EBOLA Reston, 1989 (movie The Hot Zone); this was real; you did not know that something took place in Reston, Virginia that could have destroyed the entire world; EBOLA aerosolized killed all monkeys
by Paul Alexander
In 1989, humanity dodged a bullet! humanity came close to being wiped out; we knew (I studied this as part of my epidemiology training) had it become aerosolized to humans, the game was over!
While you slept, you did not know humanity was in danger that night. Right there in Reston, Virginia.
The strain was aerosolized in those 1989 Reston Virginia, research monkeys from the Philippines, but not in humans. It was also not pathological to humans, like the deadly Zaire ebolavirus strain. So we dodged two bullets, 1) not aerosolized to humans and 2) not deadly. It was that simple and had it been aerosolized spread in humans in 1989, and had it been the deadly Zaire ebolavirus strain, then the reality was that humanity as a whole was threatened. It could have wiped us out! I mean the world! Those who were part of the response knew just how serious this was! This was no game and no movie, it was real! The US government responded at the level of US and global threat this was!
The True Story of Ebola in Reston, Virginia
‘To contain the spread of Ebola Reston, the mutated strain of Ebola Zaire, the Army chose the bio-hazard operation of killing all the monkeys, bagging them, incinerating their carcasses, and chemically cleaning and fumigating the building with formaldehyde gas. Their mission was to safeguard the population, euthanize the animals humanely (anesthetic, sedative, and a lethal drug), and gather samples for research from liver and spleen in order to identify the strain and how it traveled. The entire operation was done in biohazard Level 4 suits. To a trained eye, the badly liquefied organs and tissues, the red eyes, frozen faces, and slacking muscles left no doubt that the monkeys died of Ebola. By December 7, 1989, four hundred and fifty monkeys were euthanized, some already very sick and some harboring the virus. (pp. 212-213)’.
‘Strangely, an animal caretaker, “John Coleus,” who was doing a necropsy on a dead monkey, cut his thumb with a bloody scalpel, which is a major exposure to Ebola. Everyone expected him to die, but he never got sick. The virus entered his blood stream. The other two animal caretakers, however, did not cut themselves. The virus entered their bodies through “contact with lungs; everyone at USAMRIID concluded that Ebola can spread through the air.” (p. 254).’
‘On October 4, 1989, the Quarantine Unit received a shipment of 100 monkeys from a Philippine facility.[4] By November, nearly one-third of the animals had died – a much higher percentage than normal – of mysterious causes.[5] Dan Dalgard, the consulting veterinarian of the unit, was alarmed and contacted the US Army Medical Research Institute (USAMRIID). Located at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, the USAMRIID focuses on the development of medical solutions to diseases in hopes of protecting soldiers.[6] Dalgard talked to Peter Jahrling, a virologist at USAMRIID, who told him to send a few samples of the dead monkeys.
Fourteen days later, officials realized what they were dealing with. An intern at USAMRIID, Thomas Geisbert, analyzed the samples from Reston and found a filovirus-thread virus. The next day, Jahrling tested the samples twice and they tested positive for Zaire ebolavirus, the most dangerous Ebola strand.
"We have a national emergency in our hands," General Philip K. Russell, the Major General of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, told colleagues. "This is an infectious threat of major consequences."[7]’