Infectious Diseases - Responding To Biologic Terrorism: Intentional Epidemics

In September and October 2001, in an unprecedented event, twenty-two letters containing Bacillus anthracis spores sent through the U.S. Postal Service caused anthrax outbreaks in seven states: Connecticut, one case; Florida, two cases; Maryland, three cases; New Jersey, five cases; New York City, eight cases (includes a case of a New Jersey resident exposed in New York City); Pennsylvania, one case; and Virginia, two cases. Five of the letters resulted in fatal cases of anthrax.

These anthrax attacks "starkly exposed the vulnerability of the United States and the rest of the world to bioterrorism," according to the NIAID. Accordingly, the organization has devoted one third of its research portfolio to accelerated programs to prevent, diagnose, and treat possible intentional epidemics. Efforts focus on "Category A" agents considered to be the worst bioterror threats (smallpox, anthrax, botulinum toxin, plague, tularemia, and hemorrhagic fever viruses such as Ebola) and on Category B and C priority agents that also pose significant threats to human health.

More than sixty NIAID biodefense initiatives were funded in fiscal years 2002–05, the CDC reported in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Among them were funding for eight regional centers of excellence for biodefense and emerging infectious diseases research and construction of two national biocontainment laboratories and nine regional biocontainment laboratories. These facilities provide the secure space needed to carry out the nation's expanded biodefense research program. Researchers have sequenced the genomes of all biological agents considered to pose the most severe threats, and the NIAID has awarded contracts to screen new chemical compounds as possible treatments for bioterror attacks.

NIAID also has been active in vaccine development as a biodefense countermeasure. The institute has supported the development of a next-generation anthrax vaccine, known as recombinant protective antigen (rPA), which as of 2006 was undergoing clinical trials. Several new smallpox vaccines also were being tested for safety and efficacy. A clinical trial of a new DNA vaccine against Ebola virus and human testing of an adeno-virus-vectored Ebola vaccine began in 2005.