- Ominous news from Pakistan and Iran indicate that at
best a viral pandemic may be brewing among Afghan refugees, at worst that
former Soviet biological weapons have possibly made their first
appearance.
-
- In Pakistan, at least 75 people have been diagnosed in
Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic
fever in the largest outbreak of the disease ever recorded. Eight have
already died. All the infected are refugees recently arrived from
Afghanistan
or people living close to the border. An isolation ward surrounded by
barbed
wire has been established at the Fatima Jinnah chest and general hospital
in Quetta.
-
- Ali-Safar Makaanali, head of Iranís Border
Quarantines,
has confirmed that Iranian health officials are also dealing with an
outbreak
of the virus, with more than 100 citizens having been infected. Iranian
health authorities have established 40 quarantine bases on the border in
an attempt to halt the spread of the disease. In addition, more than 100
mobile quarantine bases have been set up, and 39 hospitals have been
prepared
to cope with patients. As the traditional infection vector are ticks and
as refugees would undoubtedly bring their livestock with them, the
possibility
of a pandemic looms large, especially if the current campaign causes a
flood of refugees.
-
- The virus has a mortality rate of over 50 per cent,
damaging
arteries, veins and other blood vessels before leading to the collapse
of major organs, eventually causing its victim to die of internal
bleeding.
-
- The disease is highly infectious and can be transmitted
via contact with infected individuals.
-
- Soviet biological arsenal at large
-
- What makes the viral outbreak menacing is the knowledge
that in the 1980s the USSRís biological warfare research
organisation
Biopreparat intensively studied biological weapons and maintained a bank
of 10,000 of the most dangerous and exotic viruses known, including
smallpox,
Ebola and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. Many intelligence analysts
believe that Osama bin Laden acquired biological weapons agents from Kazakh
arms dealers.
-
- Therefore, it begs the question: Are the Iranian and
Pakistani outbreaks an unfortunate coincidence or something
sinister?
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