Brazil Army to Research Unknown Amazon Viruses
7/5/98
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Title: Brazil Army to Research Unknown Amazon Viruses
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 7/5/98
BRASILIA, July 5 (Reuters) - Brazil's army will set up two new laboratories to
study
unknown viruses and bacteria lurking in the Amazon rain forest and which could
infect
people if they were exposed to them, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
``We need to be ready to know which agents could be unleashed in any area
of the country, given the advance of troops (into remote areas), climate
change, improper use of land and even attacks,'' Roberto Guedes, an army
colonel, told O Globo.
Three years ago, a soldier died after contracting an unknown virus near the
city of Manaus, on the Amazon River. The incident alerted Brazil's armed
forces to the danger of new diseases in the region, the newspaper said.
Guedes, a biological weapons expert who joined a United Nations observation team
to Iraq
in 1997, said the armed forces were concerned new diseases might be used against
troops in a conflict situation or by terrorists. Guedes said a first laboratory
costing $1.3 million would be built near Manaus in conjunction with the
Fio Cruz Foundation, a civilian government research organisation, to begin
studying
viruses and bacteria from the jungle.
A second, more secure laboratory would be added within three years to isolate
highly
contagious viruses.
``This is a security issue, a strategic question,'' said Fio Cruz president Eloi
Garcia.
``Man is pushing ever deeper into the forest. We need to know more ... work on
medicines and vaccines and stop any spreading.''
Globo said researchers at a government institute in Belem, at the mouth of the
Amazon,
had already identified 186 different viruses in the jungle, 34 of which caused
illness in
man.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.