Sverdlovsk anthrax leak

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Spores of anthrax were accidentally released from a military facility in the city of Sverdlovsk (formerly, and now again, Yekaterinburg) 900 miles east of Moscow on April 2, 1979. The ensuing outbreak of the disease resulted in 94 people becoming infected, 64 of whom died over a period of six weeks. There was an estimated 67% fatality rate, which tripled the USSR's yearly average morbidity from anthrax. The cause of the outbreak had for years been denied by the Soviet Union, which blamed the deaths on intestinal exposure due to the consumption of tainted meat from the area, and subcutaneous exposure due to butchers handling the tainted meat. All medical records of the victims had been removed in order to obscure the symptoms consistent with respiratory exposure, to avoid revelations of serious violations of the Biological Weapons Convention, and to hide embarrassing inadequacies in the Soviet health care system.

1 Investigation
2 Popular culture reference
3 Citations
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] Investigation

In the 1980s, there was vigorous international debate and speculation as to whether the outbreak was natural or an accidental exposure. If accidental, there was discussion of whether it represented violation of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. A number of small investigations launched by Russian scientists in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Soviet Union re-opened the case in a number of newspaper articles.

A team of Western inspectors lead by Professor Matthew Meselson of Harvard finally gained access to the region in 1992, and determined that all of the victims had been living directly downwind at the time of the release of the spores via aerosol. Livestock in the area were also affected. It was revealed around this time that the accident was caused by the non-replacement of a filter on an exhaust at the facility, and though the problem was quickly rectified it was too late to prevent a release. Had the winds been blowing in the direction of the city at that time, it could have resulted in the pathogen being spread to hundreds of thousands of people. The military facility remains closed to inspection. Professor Meselson's original contention for many years had been that the outbreak was a natural one and that the Soviet authorities were not lying when they disclaimed having an active offensive bio-warfare program, but the information uncovered in the investigation left no room for doubt. ^[1] Meselson's wife, Jeanne Guillemin (who had participated in the investigation), detailed the events in a 1999 book. ^[2]

[edit] Popular culture reference

Robin Cook used the Sverdlovsk anthrax leak as a plot device in his novel Vector. In the novel, a Russian immigrant named Yuri Davydov works with a neo-Nazi group to plan an anthrax attack on New York City. Yuri learned to develop anthrax while he was working at the Biopreparat facility in Sverdlovsk. He was there when the leak happened and his mother was one of the victims.

[edit] Citations

^ Meselson, M.J., J. Guillemin, M. Hugh-Jones, et al (1994), "The Sverdlovsk Anthrax Outbreak of 1979" (pdf), Science, 266, no. 5188:1202-8.
^ Guillemin, Jeanne (1999). Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak, Berkeley, University of California Press.