to destroy the smallpox viruses, " said Dr.

A. , who led WHO's eradication effort in the 1970s. " This is an

organism to be greatly feared. "

He says possession of smallpox by those not authorized to have it should be made

a crime against humanity and that international authorities should prosecute any

country found with it.

A report by independent researchers commissioned by WHO last year concluded

there was no compelling scientific reason to hang onto the viruses and that the

stockpiles were mainly needed to continue advanced development of the drug

treatment and satisfy regulatory requirements. Yet other scientists contend the

stockpiles could still provide valuable information in the future.

Smallpox is one of the most lethal diseases in history. For centuries, it killed

about one-third of the people it infected, including Queen II of England,

and left most survivors with deep scars on their faces from the hideous

pus-filled lesions. The last known case was in Britain in 1978 when a university

photographer who worked above a lab handling smallpox died after being

accidentally exposed to it from the building's air duct system.

Smallpox vaccines are made from vaccinia, a milder related virus. " We have many

ways of looking at smallpox, including gene mapping, that means we don't need

the actual (smallpox) virus, " said , who is now with the Center for

Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

American and Russian officials disagree.

Dr. Nils Daulaire, director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'

Office of Global Affairs, said the U.S. will again ask WHO to postpone a

decision calling for the stockpile's destruction. He said U.S. scientists need

more time to finish research into how well new vaccines and drugs work against

the virus. But he acknowledged U.S. officials also want their own supply in case

terrorists unleash smallpox as a biological weapon and additional study is

needed.

A scientist at the Russian laboratory where smallpox is kept, who spoke

anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said the virus

should be kept in case similar ones pop up in the future and more studies are

needed.

Meanwhile, officials from developing countries are anxious to close the last

chapter on the disease.

" There is a consensus to destroy the viruses, so how come we're in this

situation where we're pandering to the U.S. and Russia? " asked Lim Li Ching, a

biosafety expert at Third World Network, a group that lobbies on behalf of

developing countries.

Oyewale Tomori, a virology professor at Redeemer's University in Nigeria, said

most African countries want smallpox destroyed. Tomori also sits on a WHO

Advisory Committee on smallpox. " Africa is one part of the world where a

biological attack with smallpox is likely to have a more devastating effect, " he

said.

Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security and the

environment, said the agency remains concerned about the possibility of

smallpox's return. " The chance of an outbreak is reasonably low, but not zero, "

he said. With the new vaccines and drugs, Fukuda was optimistic any smallpox

outbreak would be stamped out relatively quickly though acknowledged any new

cases might spark global alarm.

" If smallpox were to reappear, we would be in a much better situation than in

the past, considering the vaccine supplies and strategies that have been

demonstrated to work, " he said. He guessed that stamping out a smallpox outbreak

would be faster than the four months it took to mostly end the 2003 global

outbreak of SARS, where doctors could only isolate patients and trace suspect

cases. With smallpox, Fukuda said countries could quickly vaccinate people in

surrounding areas and that drugs could be sent to treat patients.

Fukuda said many rich countries like the U.S. have their own smallpox vaccine

stockpiles. WHO also has at least 30 million doses for poor countries in case

the virus re-emerges, but that supply uses older vaccines that can trigger AIDS

in people who have HIV.

, a smallpox expert at the University of Alberta, who was part of the

WHO team that inspected the U.S. and Russian labs holding smallpox several years

ago, says he doubts the virus could escape from either facility. The viruses are

kept at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the

State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk, Siberia.

Laboratories where smallpox is kept have the highest possible containment

measures. Scientists who work with the virus use fingerprint or retinal scans to

get inside, wear a full-body suit including gloves and goggles, and shower with

strong disinfectant before leaving the lab and taking off the suit. The U.S.

smallpox viruses, which include samples from Britain, Japan and the Netherlands,

are stored in liquid nitrogen.

Rumors about stockpiles in countries like Iraq and North Korea have never been

proven, and said it would be too difficult to experiment with smallpox and

keep it a secret. " The nations I would worry about, weird places run by odd

dictators, they're just not capable of doing this stuff, " he said.

thinks it's unlikely terrorists would resort to smallpox in a biological

attack. " If you want to disrupt countries, there are lots of easier ways to do

it than to experiment with something so dangerous, " he said.

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