Scientists in the Netherlands created a virus so toxic that if it ever escaped or was stolen by terrorists, the potential harm would be catastrophic.  The scientists from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam are set to publish their findings in two scientific journals–making it easy for terrorists to copy and create the virus.  As a result, the American Federal Advisory Board has asked the scientists to leave out critical details.

Which is more important: scientific freedom or protection of the public against a potential doomsday?

To understand the problem, it’s important to know what the scientists are doing.  Many public health officials have been worried that viruses that are common in poultry and birds  (Like the AH5N1) might “jump” to humans and spread easily by coughing or sneezing–that could have devastating effects.  Much worse than small pox–one of the biggest killers in the history of humans.

Usually, the virus doesn’t “jump.”  But what if it somehow mutated to the point that it could jump?  That’s what the scientists in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin were studying.  To accomplish this they bombarded the AH5N1 virus with a variety of genetic changes or mutations.  During this process, they made only five genetic mutations that enabled the virus to spread through the air.  What if terrorist scientists read the proposed publications and created their own lethal virus?

What makes this research troubling to me is that no one,  not even the funding source The National Institutes of Health, ever conducted a rigorous analysis of the potential dangers before giving the money.  And since the mutated virus did not exist prior to the research, why was it done in the first place?

The scientists say their research may lead to the development of the correct antiviral drugs to be used in the event of a breakout.  But if the mutated virus didn’t exist, why would we need an antiviral drug?  Isn’t this backwards?  Dangerously backwards?  Also, there’s no guarantee that any mutations which might occur in Nature will match the mutations developed in the lab–meaning the antiviral drugs wouldn’t work.

What should we do?

The post Bird Virus May Cause Doomsday appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

Found in the remains of Egyptian mummies and all over ancient Asia and China, the virus has probably killed more people than wars, famine, and drought have done.  Epidemics in Europe during the Middle Ages affected the course of western history.  Outbreaks of small pox started the decline of the Roman Empire and, once transported to the New World, succeeded in wiping-out most of the native population.  During the early 1700’s in Europe as many as 400,000 people died annually—about the population of Minneapolis.

The war on small pox started with the practice of inoculation against the disease.  Medical practitioners brought the practice from Istanbul to Western Europe and then to the United States by the mid-1700’s.

The process involved pricking the skin of a person and infecting them with a small amount of pox.  It caused them to become slightly ill but also made them immune to the more serious disease when it struck.

During the American Revolution the Continental army attacked the British city of Quebec.  They came close to succeeding until an outbreak of small pox stopped them. The British army had been inoculated, avoided the plague, and repulsed the American’s attack for good.

Edward Jenner didn’t actually discover the vaccine used against small pox, but he was the first scientist to attempt to control an infectious disease—and he was successful.

By the 1950’s small pox had been effectively eradicated from Europe and North America, thanks to public sanitation efforts and the widespread use of the vaccine.  By 1980, after a world-wide campaign, the World Health Organization announced the official end of the disease in the world and recommended that countries cease vaccination—which meant that today no one has immunity to the disease.  (Even for those of us who received vaccine years ago, the protection has decayed.)

Everyone in the world is vulnerable.

With that scary thought in mind, I’ve written a suspense novel about terrorists who steal samples of small pox from a repository in Russia and intend to infect American school children with it—creating hundreds of “weapons of mass destruction.”  It’s called Reprisal.  It takes place in Minneapolis where several Somali boys have disappeared in the past few years.  In my book, they’ve been kidnapped to be used by the terrorists to carry small pox back into the schools and start a pandemic.

Could it happen?  What do you think our most vulnerable spot is for bio-terrorists to attack?  What should we do?

The post The Smallest Terrorist appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

Found in the remains of Egyptian mummies and all over ancient Asia and China, the virus has probably killed more people than wars, famine, and terrorists have done.  Epidemics in Europe during the Middle Ages affected the course of western history.  Outbreaks of small pox started the decline of the Roman Empire and, once transported to the New World, succeeded in wiping-out most of the native population.  During the early 1700’s in Europe as many as 400,000 people died annually—about the population of Minneapolis.

The war on small pox started with the practice of inoculation against the disease.  Medical practitioners took the practice from Istanbul to Western Europe and then to the United States by the mid-1700’s.

The process involved pricking the skin of a person and infecting them with a small amount of pox.  It caused them to become slightly ill but also made them immune to the more serious disease when it struck.

During the American Revolution the Continental army attacked the British city of Quebec.  They came close to succeeding until an outbreak of small pox stopped them. The British army had been inoculated, avoided the plague, and repulsed the American’s attack for good.

Edward Jenner didn’t actually discover the vaccine used against small pox, but he was the first scientist to attempt to control an infectious disease—and he was successful.

By the 1950’s small pox had been effectively eradicated from Europe and North America, thanks to public sanitation efforts and the widespread use of the vaccine.  In 1980, after a world-wide campaign, the World Health Organization announced the official end of the disease in the world and recommended that countries cease vaccination—which meant that today no one has immunity to the disease.  (Even for those of us who received vaccine years ago, the protection has decayed.)

Everyone in the world is vulnerable.

With that scary thought in mind, I’ve written a suspense novel about terrorists who steal samples of small pox from a repository in Russia and intend to infect American school children with it—creating hundreds of “weapons of mass destruction.”  It’s called Reprisal.  It takes place in Minneapolis where several Somali boys have disappeared in the past few years.  In my book, they’ve been kidnapped to be used by the terrorists to carry small pox back into the schools and start a pandemic.

What really scares me—and readers also—is that the “enemy” here is something you can’t see, touch, feel, or smell…how do you defend against it?  Also, once the population learns about the spread of small pox, I think the panic will be worse than the disease itself.

Luckily, I can tell you the heroine in my book succeeds in stopping the terrorists and preventing an outbreak—at the last-minute, of course.

Check-out the book at my web site and tell me what you think.

The post Something Worse Than bin Laden appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

For a new author like me, unknown and unlisted on the NY Times Book Review, to get into a major chain is very exciting. Why is it there?

I think the cover of the book is compelling. My good friend, Jeff Holmes designed it. The story is about terrorists who plot to use stolen samples of small pox virus to infect American children and then send them back into the schools as weapons of mass destruction to start a plague. The cover mirrors the fear and danger of bio-terrorism. The truly scary aspect for me is that small pox was eradicated from the planet in 1979. No other vaccines were developed and everyone on the planet is vulnerable to the disease–no one has a defense to it. The face of someone plotting to release a deadly virus looks menacing and evil.

People who have read the book tell me it’s a page-turner. I’m happy about that since that was the purpose–to entertain people with a good story.

Also, the main character is an American woman, born here who happens to be Muslim. She’s forced to defend a terrorist who is also Muslim but is totally opposite from her version of Islam. The struggle to be a moderate Muslim in America forms the theme of the book–religious tolerance.

If you’re interested, check it out at the Borders stores around the Cities.

And thanks to all the wonderful readers who have not only purchased the book but have given me many nice words of support!! Thanks to you all.

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