Ebola already went airborne… back in 1989
by: Jonathan Benson
NaturalNews.com
Sunday, September 21, 2014
There is a growing fear that Ebola will soon mutate and start spreading through the air, potentially infecting and killing millions of people. But there’s solid evidence that the viral disease already went airborne as far back as 1989, when dozens of monkeys contracted Ebola through a ventilation system at a Virginia hospital.
The monkeys were shipped in from the Philippines and delivered to the Hazelton Research Products’ Primate Quarantine Unit in Reston, Virginia, for quarantine. Prior to being released, all monkeys imported into the U.S. must first be proven to be free of disease, a process that usually takes about 30 days while under quarantine.
Rather quickly, the imported monkeys, known as crab-eating macaques, began to fall ill and die. In just one month, nearly one-third of them died, sparking an investigation into the cause. Veterinarians at the facility began to dissect the dead monkeys, observing that many of them had grossly enlarged spleens that had turned hard, while others had blood in their intestines.
Dan Dalgard, one of the vets at the time, came to the conclusion that the monkeys had died of simian hemorrhagic fever virus, or SHFV. Hazelton sent samples of this infected monkey tissue to federal authorities, who also confirmed SHFV. In the meantime, workers at Hazelton began to euthanize the remaining monkeys, which had all been exposed to the virus.
While this was occurring, another researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease (USAMRIID), where the tissue samples were sent, conducted separate tests which confirmed the presence of Ebola, in addition to SHFV. Using a more advanced testing protocol, it was confirmed without a doubt that the infected monkeys had Ebola-Zaire, the most dangerous of the five known Ebola strains.
Meanwhile, back at Hazelton, staff were busy trying to rid the facility of the infected monkeys. But it was already too late — monkeys in other cages far from the ones where the crab-eating macaques from the Philippines were located began to show signs of the disease. Many of them ended up dying, with the ventilation system being blamed as the source of spread.
“Due to the spread of infection to animals in all parts of the quarantine facility, it is likely that Ebola Reston may have been spread by airborne transmission,” wrote Lisa A. Beltz in her book Emerging Infectious Diseases.
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