The Bioterrorism situation in Uganda
The laboratories of Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animals, Industry and Fisheries are located on top of a hill near an airport. There is a room which contains an unlocked fridge at the end of a hallway. The fridge contains one of the deadliest viruses: anthrax. That is a reason for concern, and Senator Richard G. Lugar, a Republican went into the area in order to analyze the situation, and to see if there are reasons for concern.
He and his team have also visited the Uganda Virus Research Institute, the place where the Ebola and Marburg viruses are located. They are better protected than the anthrax virus, in the sense that they are located in a fridge inside of a room that has a “restricted access” sign on the door. As you have probably deducted, the protection is not too great, as anyone could enter in the room and take the samples of the viruses, and then to use them for whatever reasons. The laboratories are located in the town of Entebbe, which is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. The laboratories are a huge reason for concern, as the governments are afraid that they will be raided by the terrorists which will have no trouble collecting the viruses.
Andrew C. Weber, assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear and chemical and biological defense programs, stated that the security of such laboratories from East Africa needs to be improved at all costs. He believes that the situation is very tense, and that the changes should be made as soon as possible, otherwise they might suffer the consequences. He believes that it is very important to prevent the terrorists from gaining access to those pathogens, as they might use them in order to create biological weapons. Uganda has been hit by terrorist acts in the past, the most recent, and the most damaging one being in July, during the final of the World Cup when numerous people gathered in a single place to watch the game. The attack was claimed by Shabab, which is a very powerful Islamist insurgent group. Because of this attack, the Americans have decided to make the security in East Africa much better, as they fear that their country might be attacked with the material collected from the East African laboratories.
In 2004, the Nunn-Lugar program which has the task of dismantling the warheads in former Soviet states has been approved by the US congress. Now the congress has engaged in taking care of this issue, and Mr. Lugar will visit Burundi and then Kenya after his visit in Uganda will be finished. Uganda has been an ally of the United States of America from a military point of view for a very long time now. The American Congress believes that this is a reason for concern, as the terrorists might perform attacks in that country first. It has been also stated that given the climate conditions from the countries, the viruses and the pathogens can develop with much ease in that country. Hundreds of hippopotamuses have died in the country because of Anthrax. A Dutch man died in the country after he contacted the Marburg diseases in 2008. He visited a cave, and it seems that he got infected.
More than 20 people died in 2007 because they got infected with Ebola. The point is that the diseases occur with ease, even when they are not made in the laboratories. It is much easier for them to spread in such countries where the temperatures are high and the level of humidity is high as well, then it is in countries with lower temperatures. These are problems of the country, but the Americans are afraid that the problems might get bigger if the situation of the security is not improved. They have stated that they can not stop the development of the diseases on a natural basis, but that it is their responsibility to prevent the terrorists from taking advantage of the poor security. The officials from the country have stated that the attempts made by the government to create new federal districts, which might decentralize the country, have made the bureaucracy much worse. For example they have stated that the biological samples sent to the various laboratories from the country might get there in weeks, or that they might never get there at all. That is a huge problem because the samples might be stolen, or even if they are simply lost, the lack of official papers make it very difficult to be traced.
Dr. Nicholas Kauta, a commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that they have no idea what is happening around them, because the cases are never reported. The situation of the laboratories from the Ministry of Agriculture is very bad, as the windows are broken, and the fence which surrounds the compound is ripped. This means that anyone could easily get inside the laboratories and collect whatever they like from it. 6 technical staff members are working at the Ministry of Agriculture, and in the past more than 200 used to be employed there. They do not have the necessary equipment for conducting their experiments, and one of the doctors stated that he uses his cellphone camera in order to look at the bacteria. He places the camera on top of the microscope, he zooms-in, and then he take a picture which he analyzes on his cellphone. Mr. Lugar said that the country is need and that the United States of America will do whatever it can in order to help them.
The situation is a little bit different at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, which is run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is an American agency. The equipment from that location is much updated, but the situation with the security remains the same. The Ebola virus is kept together with the less aggressive viruses such as the influenza, in a room which is not protected.
