Official: Rogue state could weaponize Ebola
By Elise Viebeck
TheHill.com
09/16/14
A rogue state could turn Ebola into a weapon of mass destruction, a federal health official acknowledged Tuesday.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it would take a “state-type” actor to successfully weaponize the disease, noting that the Soviet Union stockpiled similar hemorrhagic fevers during the Cold War.
“Theoretically, you can manipulate almost any virus to change it in any way you want,” said Fauci, whose agency is part of the National Institutes of Health.
“The only trouble is, it wouldn’t be easy for somebody to do that in their backyard laboratory. They would probably kill themselves doing it. It would take a state-type [actor].”
The Senate hearing comes as policymakers consider ways to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a terrorist army that is gaining ground in the region.
The group, known as ISIS, was not mentioned at Tuesday’s hearing.
Health officials sought to tamp down fears of an Ebola outbreak in the United States, saying the American medical system is well-equipped to handle hemorrhagic viruses.
But Fauci cautioned that Ebola will continue to mutate in ways that might prove dangerous unless the virus is contained.
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