Bioterrorism

The history of weaponized Valley Fever stretches back decades including simulated terrorist attacks and consideration of the disease’s effects against minorities for use as a race-specific biological weapon. Legislation to protect the U.S. only started after renewed interest in biological warfare in the wake of the 1995 sarin gas attack on Japanese subways. At that time the United States evaluated its own security for biological weapons and passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. In order to determine which biological agents and toxins were considered serious enough for inclusion in the legislation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services compiled a list of dangerous toxins and organisms known as select agents.

The list primarily has agents that are serious threats to human life, but the USDA also added organisms and toxins that can devastate animals and agriculture. The multi-agency select agent list included ghastly illness and toxins such as the SARS-associated corona virus, the H5N1 “bird flu” virus, ricin, Ebola, and Anthrax. Along with these select agents, the list also included Coccidioides which is the parasitic fungal species that causes Valley Fever.

The Select Agent web site https://www.selectagents.gov/ declares its purpose: “The Federal Select Agent Program oversees the possession, use and transfer of biological select agents and toxins, which have the potential to pose a severe threat to public, animal or plant health or to animal or plant products.”

In accordance with the 1996 law, anyone possessing, using, transferring, or receiving any of the select agents must notify the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, or is otherwise committing a federal crime. To culture Coccidioides safely in a laboratory setting, one must adhere to Biosafety Level 3 regulations, which is only one step below the required handling of Ebola, the infamously dangerous hemorrhagic fever virus. Visitors do not wear Biosafety Level 3 hazard suits when they take vacations in Arizona, California, and other areas where the Coccidioides fungal organism occurs naturally, but laboratories have extensive rules to protect their scientists.

For further legislation to guard against biological terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 terrorism and subsequent anthrax deaths, Coccidioides was regulated even further in the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002.

When the decades-long epidemic of Valley Fever began to reach public officials’ attention, the following was reported in the February 13, 2003 minutes of the Arizona State Senate Committee on Health:

“Dr. John Galgiani, Professor of Medicine, UA, and Director, Valley Fever Center for Excellence, distributed a handout (Attachment F) and provided an overview of the status of Valley Fever in Arizona. Currently, the State is experiencing an epidemic. Although Valley Fever is a national problem, 65% of the cases are in Arizona. He stressed that Valley Fever could be used as an agent of bioterrorism. If the perceived risk of Valley Fever is not managed by education and research, businesses and tourists may go elsewhere.”

“Dr. Galgiani referred to this week’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) Report, noting that Valley Fever is the fourth most commonly reported infectious disease to the Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS). The increase in reported infection is unexplained, but could possibly be linked to construction, climatic effects, and bioterroist [sic] attack.”

“…There is no clear explanation for the cause of the epidemic, which is in excess of the population growth…one in four college students are sick for up to four months. He pointed out the problems with current therapy, noting that less than 70% of patients respond to therapy. However, when therapy is stopped, relapses occur. He explained that indefinite therapy is expensive with lifetime therapy costing two-thirds of a million dollars for each patient.”

The complete minutes are available at this link.

The Valley Fever Epidemic grew in severity each subsequent year. Oddly, after 16 years of regulation, Coccidioides was eventually removed from the select agent list.

Even when dealing with a disease that has so many misconceptions, the reasons stated for removing Coccidioides from the list in 2012 defied reason and were self-contradictory. It is not regulated as a biological weapon now, but that decision could easily be reversed since every reason for its original regulation remains the same.

However there is much more to the story. Our ongoing research into the biological warfare elements of Coccidoides and its use as a biological weapon is frightening – almost as frightening as the fact that this is all reported in freely available documentation that anyone could have revealed if they chose to publicize it fully.

No other organization has gone into the depth of research on this topic and reported more than Valley Fever Survivor has. There is much more to be revealed about Coccidioides and its use as a biological weapon, which we will continue to share online and in our upcoming book.

Other purported resources for Valley Fever information often ignore the biological warfare and terrorism aspects of this disease. To understand why and what makes Valley Fever Survivor different, learn about us at this link.