-----Original Message-----
From: 	Greene, John  
Sent:	Thursday, November 29, 2001 1:15 PM
To:	Kaminski, Vince J
Subject:	FW:  this is an ugly report from Janes

This is the news item I was talking about

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Simon, Jonathan [mailto:Jonathan.Simon@lehman.com] 
Sent:	Thursday, November 29, 2001 7:55 AM
To:	Simon, Jonathan
Subject:	 this is an ugly report from Janes

  International 
  Security 

Jane's Security Digest 

                                                         
                                   
                                            28 November 2001

                Have Soviet-era bio-weapons infected Afghan
                refugees?

                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 Iran's 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 USSR's 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 more sinister?