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Arab Bank Plc, the biggest lender in Jordan, helped Hamas militants
carry out a wave of violence in Israel that killed and wounded hundreds
of Americans, a New York jury decided in the first trial of its kind in
the U.S.
The Amman-based lender was found liable for doing
business with more than 150 Hamas leaders and operatives in the early
2000s, helping finance about two dozen deadly suicide bombings,
including attacks on crowded restaurants and buses in Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem, jurors decided yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
“The
verdict is an incredible message that should be understood and heard by
the entire financial community -- if you do business with terrorists,
you can be held liable in the United States,” Michael Elsner, one of the
plaintiffs lawyers, said in a phone interview.
The case
highlights the ways banks can play a role in funding terrorist groups
and the extent to which they can be held responsible for monitoring
their customers, even those who aren’t on government lists of
terrorists. Credit Lyonnais SA and Bank of China Ltd. are facing similar cases in the U.S., alleging they served as conduits for terrorism financing.
David Miller, a former Manhattan
prosecutor who worked on terrorism cases for the U.S. Justice
Department and isn’t involved in the Arab Bank case, said the verdict
may result in follow-up lawsuits.
Photographer: Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images
A Palestinian militant from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, attends... Read More
The
outcome sends “a powerful message to financial institutions of their
continuing obligation to know their customers,” said Miller, now a
lawyer at Bingham McCutchen LLP in New York.
300 Victims
The
plaintiffs, about 300 victims of the attacks or their relatives, are
seeking unspecified money damages from Arab Bank that will be decided at
a separate proceeding. The trial was the first against a bank on civil
claims of violating the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act, making the verdict a
potential industry landmark.
“There’s a huge sense of relief -- it is an amazing verdict,” said Joshua Faudem, a 39-year-old Detroit
native who was injured in a suicide attack on Mike’s Place bar in Tel
Aviv on April 30, 2003. “This is a huge wake-up call, not just for
banks, but for all big businesses, to wash their hands of these kinds of
clients.”
The verdict was handed down the same day a federal
appeals court in Manhattan revived a similar suit filed by about 200
Hamas victims against National Westminster Bank, accused of maintaining
accounts and transferring money for an alleged Hamas fundraiser, the
Palestine Relief & Development Fund.
The court reversed a
lower-court dismissal of the suit, filed in Manhattan federal court,
ruling that it had used the wrong standard to determine whether NatWest,
a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, knew it was supporting a terrorist organization.
Not Over
“Obviously
this case is a long way from over,” U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan,
who oversaw the Arab Bank case, said to lawyers after the verdict was
delivered yesterday. “We have not finished our work by a long shot.”
The
victims linked Arab Bank to 24 terror attacks, including a suicide
attack on Holocaust survivors celebrating Passover at the Park Hotel in
Netanya, Israel, in 2002, which killed about 30 people and wounded more than 100.
A
jury of eight women and three men deliberated fewer than two days
before reaching the decision that the bank was liable on all 24 counts
linked to the separate attacks.
Arab Bank will appeal the
verdict because the judge’s instructions were “erroneous” and mistakes
were made in determining which evidence would be allowed, Shand
Stephens, a lawyer for the bank, said after the verdict.
Will Appeal
“The
plaintiffs evidence in this case is a mile wide and an inch deep,”
Stephens told reporters outside the courtroom. “The Second Circuit is
going to reverse this,” he said referring to the appeals court in New
York.
The events at the center of the trial took place during
the Second Intifada, a five-year Palestinian uprising in Israel that
began in 2000 and resulted in thousands of deaths, including hundreds of
civilians on both sides of the conflict. Non-U.S. victims were barred
from joining the case.
Lawyers for Arab Bank told jurors during
closing arguments on Sept. 18 that the lender followed international
banking rules and that most of the accused customers weren’t designated
as terrorists by the U.S., the United Nations or the European Union. The
only customer who was a designated terrorist, Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin, slipped through the bank’s systems due to a spelling error, the
lender argued.
Bank Paymaster
Victims also targeted
the bank’s business relationship with The Saudi Committee for the
Support of Intifada Al Quds, which was formed to pay the costs of the
uprising. The organization used the Arab Bank as a “paymaster” to pass
on stipends of more than $5,000 to families of suicide bombers and other
terrorists, according to the plaintiffs.
Shukry Bishara, the
Palestinian finance minister and a former executive at Arab Bank,
testified on Sept. 11 that the lender made payments in the Palestinian
territories to provide humanitarian relief, not compensate families of
suicide bombers.
Witnesses for the plaintiffs testified that
Hamas was probably behind all the attacks at issue in the case, which
included deadly 2001 bombings at a beach-front discotheque in Tel Aviv
and a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem,
as well as the 2003 bombing of a bus carrying families returning from
prayers at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall.
Others Responsible
Other
militant groups in the region claimed responsibility for some of the
attacks and may have been responsible, lawyers for the bank said in
questioning the witnesses. Hamas was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. in 1997.
Arieh
Spitzen, the former head of the Israeli military’s Department of
Palestinian Affairs, told jurors in August that the bank transferred
about $4 million from 2000 to 2001 to as many as two dozen Hamas leaders
and operatives through its New York branch.
Spitzen said he was
only able to review limited account information because the bank
refused to hand over much of the data. The bank has argued it couldn’t
supply more comprehensive information without violating criminal laws of
Jordan,
Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. A federal judge ruled jurors
could be told to infer from the bank’s failure to provide the
information that it did business with terrorists, giving the plaintiffs a
potential edge.
Supreme Court
Arab Bank fought all
the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to resist sanctions over its refusal
to provide the account records to victims. In June, the high court
rejected the bank’s appeal.
Arab Bank Chairman Sabih Al Masri,
testifying for the company, said the attacks “destroyed opportunities
for peace” and denied ever hearing that the bank supported terrorism. Al
Masri, who took over management of Arab Bank in 2012 after former
Chairman Abdul Hamid Shoman resigned, told jurors his brother was killed
by a terrorist and his own life had been threatened because a company
he owns supplied food to U.S. troops in the Middle East.
The
bank said a verdict for the plaintiffs would “undermine” the compliance
systems used by financial institutions throughout the world and would
“create vast uncertainty and risk.”
Founded in Jerusalem in 1930, Arab Bank grew to a network of 600 branches in 30 countries, according to its website.
Committed to rebuilding the Palestinian economy, it “emerged as the
main vehicle for the payments by the international donor community,”
Bishara said in a court filing.
The bank opened a branch in New York in 1982, according to Bishara. In 2005, it agreed,
without admitting wrongdoing, to pay a $24 million penalty to U.S.
regulators over alleged failure to enact sufficient controls and
adequately manage risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Inactive Branch
The
branch is no longer considered active, according to the U.S. Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation website. The bank said in a financial
report that it converted the branch to a different form of office with
limited operations.
The penalty was a “great disappointment to
Arab Bank,” Bishara said in a 2005 statement. He said the bank agreed to
pay the penalty “in order to put this matter behind us.”
The case is Linde v. Arab Bank Plc, 04-cv-02799, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net; Christie Smythe in Brooklyn at csmythe1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net; Andrew Dunn at adunn8@bloomberg.net Peter Blumberg
NOTE: READ THE HILLARY CLINTON-SAUL ALINSKY LETTERS HERE.
Previously unpublished correspondence between Hillary Clinton and the
late left-wing organizer Saul Alinsky reveals new details about her
relationship with the controversial Chicago activist and shed light on
her early ideological development.
Clinton met with Alinsky several times in 1968 while writing a
Wellesley college thesis about his theory of community organizing.
Clinton’s relationship with Alinsky, and her support for his
philosophy, continued for several years after she entered Yale law
school in 1969, two letters obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.
The letters obtained by the Free Beacon are part of the archives for
the Industrial Areas Foundation, a training center for community
organizers founded by Alinsky, which are housed at the University of
Texas at Austin.
The letters also suggest that Alinsky, who died in 1972, had a deeper
influence on Clinton’s early political views than previously known.
A 23-year-old Hillary Clinton was living in Berkeley, California, in
the summer of 1971. She was interning at the left-wing law firm
Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein, known for its radical politics and a
client roster that included Black Panthers and other militants.
On July 8, 1971, Clinton reached out to Alinsky, then 62, in a letter
sent via airmail, paid for with stamps featuring Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, and marked “Personal.”
“Dear Saul,” she began. “When is that new book [Rules for Radicals] coming out—or has it come and I somehow missed the fulfillment of Revelation?”
“I have just had my one-thousandth conversation about Reveille [for Radicals]
and need some new material to throw at people,” she added, a reference
to Alinsky’s 1946 book on his theories of community organizing.
Clinton devoted just one paragraph in her memoir Living History
to Alinsky, writing that she rejected a job offer from him in 1969 in
favor of going to law school. She wrote that she wanted to follow a more
conventional path.
However, in the 1971 letter, Clinton assured Alinsky that she had
“survived law school, slightly bruised, with my belief in and zest for
organizing intact.”
“The more I’ve seen of places like Yale Law School and the people who
haunt them, the more convinced I am that we have the serious business
and joy of much work ahead—if the commitment to a free and open society
is ever going to mean more than eloquence and frustration,” wrote
Clinton.
According to the letter, Clinton and Alinsky had kept in touch since
she entered Yale. The 62-year-old radical had reached out to give her
advice on campus activism.
“If I never thanked you for the encouraging words of last spring in
the midst of the Yale-Cambodia madness, I do so now,” wrote Clinton, who
had moderated a campus election to join an anti-war student strike.
She added that she missed their regular conversations, and asked if
Alinsky would be able to meet her the next time he was in California.
“I am living in Berkeley and working in Oakland for the summer and
would love to see you,” Clinton wrote. “Let me know if there is any
chance of our getting together.”
Clinton’s letter reached Alinsky’s office while he was on an extended
trip to Southeast Asia, where he was helping train community organizers
in the Philippines.
But a response letter from Alinsky’s secretary suggests that the radical organizer had a deep fondness for Clinton as well.
“Since I know [Alinsky’s] feelings about you I took the liberty of
opening your letter because I didn’t want something urgent to wait for
two weeks,” Alinsky’s long-time secretary, Georgia Harper, wrote to
Clinton in a July 13, 1971 letter. “And I’m glad I did.”
Harper told Clinton that Alinksy’s book Rules for Radicals had been released. She enclosed several reviews of the book.
“Mr. Alinsky will be in San Francisco, staying at the Hilton Inn at
the airport on Monday and Tuesday, July 26 and 27,” Harper added. “I
know he would like to have you call him so that if there is a chance in
his schedule maybe you can get together.”
It is unclear whether the meeting occurred.
A self-proclaimed radical, Alinsky advocated guerilla tactics and
civil disobedience to correct what he saw as an institutionalized power
gap in poor communities. His philosophy divided the world into
“haves”—middle class and wealthy people —and “have nots”—the poor. He
took an ends-justify-the-means approach to power and wealth
redistribution, and developed the theoretical basis of “community
organizing.”
“The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power,” wrote Alinsky in his 1971 book. “Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”
Clinton’s connection to Alinsky has been the subject of speculation
for decades. It became controversial when Wellsley College, by request
of the Clinton White House, sealed her 1968 thesis from the public for
years. Conservative lawyer Barbara Olson said Clinton
had asked for the thesis to be sealed because it showed “the extent to
which she internalized and assimilated the beliefs and methods of Saul
Alinsky.” Clinton opponent turned Clinton defender David Brock referred
to her as “Alinsky’s daughter” in 1996′s The Seduction of Hillary Rodham.
The paper was opened to the public in 2001. While the thesis is
largely sympathetic to Alinsky, it is also critical of some of his
tactics.
Clinton described the organizer as “a man of exceptional charm,” but
also objected to some of the conflicts he provoked as “unrealistic,”
noting that his model could be difficult for others to replicate.
“Many of the Alinsky-inspired poverty warriors could not (discounting
political reasons) move beyond the cathartic first step of organizing
groups ‘to oppose, complain, demonstrate, and boycott’ to developing and
running a program,” she wrote.
The letters obtained by the Free Beacon suggest that Clinton experimented more with radical politics during her law school years than she has publicly acknowledged.
In Living History, she describes her views during that time as far more pragmatic than leftwing.
She “agreed with some of Alinsky’s ideas,” Clinton wrote in her first
memoir, but the two had a “fundamental disagreement” over his
anti-establishment tactics.
She described how this disagreement led to her parting ways with Alinsky in the summer before law school in 1969.
“He offered me the chance to work with him when I graduated from
college, and he was disappointed that I decided instead to go to law
school,” she wrote.
“Alinsky said I would be wasting my time, but my decision was an
expression of my belief that the system could be changed from within.”
A request for comment from the Clinton team was not returned.
The letters between Clinton and Alinsky can be read here:
Interim Guidance about Ebola Infection for Airline Crews, Cleaning Personnel, and Cargo Personnel
Updated September 19, 2014
Purpose:
To give information to airlines on stopping ill travelers from
boarding, managing and reporting onboard sick travelers, protecting crew
and passengers from infection, and cleaning the plane and disinfecting
contaminated areas.
Key Points
A U.S. Department of
Transportation rule permits airlines to deny boarding to air travelers
with serious contagious diseases that could spread during flight,
including travelers with possible Ebola symptoms. This rule applies to
all flights of U.S. airlines, and to direct flights (no change of
planes) to or from the United States by foreign airlines.
Cabin crew should follow routine infection control precautions
for onboard sick travelers. If in-flight cleaning is needed, cabin crew
should follow routine airline procedures using personal protective
equipment available in the Universal Precautions Kit. If a traveler is
confirmed to have had infectious Ebola on a flight, CDC will conduct an
investigation to assess risk and inform passengers and crew of possible
exposure.
Hand hygiene and other routine infection control measures should be followed.
Treat all body fluids as though they are infectious.
A
U.S. Department of Transportation rule permits airlines to deny
boarding to air travelers with serious contagious diseases that could
spread during flight, including travelers with possible Ebola symptoms.
This rule applies to all flights of U.S. airlines, and to direct flights
(no change of planes) to or from the United States by foreign airlines.
(See Department of Transportation Title14 Code ofFederal Regulations, Part 382.)
General infection control precautions
Personnel should always follow basic infection control precautions to protect against any type of infectious disease.
Managing ill people on aircraft if Ebola is suspected
It
is important to assess the risk of Ebola by getting more information.
Ask sick travelers whether they were in a country with an Ebola
outbreak. Look for or ask about Ebola symptoms: fever (gives a history
of feeling feverish or having chills), severe headache, muscle pain,
vomiting, diarrhea (several trips to the lavatory), stomach pain, or
unexplained bleeding or bruising.
The risk of spreading Ebola to
passengers or crew on an aircraft is low because Ebola spreads by direct
contact with infected body fluids. Ebola does NOT spread through the air like flu.
Even
if the person has been in a country with Ebola, cabin crew won’t know
for certain what type of illness a sick traveler has. Therefore, cabin
crew should follow routine infection control precautions
for all travelers who become sick during flight, including managing
travelers with respiratory illness to reduce the number of droplets
released into the air. If in-flight cleaning is needed, cabin crew
should follow routine airline procedures using personal protective
equipment available in the Universal Precautions Kit.
See CDC’s Infection Control Guidelines
for Cabin Crew Members on Commercial Aircraft for more information on
practical measures cabin crew members can take to protect themselves,
passengers, and others.
Follow these routine precautions
Keep the sick person separated from others as much as possible.
When
providing direct care to a sick traveler who came from a country with
an Ebola outbreak, also wear surgical mask (to protect from splashes or
sprays), face shield or goggles, and protective apron or gown (see
below: Universal Precaution Kit).
Do NOT give a surgical mask
for someone who is nauseated or vomiting. Wearing a mask could harm a
traveler who is vomiting. Give an air sickness bag if traveler is
vomiting or reports feeling nauseated.
Give a plastic bag for disposing used tissues or soiled air sickness bag.
Give
a surgical mask if a sick traveler is coughing or sneezing, if the sick
person can tolerate wearing one. If a mask cannot be tolerated, provide
tissues and ask the person to cover mouth and nose when coughing or
sneezing.
Notify cleaning crew: Cabin crew
should notify the airline's ground and cleaning crews about any ill
traveler on board an aircraft so that preparations can be made to clean
the aircraft after passengers have disembarked. Universal Precaution Kits: Airplanes traveling to countries affected with Ebola should carry Universal Precaution Kits, as recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), for managing ill travelers.
Reporting ill travelers
The pilot of an international flight bound for the United States is required by law to report
any onboard deaths or ill travelers who have certain symptoms to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before arrival. This is
consistent with mandatory reporting standards of ICAO (ICAO document
4444 and Annex 9, Ch. 8, of the Chicago Convention).
CDC staff can
be consulted to assist in evaluating an ill traveler, provide
recommendations, and answer questions about reporting requirements.
Reporting to CDC does not replace usual company procedures for in-flight
medical consultation or getting medical assistance.
When necessary, CDC routinely conducts contact investigations
to alert passengers and crew of their exposure to ill travelers with
certain diseases who were possibly contagious on their flight.
What to do if you think you have been exposed
If
a traveler is confirmed to have had infectious Ebola on a flight, CDC
will conduct an investigation to assess risk and inform passengers and
crew of possible exposure. Any airline crew, cleaning, or cargo
personnel who think they were exposed to Ebola either through travel,
assisting an ill traveler, handling a contaminated object, or cleaning a
contaminated aircraft should take the following precautions:
Notify your employer immediately.
Monitor
your health for 21 days. Watch for symptoms of Ebola: fever
(temperature of 101.5°F/38.6°C or higher), severe headaches, muscle
pain, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, unexplained bleeding or
bruising.
When to see a health care provider
If you develop symptoms after possible exposure to Ebola, get medical attention right away.
Before
visiting a health care provider, alert the clinic or emergency room in
advance about your possible exposure to Ebola so that arrangements can
be made to prevent transmission to health care staff or other patients.
When
traveling to get medical care, limit your contact with other people.
This includes avoiding public transportation. Avoid all other travel
until you have been medically evaluated.
If you are
not in the United States, contact your employer for help with locating a
health care provider. The U.S. embassy or consulate in the country
where you are located can also provide names and addresses of local physicians.
Guidance for airline cleaning personnel
Ebola spreads through direct contact
by touching the blood or other body fluids (like feces, saliva, urine,
vomit, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola. Infected blood or
other body fluids can spread Ebola through breaks in your skin or if
they get into your eyes, nose, or mouth.
Treat any body fluid as though it is infectious. Hand hygiene is the most important infection control measure.
When
cleaning aircraft and any contaminated areas after a flight with a sick
traveler who may have Ebola, CDC recommends that personnel: Use disposable protective equipment
while cleaning the passenger cabin and lavatories. If working with
reusable equipment, properly clean and disinfect it after use.
Waterproof gloves
Change gloves if they become dirty or damaged during cleaning.
Consider double-gloving if cleaning large amounts of blood or other body fluids.
Throw away used gloves according to your company's recommended infection control precautions.
Clean
hands with soap and water immediately after gloves are removed or when
changing gloves. (When soap is not available, use waterless
alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.) Use only soap
and water if hands are visibly dirty.
Surgical mask
Eye protection: goggles or face shield
Long-sleeved, waterproof gown
Closed-toe shoes and shoe covers. If increased risk of splashing or area appears highly contaminated with body fluids, wear rubber boots or shoe covers. Wear gloves to carefully remove shoe covers to avoid contamination of hands.
Safe removal and hygiene
Carefully remove protective equipment to avoid contaminating yourself or your clothes.
After removing protective equipment, clean your hands. Use only soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
Clean affected areas
Use
an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered
cleaner/disinfectant that has been tested and approved for use by the
airplane manufacturers.
Lavatory surfaces: door handle, lock, faucet, sink, walls, counter, and toilet seat.
Sick
traveler’s seat and the seats around it, seat backs, armrests, tray
tables, video monitor, light and air controls, and adjacent walls and
windows
If a seat cover or carpet is obviously dirty from blood
or body fluids, it should be removed and discarded by the methods used
for biohazardous material.
If surfaces are
contaminated with large amounts of body fluids (such as blood, vomit,
feces), clean off the material before applying disinfectant.
Special considerations
Special cleaning of upholstery, carpets, or storage compartments is not indicated unless they are obviously dirty from blood or other body fluids.
Special vacuuming equipment or procedures are not necessary.
Do NOT use compressed air, pressurized water or similar procedures, which might create droplets of infectious materials.
Guidance for air cargo personnel
Packages
or luggage should not pose a risk. Ebola virus is spread through direct
contact with blood or body fluids (like feces, saliva, urine, vomit,
and semen) from an infected person.
Don’t handle packages visibly dirty from blood or body fluids.
International Civil Aviation Association
(ICAO): Annex 6–Operation of Aircraft. Part I—International Commercial
Air Transport–Aeroplanes; Annex 9 – Facilitation; Procedures for Air
Navigation Services – Air Traffic Management (PANS-ATM)(ICAO Document
4444)
Scientists Successfully Implant Chip That Controls The Brain
Scientists working at the
University of Southern California, home of the Department of Homeland
Security’s National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism
Events, have created an artificial memory system that allows thoughts,
memories and learned behavior to be transferred from one brain to
another.
In a scene right out of a George Orwell novel, a team of scientists
working in the fields of “neural engineering” and “Biomimetic
MicroElectronic Systems” have successfully created a chip that controls
the brain and can be used as a storage device for long-term memories. In
studies the scientists have been able to record, download and transfer
memories into other hosts with the same chip implanted. The advancement
in technology brings the world one step closer to a global police state
and the reality of absolute mind control.
More terrifying is the potential for implementation of what was only a
science fiction fantasy – the “Thought Police” – where the government
reads people’s memories and thoughts and can then rehabilitate them
through torture before they ever even commit a crime based on a
statistical computer analysis showing people with certain types of
thoughts are likely to commit a certain type of crime in the future.
We already pre-emptively invade nations
and torture alleged terrorist suspects with absolutely no due process of
law, so the idea of pre-emptively torturing a terrorist suspect
beforehand to prevent them from committing an act of terrorism in the
future really isn’t that far fetched of an idea.Perhaps a less
sensational example than those I just depicted from Orwell’s famous
dystopian novels would be using the technology as it is depicted the
modern dayMatrix movies, in which computer programs are
uploaded into people’s brains allowing them to instantly learn how to
perform a wide variety of tasks.That is exactly the example that Smart Planet uses in their write-up on the USC press release.
The Matrix reality: Scientists successfully implant artificial memory system
It seems the sci-fi industry has done it again. Predictions made in novels like Johnny Mnemonic and Neuromancer back in the 1980s of neural implants linking our brains to machines have become a reality.
Back then it seemed unthinkable that we’d ever have
megabytes stashed in our brain as Keanu Reeves’ character Johnny
Mnemonic did in the movie based on William Gibson’s novel. Or that The Matrix character Neo could have martial arts abilities uploaded to his brain, making famous the line, “I know Kung Fu.” (Why Keanu Reeves became the poster boy of sci-fi movies, I’ll never know.) But today we have macaque monkeys that can control a robotic arm with thoughts alone.
We have paraplegics given the ability to control computer cursors and
wheelchairs with their brain waves. Of course this is about the brain
controlling a device. But what about the other direction where we might
have a device amplifying the brain? While the cochlear implant might
be the best known device of this sort, scientists have been working on
brain implants with the goal to enhance memory. This sort of
breakthrough could lead to building a neural prosthesis to help stroke
victims or those with Alzheimer’s. Or at the extreme, think uploading
Kung Fu talent into our brains.
Decade-long work led by Theodore Berger at University of Southern California, in collaboration with teams from Wake Forest University, has provided a big step in the direction of artificial working memory. Their study is finally published today in theJournal of Neural Engineering.
A microchip implanted into a rat’s brain can take on the role of the
hippocampus—the area responsible for long-term memories—encoding memory
brain wave patterns and then sending that same electrical pattern of
signals through the brain. Back in 2008, Berger told Scientific American, that if the brain patterns for the sentence, “See Spot Run,”
or even an entire book could be deciphered, then we might make
uploading instructions to the brain a reality. “The kinds of examples
[the U.S. Department of Defense] likes to typically use are coded
information for flying an F-15,” Berger is quoted in the article as
saying.
[...]
In this current study the scientists had rats learn a task, pressing one
of two levers to receive a sip of water. Scientists inserted a
microchip into the rat’s brain, with wires threaded into their
hippocampus. Here the chip recorded electrical patterns from two
specific areas labeled CA1 and CA3 that work together to learn and store
the new information of which lever to press to get water. Scientists
then shut down CA1 with a drug. And built an artificial hippocampal part
that could duplicate such electrical patterns between CA1 and CA3, and
inserted it into the rat’s brain. With this artificial part, rats whose
CA1 had been pharmacologically blocked, could still encode long-term
memories. And in those rats who had normally functioning CA1, the new
implant extended the length of time a memory could be held.
[...] Source: Smart Planet
The Smart Planet article goes on to point out that the next phase in testing will be done on and is tested on humans.From the USC press release:
USC: Restoring Memory, Repairing Damaged Brains
Biomedical engineers analyze—and duplicate—the neural mechanism of learning in rats
LOS ANGELES, June 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
The Canadian Government has decided to revoke the passports
of any citizen who leaves the country to work with ISIS and fight in
the Middle East. It remains unclear how exactly the government
determines who is working with ISIS and at what point a passport would
be revoked.
SITEISIS
has released a video showing a masked gunman standing before captured
Syrian troops digging their own graves. After speaking
in what sounded like North American — possibly Canadian —English, he
appeared to help execute the kneeling prisoners with a handgun.
The
government has begun invalidating the passports of Canadians who have
left to join extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, Citizenship and
Immigration Minister Chris Alexander revealed in an interview on Friday.
The minister told the National Post his department had also
revoked the passports of several Canadians who had not yet left the
country but who had intended to travel to the volatile region to enlist
as foreign fighters.
He would not disclose the number of passports Citizenship and
Immigration Canada had revoked over the conflict but said there were
“multiple cases.” The government says about 30 Canadians are with
extremist groups in Syria and 130 are active elsewhere.
“Yes, I think it’s safe to say that there are cases of revocation of
passports involving people who’ve gone to Syria and Iraq already,” Mr.
Alexander said. “I just don’t want to get into the numbers, but multiple
cases.”
The action means Canadian fighters in Syria and Iraq may effectively
be stranded there. Their passports are no longer valid and therefore
cannot be used to return to Canada. Nor could they be used to travel
elsewhere.
This week the Post revealed the identity of another Canadian
with the Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). Mohammed Ali, a
23-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., left Canada in April and later wrote
online about playing soccer with severed heads.
Other Canadians allegedly with ISIS and similar extremist groups in
the region include Hasibullah Yusifzai of Burnaby, B.C., and Calgary’s
Farah Shirdon, who this week threatened attacks on the United States,
before Twitter suspended his account.
Abu Turaab/TwitterMohammed Ali, 23, left Canada in April to fight with ISIS.
The participation of Canadians in ISIS has become a key focus of the
government in recent months, and while the RCMP and Canadian Security
Intelligence Service have the lead roles, Mr. Alexander’s department,
which includes Passport Canada, has also been actively involved.
The minister said the department was making use of existing
regulations that allow officials to revoke or deny a passport when there
is evidence a Canadian intends to use it to travel abroad to commit
crimes, in this case terrorism.
“When law enforcement and security agencies provide us with that
evidence, as they have done, we are able to act,” he said. So far that
has taken place “in multiple cases” against those attempting to join
extremists in Syria, he said.
“I can’t really get into how many, [or] how many are under
consideration right now. These are operational matters and security
matters and we don’t comment on them in detail, but this is a power that
exists and that is being used.”
Facebook John
"Yahya" Maguire, a Muslim convert and former University of Ottawa
student, is one of a number of Canadians believed to have left the
country to fight with ISIS in Syria.
The new citizenship law enacted in June also gave the government the
authority to revoke Canadian citizenship from dual nationals convicted
of terrorism. The power has not yet been put to use but the minister
said it sends a message that those who join groups like ISIS will pay a
heavy price: “You will cease being a Canadian because behaviour of this
kind is incompatible with the duties and responsibilities of
citizenship.”
This week, Australian police broke up what they said was a plot
directed by an Australian ISIS commander to behead a random citizen on
video and drape the terrorist group’s black flag over the body. The
arrests highlighted concerns that foreign fighters could spread
fanatical violence to their home countries, but Canada has fewer
extremists in groups like ISIS than Australia and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Alexander said Canada’s success at integrating newcomers was
partly responsible. “That tends to create a very high level of
allegiance and loyalty to Canada among the vast majority of immigrants,
and we should be proud of that,” he said.
“But the pull of this poisonous ideology from the Gulf, from some of
the centres of preaching, Pakistan and elsewhere, where it’s really
anchored, is strong. And it’s transmitted by the internet. So despite
our success on immigration and settlement, we can’t ignore this
challenge.”
National Post
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is
preparing a worst-case-scenario report on the West African Ebola
outbreak. The disease could spread to over half a million people if no
additional action is taken to contain it, early estimates predict.
As of Sunday, there were 5335 probable, confirmed and suspected
cases of Ebola across Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and
Senegal. Of those, 2622 people have died, the World Health
Organization (WHO)
announced Thursday.
The CDC’s report, which is scheduled to be released next week,
will estimate how many people the disease will infect by the end
of January, assuming no additional aid or intervention by
governments and relief agencies occurs.
“CDC is working on a dynamic modeling tool that allows for
recalculations of projected Ebola cases over time,” Barbara
Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an e-mail to
Bloomberg. “CDC expects to release this interactive tool
and a description of its use soon.”
The current projection of 550,000 cases is currently being
reviewed by researchers, and may change, two people familiar with
its contents, who asked to remain anonymous because it isn’t yet
public, told Bloomberg.
While the CDC’s estimate vastly outstrips previous projections,
it is perhaps overly pessimistic because countries around the
world are scrambling to take action to contain the highly
contagious disease.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan has said she will continue to
push governments to contribute to the effort. Chan is under
attack for her decision to delay designating the Ebola outbreak
as a global emergency until thousands were infected in three
countries. This week the WHO was eclipsed as the leader of the
humanitarian efforts to control the epidemic,
Bloomberg reported.
The WHO says it increased its internal risk assessment on Ebola
to the highest of four grades, or requiring a “substantial
international response,” on July 26, two weeks before
declaring a global health emergency. Chan had previously met with
the leader of Guinea ‒ where the outbreak began ‒ as well as
leaders of Liberia and Sierra Leone. She also mobilized WHO
experts and set up a sub-regional hub to coordinate the
organization’s response in Conakry, the capital of Guinea.
New
treatments and
potential vaccines are being tested in a trial-by-fire
in West Africa, with the WHO’s blessing. The experimental drugs
have often not gone through testing on animals, and were not
previously approved for human
trials.
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama announced the US will send
3,000
troops to West Africa in an attempt to get the situation
under control. The United
Kingdom previously said it will send military and
humanitarian experts to Sierra Leone to set up medical treatment
centers in areas affected by the Ebola outbreak. France,
meanwhile, is sending 20 specialists in biological disasters to
the region.
Even with all these actions, experts have no idea how devastation
the crisis will end up being. Last month, the WHO predicted the
outbreak could reach 20,000 cases before it is brought under
control. That projection is already outdated, WHO spokesman Dan
Epstein told Bloomberg.
“In the three weeks since then the numbers have doubled, so
all three countries are still reporting cases on a steep upward
curve,” Epstein said in a phone interview on Friday. “We
don’t have a good idea of how big this epidemic will
become.”
If the response is not increased, there may be as many as 5,000
new cases a week, he said.
And the larger the epidemic becomes, the higher the risk of it
reaching the United States.
"If the epidemic continues at this growth rate and produces
more and more cases, obviously the probably increases with
time," Alessandro Vespignani told the
Washington Post. Vespignani is a Northeastern University
professor who is modeling the likelihood of Ebola spreading to
the United States. "That means that in October, it would be
20 percent or more, and then it will grow. The probability is
increasing."
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
increased its warnings on Ebola to airlines, detailing how to handle
passengers who get sick on board the aircraft. The guidance includes
cleaning and reporting procedures.
In the
new guidance, the CDC warns flight crew, “Treat all body
fluids as though they are infectious,” on top of routine
infection control measures, the agency wrote.
Airlines are permitted “to deny boarding to air travelers
with serious contagious diseases that could spread during flight,
including travelers with possible Ebola symptoms.” If a
passenger gets sick on board, cabin crew should follow routine
infection control precautions. If it is confirmed that the
traveler has “infectious Ebola” on the flight, “CDC
will conduct an investigation to assess risk and inform
passengers and crew of possible exposure.”
The CDC is attempting to get ahead of the deadly disease, which
causes hemorrhagic fever in its victims, before it can arrive in
the United States via an infected airline passenger.
The fear of the outbreak spreading beyond the current West
African locations (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and
Senegal) ‒ or even the continent ‒ intensified in July, when a
Liberian man, sick with Ebola, was able
to board an international flight to Nigeria. None of the
passengers on that aircraft appeared to have contracted the
disease in the weeks after the incident.
The guidance tells flight crews to assess the risk of Ebola by
getting more information. “Ask sick travelers whether they
were in a country with an Ebola outbreak. Look for or ask about
Ebola symptoms: fever (gives a history of feeling feverish or
having chills), severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea
(several trips to the lavatory), stomach pain, or unexplained
bleeding or bruising.”
Ebola spreads by direct contact with infected bodily fluids, so
the CDC noted that the risk to passengers and crew aboard an
aircraft is low. “Ebola does NOT spread through the air like
flu,” the agency stressed.
Even still, the guidance calls for the sick passenger to be
separated from others as much as possible. When dealing with the
passenger, flight attendants and other crew members should wear
surgical masks, face shields or goggles and protective aprons or
gowns. It also says that sick passengers should be given surgical
masks if they are coughing or sneezing, as long as they can
tolerate wearing one. If they cannot, flight crews should
“provide tissues and ask the person to cover mouth and nose
when coughing or sneezing.”
Dr. Jorge Rodriquez, a board certified internal medicine
professional, told
The Blaze’s Mike Opelka during a Saturday radio interview
that more precautions are needed to combat Ebola transmission on
commuter flights. He believes every traveler entering the country
should be tested.
Airline captains are legally required to report any individuals
suspected of carrying the Ebola virus to the CDC before landing
in the United States.
“People who have been exposed to Ebola virus disease should
not travel on commercial airplanes until there is a period of
monitoring for symptoms of illness lasting 21 days after
exposure. Sick travelers should delay travel until cleared to
travel by a doctor or public health authority,” the agency
said in previous guidelines to airlines about the infectious
disease.
The CDC will be issuing a worst-case-scenario
report on the West African Ebola outbreak this week. Early
estimates predict the disease could spread to over half a million
people by January if no additional action is taken to contain it.
PATHOGEN SAFETY DATA SHEET - INFECTIOUS SUBSTANCES
SECTION I - INFECTIOUS AGENT
NAME: Ebolavirus SYNONYM OR CROSS REFERENCE: African
haemorrhagic fever, Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF, Ebola HF), filovirus,
EBO virus (EBOV), Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV), Sudan ebolavirus (SEBOV,
SUDV), Ivory Coast ebolavirus (ICEBOV), Tai Forest ebolavirus (TAFV),
Ebola-Reston (REBOV, EBO-R, Reston Virus, RESTV), Bundibugyo ebolavirus
(BEBOV, BDBV), and Ebola virus disease (EVD) Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 3Footnote 4. CHARACTERISTICS: Ebola was discovered in
1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family (previously part of
Rhabdoviridae family, which were later given a family of their own based
on their genetic structure). Five Ebola species have been identified:
Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV), which was first identified in 1976 and is the
most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (SEBOV); Tai Forest ebolavirus
(formerly Ivory Coast ebolavirus); Ebola-Reston (REBOV), originating
from the Philippines; and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BEBOV), the most recent
species discovered (2008) Footnote 1Footnote 3Footnote 5Footnote 6Footnote 7.
Ebola is an elongated filamentous virus, which can vary
between 800 - 1000 nm in length, and can reach up to 14000 nm long (due
to concatamerization) with a uniform diameter of 80 nm Footnote 2Footnote 5Footnote 8Footnote 9.
It contains a helical nucleocapsid (with a central axis), 20 - 30 nm in
diameter, and is enveloped by a helical capsid, 40 - 50 nm in diameter,
with 5 nm cross-striations Footnote 2Footnote 5Footnote 8Footnote 9Footnote 10.
The pleomorphic viral fragment may take on several distinct shapes
(e.g., in the shape of a "6", a "U", or a circle), and are contained
within a lipid membrane Footnote 2Footnote 5. Each virion contains a single-strand of non-segmented, negative-sense viral genomic RNA Footnote 5Footnote 11.
SECTION II - HAZARD IDENTIFICATION
PATHOGENICITY/TOXICITY: Ebola virions enter
host cells through endocytosis and replication occurs in the cytoplasm.
Upon infection, the virus affects the host blood coagulative and immune
defence system and leads to severe immunosuppression Footnote 10Footnote 12.
Early signs of infection are non-specific and flu-like, and may include
sudden onset of fever, asthenia, diarrhea, headache, myalgia,
arthralgia, vomiting, and abdominal pains Footnote 13.
Less common early symptoms include conjunctival injection, sore throat,
rashes, and bleeding. Shock, cerebral oedema, coagulation disorders,
and secondary bacterial infection may co-occur later in infection Footnote 8.
Haemorrhagic symptoms may begin 4 - 5 days after onset, including
hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, pharyngitis, bleeding gums, oral/lip
ulceration, hematemesis, melena, hematuria, epistaxis, and vaginal
bleeding Footnote 14.
Hepatocellular damage, marrow suppression (such as thrombocytopenia and
leucopenia), serum transaminase elevation, and proteinuria may also
occur. Persons that are terminally ill typically present with
obtundation, anuria, shock, tachypnea, normothermia to hypothermia,
arthralgia, and ocular diseases Footnote 15.
Haemorrhagic diathesis is often accompanied by hepatic damage and renal
failure, central nervous system involvement, and terminal shock with
multi-organ failure Footnote 1Footnote 2.
Contact with the virus may also result in symptoms such as severe acute
viral illness, malaise, and maculopapular rash. Pregnant women will
usually abort their foetuses and experience copious bleeding Footnote 2Footnote 16. Fatality rates range between 50 - 100%, with most dying of hypovolemic shock and multisystem organ failure Footnote 17.
Pathogenicity between species of Ebola does not differ
greatly in that they have all been associated with hemorrhagic fever
outbreaks in humans (excluding Reston) and non-human primates. The
Ebola-Zaire and Sudan strains are especially known for their virulence
with up to 90% fatality rate Footnote 18,
with reduced virulence noted in the Tai Forest ebolavirus and the more
recently discovered Bundibugyo strain, which caused a single outbreak in
Uganda Footnote 6Footnote 7.
Bundibugyo was the outbreak virus in Isiro, Democratic Republic of
Congo, in 2012. Ebola-Reston was isolated from cynomolgus monkeys from
the Philippines in 1989 and is less pathogenic in non-human primates.
Ebola-Reston virus appears to be non-pathogenic in humans, with reported
health effects limited to serological evidence of exposure as
identified in 4 animal handlers working with infected non-human primates
Footnote 19. EPIDEMIOLOGY: Occurs mainly in areas surrounding rain forests in equatorial Africa Footnote 10 with the exception of Reston, which has been documented to originate in the Philippines Footnote 7. No predispositions to infection have been identified among infected persons.
The largest recorded ebolavirus outbreak to date began in
March 2014, with initial cases reported in Guinea and then additional
cases identified in the surrounding regions (Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Nigeria). A new strain of the ZEBOV species was identified as the
causative agent of the outbreak Footnote 16Footnote 21Footnote 22. HOST RANGE: Humans, various monkey species, chimpanzees, gorillas, baboons, and duikers are natural animal hosts for ebolavirus Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 5Footnote 22Footnote 23Footnote 24Footnote 25Footnote 26Footnote 27Footnote 28Footnote 29Footnote 30Footnote 31.
Serological evidence of immunity markers to ebolavirus in serum
collected from domesticated dogs suggests asymptomatic infection is
plausible, likely following exposure to infected humans or animal
carrion Footnote 32Footnote 33.
The Ebolavirus genome was discovered in two species of rodents and one
species of shrew living in forest border areas, raising the possibility
that these animals may be intermediary hosts Footnote 34.
Experimental studies of the virus have been done using mouse, pig,
guinea pig, and hamster models, suggesting wild-type ebolavirus has
limited pathogenicity in these models Footnote 35Footnote 36.
Bats are considered to be a plausible reservoir for the
virus. Serological evidence of infection with ebolavirus (antibody
detection to EBOV, ZEBOV, and/or REBOV) has been reported in fruit bats
collected from woodland and forested areas near Ghana and Gabon, with
reduced frequency of isolation from bats collected in mainland China and
Bangladesh Footnote 37Footnote 38Footnote 39Footnote 40. INFECTIOUS DOSE: Viral hemorrhagic fevers have an infectious dose of 1 - 10 organisms by aerosol in non-human primates Footnote 41. MODE OF TRANSMISSION: In an outbreak, it is hypothesized that the first patient becomes infected as a result of contact with an infected animal Footnote 22.
Person-to-person transmission occurs via close personal contact with an
infected individual or their body fluids during the late stages of
infection or after death Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 22Footnote 42.
Nosocomial infections can occur through contact with infected body
fluids for example due to the reuse of unsterilized syringes, needles,
or other medical equipment contaminated with these fluids Footnote 1Footnote 2.
Humans may be infected by handling sick or dead non-human primates and
are also at risk when handling the bodies of deceased humans in
preparation for funerals Footnote 2Footnote 10Footnote 43.
In laboratory settings, non-human primates exposed to
aerosolized ebolavirus from pigs have become infected, however,
airborne transmission has not been demonstrated between non-human
primates Footnote 1Footnote 10Footnote 15Footnote 44Footnote 45. Viral shedding has been observed in nasopharyngeal secretions and rectal swabs of pigs following experimental inoculation Footnote 29Footnote 30. INCUBATION PERIOD: Two to 21 days Footnote 1Footnote 15Footnote 17. COMMUNICABILITY: Communicable as long as
blood, body fluids or organs, contain the virus. Ebolavirus has been
isolated from semen 61 to 82 days after the onset of illness, and
transmission through semen has occurred 7 weeks after clinical recovery
Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 59Footnote 60.
SECTION III - DISSEMINATION
RESERVOIR: The natural reservoir of Ebola is unknown Footnote 1Footnote 2.
Antibodies to the virus have been found in the serum of domestic guinea
pigs and wild rodents, with no relation to human transmission Footnote 34Footnote 47. Serum antibodies and viral RNA have been identified in some bat species, suggesting bats may be a natural reservoir Footnote 37Footnote 38Footnote 39Footnote 40. ZOONOSIS: Zoonosis between humans and animal is suspected Footnote 2Footnote 22Footnote 37. VECTORS: Unknown.
SECTION IV - STABILITY AND VIABILITY
All information available on stability and viability
comes from peer-reviewed literature sources depicting experimental
findings and is intended to support local risk assessments in a
laboratory setting. DRUG SUSCEPTIBILITY: Unknown. Although
clinical trials have been completed, no vaccine has been approved for
treatment of ebolavirus. Similarly, no post-exposure measures have been
reported as effective in treating ebolavirus infection in humans
although several studies have been completed in animals to determine the
efficacy of various treatments. DRUG RESISTANCE: There are no known antiviral treatments available for human infections. SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DISINFECTANTS: Ebolavirus
is susceptible to 3% acetic acid, 1% glutaraldehyde, alcohol-based
products, and dilutions (1:10-1:100 for ≥10 minutes) of 5.25% household
bleach (sodium hypochlorite), and calcium hypochlorite (bleach powder) Footnote 48Footnote 49Footnote 50Footnote 62Footnote 63.
The WHO recommendations for cleaning up spills of blood or body fluids
suggest flooding the area with a 1:10 dilutions of 5.25% household
bleach for 10 minutes for surfaces that can tolerate stronger bleach
solutions (e.g., cement, metal) Footnote 62.
For surfaces that may corrode or discolour, they recommend careful
cleaning to remove visible stains followed by contact with a 1:100
dilution of 5.25% household bleach for more than 10 minutes. PHYSICAL INACTIVATION: Ebola are moderately
thermolabile and can be inactivated by heating for 30 minutes to 60
minutes at 60°C, boiling for 5 minutes, or gamma irradiation (1.2 x106
rads to 1.27 x106 rads) combined with 1% glutaraldehyde Footnote 10Footnote 48Footnote 50. Ebolavirus has also been determined to be moderately sensitive to UVC radiation Footnote 51. SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Filoviruses have been
reported capable to survive for weeks in blood and can also survive on
contaminated surfaces, particularly at low temperatures (4°C) Footnote 52Footnote 61.
One study could not recover any Ebolavirus from experimentally
contaminated surfaces (plastic, metal or glass) at room temperature Footnote 61.
In another study, Ebolavirus dried onto glass, polymeric silicone
rubber, or painted aluminum alloy is able to survive in the dark for
several hours under ambient conditions (between 20 and 250C and 30–40%
relative humidity) (amount of virus reduced to 37% after 15.4 hours),
but is less stable than some other viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa) Footnote 53. When dried in tissue culture media onto glass and stored at 4 °C, Zaire ebolavirus survived for over 50 days Footnote 61.
This information is based on experimental findings only and not based
on observations in nature. This information is intended to be used to
support local risk assessments in a laboratory setting.
A study on transmission of ebolavirus from fomites in an
isolation ward concludes that the risk of transmission is low when
recommended infection control guidelines for viral hemorrhagic fevers
are followed Footnote 64.
Infection control protocols included decontamination of floors with
0.5% bleach daily and decontamination of visibly contaminated surfaces
with 0.05% bleach as necessary.
SECTION V - FIRST AID / MEDICAL
SURVEILLANCE: Definitive diagnosis can be
reached rapidly in an appropriately equipped laboratory using a
multitude of approaches, including RT-PCR to detect viral RNA, ELISA
based techniques to detect anti-Ebola antibodies or viral antigens,
immunoelectron microscopy to detect ebolavirus particles in tissues and
cells, and indirect immunofluorescence to detect antiviral antibodies Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 14Footnote 41.
It is useful to note that the Marburg virus is morphologically
indistinguishable from the ebolavirus, and laboratory surveillance of
Ebola is extremely hazardous Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 14Footnote 54. Please see the interim biosafety guidelines for laboratories handling specimens from patients under investigation for EVD for more information.
Note: All diagnostic methods are not necessarily available in all countries. FIRST AID/TREATMENT: There is no effective antiviral treatment Footnote 27Footnote 37.
Instead, treatment is supportive, and is directed at maintaining organ
function and electrolyte balance and combating haemorrhage and shock Footnote 22Footnote 55. IMMUNIZATION: None Footnote 27. PROPHYLAXIS: None. Management of the Ebola
virus is solely based on isolation and barrier-nursing with symptomatic
and supportive treatments Footnote 8.
SECTION VI - LABORATORY HAZARDS
LABORATORY-ACQUIRED INFECTIONS: One reported near-fatal case following a minute finger prick in an English laboratory (1976) Footnote 56. A Swiss zoologist contracted Ebola virus after performing an autopsy on a chimpanzee in 1994 Footnote 2Footnote 57.
An incident occurred in Germany in 2009 when a laboratory scientist
pricked herself with a needle that had just been used on a mouse
infected with Ebola; however, human infection was not confirmed.
Additional incidents were recorded in the US in 2004, and a fatal case
in Russia in 2004 Footnote 8. SOURCES/SPECIMENS: Blood, serum, urine, respiratory and throat secretions, semen, and organs or their homogenates from human or animal hosts Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 53. Human or animal hosts, including non-human primates, may represent a further source of infection Footnote 54. PRIMARY HAZARDS: Accidental parenteral
inoculation, respiratory exposure to infectious aerosols/droplets,
and/or direct contact with skin or mucous membranes Footnote 54. SPECIAL HAZARDS: Work with, or exposure to, infected non-human primates, rodents, or their carcasses represents a risk of human infection Footnote 54.
SECTION VII - EXPOSURE CONTROLS / PERSONAL PROTECTION
RISK GROUP CLASSIFICATION: Risk Group 4 Footnote 58. CONTAINMENT REQUIREMENTS: Containment Level 4
facilities, equipment, and operational practices for work involving
infectious or potentially infectious materials, animals, and cultures.
Please see the interim biosafety guidelines for laboratories handling specimens from patients under investigation for EVD for more information. PROTECTIVE CLOTHING: Personnel entering the
laboratory must remove street clothing, including undergarments, and
jewellery, and change into dedicated laboratory clothing and shoes, or
don full coverage protective clothing (i.e., completely covering all
street clothing). Additional protection may be worn over laboratory
clothing when infectious materials are directly handled, such as
solid-front gowns with tight fitting wrists, gloves, and respiratory
protection. Eye protection must be used where there is a known or
potential risk of exposure to splashes. OTHER PRECAUTIONS: All activities with
infectious material should be conducted in a biological safety cabinet
(BSC) in combination with a positive pressure suit, or within a class
III BSC line. Centrifugation of infected materials must be carried out
in closed containers placed in sealed safety cups, or in rotors that are
unloaded in a biological safety cabinet. The integrity of positive
pressure suits must be routinely checked for leaks. The use of needles,
syringes, and other sharp objects should be strictly limited. Open
wounds, cuts, scratches, and grazes should be covered with waterproof
dressings. Additional precautions should be considered with work
involving animal activities.
SECTION VIII - HANDLING AND STORAGE
SPILLS: Allow aerosols to settle and,
wearing protective clothing, gently cover spill with paper towels and
apply suitable disinfectant, starting at the perimeter and working
towards the centre. Allow sufficient contact time before clean-up. DISPOSAL: Decontaminate all materials for
disposal from the containment laboratory by steam sterilisation,
chemical disinfection, incineration or by gaseous methods. Contaminated
materials include both liquid and solid wastes. STORAGE: In sealed, leak-proof containers that are appropriately labelled and locked in a Containment Level 4 laboratory.
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Acha, P. N., & Szyfres, B. (2003). In Pan American
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Man and Animals (3rd ed., pp. 142-145). Washington D.C.: Pan American
Health Organization.
Footnote 3
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2013
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http://www.ictvonline.org/virusTaxonomy.asp
Footnote 4
Kuhn, J. H., Becker, S., Ebihara, H., Geisbert, T. W.,
Johnson, K. M., Kawaoka, Y., Lipkin IW, Negredo AI, Netesov SV, Nichol
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B. (2010). Proposal for a revised taxonomy of the family Filoviridae:
classification, names of taxa and viruses, and virus abbreviations.
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Footnote 5
Sanchez, A. (2001). Filoviridae: Marburg and Ebola
Viruses. In D. M. Knipe, & P. M. Howley (Eds.), Fields virology (4th
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Footnote 6
Takada, A., & Kawaoka, Y. (2001). The pathogenesis of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Trends in Microbiology, 9(10), 506-511.
Footnote 7
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J., Comer, J. A., Rollin, P. E., Ksiazek, T. G., & Nichol, S. T.
(2008). Newly discovered ebola virus associated with hemorrhagic fever
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Footnote 8
Feldmann, H. (2010). Are we any closer to combating Ebola
infections? Lancet, 375(9729), 1850-1852.
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Footnote 9
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Footnote 10
Mwanatambwe, M., Yamada, N., Arai, S., Shimizu-Suganuma,
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Footnote 11
Sanchez, A., Kiley, M. P., Klenk, H. D., & Feldmann,
H. (1992). Sequence analysis of the Marburg virus nucleoprotein gene:
comparison to Ebola virus and other non-segmented negative-strand RNA
viruses. The Journal of General Virology, 73 (Pt 2)(Pt 2), 347-357.
Footnote 12
Harcourt, B. H., Sanchez, A., & Offermann, M. K.
(1999). Ebola virus selectively inhibits responses to interferons, but
not to interleukin-1beta, in endothelial cells. Journal of Virology,
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Footnote 13
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den Enden, E., & Van den Enden, E. (1999). Ebola hemorrhagic fever
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Footnote 14
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Footnote 15
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& Sands, H. (2003). A current review of Ebola virus: pathogenesis,
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Footnote 19
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