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[size=+1]Bioterror Suspected in Hepatitis Outbreak [/size]
<SMALL>Moscow News ^ | 6/20/05 | Anna Arutunyan and Oleg Liakhovich</SMALL>
With some 574 people hospitalized with hepatitis A in the Tver region and an initial influx of some 45 new patients each day, regional investigators are looking into a possibility that the outbreak - which began over a week ago and has been blamed on an infection in the water supply - may be linked to a biological attack. The outbreak began in the last days of May in the town of Rzhev, and with hundreds of people getting sick, local authorities were suspecting everything from the tap water to bottling factories.
Early on, the initial culprit was Rzhevpivo, a local plant that produced beer, soda water, kvas, and other beverages. By the end of May, authorities discovered that 85 percent of those who got sick had consumed the plant's products recently. On May 31, after authorities found some of the products contaminated with an intestinal bacteria, the plant was shut down - just as a matter of precaution.
But with the incubation period for hepatitis A spanning weeks, nothing - including Rzhevpivo - has been ruled out. Specialists from leading epidemiological institutes from Moscow and St. Petersburg have been working in the region to try to find the causes, but as of printing time, no one leading version was agreed upon.
Last week, local prosecutors launched a criminal investigation for violations of sanitary regulations, but with no suspects and hardly a clue of where the sanitation was violated. With no leads having been found, a biological weapons attack was still considered as probable this week as negligence at the beer and soda water plant. Last Wednesday, Russian newspapers purported to draw a connection between the epidemic and the the mysterious murder of an epidemiologist. Leonid Strachunsky, a World Health Organization expert and the director of Russia's Anti-Microbe Therapy Institute, was found dead at a Moscow hotel. He had been hit on the head with a champagne bottle, and some of his possessions were missing.
<SMALL>Moscow News ^ | 6/20/05 | Anna Arutunyan and Oleg Liakhovich</SMALL>
With some 574 people hospitalized with hepatitis A in the Tver region and an initial influx of some 45 new patients each day, regional investigators are looking into a possibility that the outbreak - which began over a week ago and has been blamed on an infection in the water supply - may be linked to a biological attack. The outbreak began in the last days of May in the town of Rzhev, and with hundreds of people getting sick, local authorities were suspecting everything from the tap water to bottling factories.
Early on, the initial culprit was Rzhevpivo, a local plant that produced beer, soda water, kvas, and other beverages. By the end of May, authorities discovered that 85 percent of those who got sick had consumed the plant's products recently. On May 31, after authorities found some of the products contaminated with an intestinal bacteria, the plant was shut down - just as a matter of precaution.
But with the incubation period for hepatitis A spanning weeks, nothing - including Rzhevpivo - has been ruled out. Specialists from leading epidemiological institutes from Moscow and St. Petersburg have been working in the region to try to find the causes, but as of printing time, no one leading version was agreed upon.
Last week, local prosecutors launched a criminal investigation for violations of sanitary regulations, but with no suspects and hardly a clue of where the sanitation was violated. With no leads having been found, a biological weapons attack was still considered as probable this week as negligence at the beer and soda water plant. Last Wednesday, Russian newspapers purported to draw a connection between the epidemic and the the mysterious murder of an epidemiologist. Leonid Strachunsky, a World Health Organization expert and the director of Russia's Anti-Microbe Therapy Institute, was found dead at a Moscow hotel. He had been hit on the head with a champagne bottle, and some of his possessions were missing.
