Plague Kill Al-Qaeda Members.....

[Tecnos]

Has a bio-weapon been used here?

Al Qaeda hit by Black Death fear as medieval plague kills 40 terrorists at training camp

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:15 AM on 19th January 2009

Al Qaeda terrorists have been left fearing the Black Death plague after it wiped out at least 40 insurgents at an Algerian training camp, it was reported today.

The horror disease, which killed 25 million people in medieval Europe, is understood to have been found in a militant’s body dumped at a roadside.

Terror group AQLIM (al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb) was forced to turn its shelter in the Yakouren forests into mass graves and flee, it has been claimed.
Terrorists in Ouzou, Algeria

Hideout: Terrorists in Ouzou, Algeria, above, have been forced to flee the plague

Now al Qaeda chiefs are said to fear the plague has been passed into other cells - and possibly Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Many insurgents may choose to surrender for treatment rather than die a horrible death.

‘This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror,’ a security source told The Mail:

‘Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.

‘It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.’
Plague

Medieval terror: The Black Death killed 25 million people in Europe in the 1300s

The new plague epidemic is said to have begun in AQLIM’s cave hideouts of in Tizi Ouzou province, 90 miles east of the capital Algiers.

AQLIM is the largest and most powerful al Qaeda group outside the Middle East and trains Muslim fighters to kill British and American troops.

Its boss Abdelmalek Droudkal claims to command around 1,000 insurgents and masterminded the bombing the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41.

Black Death comes in various forms and was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history when it struck in the 1340s killing 75 million people across North Africa, Asia and Europe.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include painful boils in the groin, neck and armpits.
Bacteria

Quick-spreading: The plague virus, above, is easily caught and kills within hours

In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu. Without medication it can be deadly.

Although plague is virtually unheard of in developed countries, the World Health Organisation reports several thousand cases a year.

These occur mainly in southern Asia, southern Africa and central America.

Between 1989 and 2003 there were more than 38,000 cases, which caused 2,845 deaths in 25 countries.

Full Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...ning-camp.html

[Mingus]

Doubt it. The easiest way to get it is by hiding out in caves where rats happen to be. If just one rat had fleas carrying the virus, then you can easily spread the plague around when you're as close as they are in proximity to each other.

[kidflash2008]

I am surprised there haven't been many hantavirus outbreaks (caused by mice droppings) in the caves and other hideouts. I would suspect sanitary conditions more than any other reason for outbreaks.

[Tecnos]

The Plague As A Weapon?
Main Category: Bio-terrorism / Terrorism
Article Date: 11 Apr 2007 - 7:00 PDT


The possibility of bubonic plague and pneumonic plague being used as bioterrorism agents is discussed in an article published in The Lancet.

Professor Mike Prentice, of University College, Cork, Ireland, and Dr Lila Rahalison, of Institut Pasteur, Madagascar, did a comprehensive review of the genetic makeup of the plague, its transmission vectors, and potential use as a biological weapon. They also look at a number of historical outbreaks of the disease, including the Black Death.

Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis, which multiplies in the gut fleas which have fed on blood from infected aminals. This causes a blockage in the proventriculus - the tube which connects the gut and the oesophagus of the flea. This blockage causes the flea to continually regurgitate and feed again, introducing Y. Pestis into the bloodstream of whatever it is biting - rodent or human.

The onset of bubonic plague is sudden, and causes malaise, dizziness, high fever and swellings near the lymph nodes called "buboes", after two to six days incubation.

Patients who develop secondary plague pneumonia after fleabite can transmit pneumonic plague directly to others. This form of plague generally has a shorter incubation time (two to three days) and is characterised by sudden onset, high fever, pleuritic chest pain and a cough containing bloody sputum.

It is now possible to harness the ability of the plague to spread by respiratory droplets, and make aerosol-based weapons capable of causing widespread pneumonic plague outbreak. This and many other factors could combine to make Y. Pestis an attractive agent for bioterrorism - its wide distribution, simple culture techniques, the high mortality rate of the associated pulmonary disease, availability of expert advice from former weapons scientists, or perhaps only the knowledge that many countries have investigated its use as a weapon.

Untreated bubonic plague has mortality of 50 to 90 per cent; and associated untreated meningitis, pneumonia or septicaemia is fatal in most cases. Diagnosis and appropriate therapy reduces bubonic plague mortality to five to 15 per cent, but delays in diagnosis and treatment can also be fatal.

Standard antibiotic therapy (originally Strepotmycin, later tetracycline or gentamicin) is successful in treating the disease, but there are concerns about a Y. pestis strain in Madagascar showing multiple antimicrobial resistance. Due to bioterrorism concerns, a number of vaccines are currently in development, one of which has reached phase II trials (an intermediate stage in the clinical trials process).

Plague control aims to reduce the likelihood of people being bitten by infected fleas or being exposed to infected droplets from people or animals with plague pneumonia. Thus monitoring and controlling local plague hosts (i.e. rodent populations) is vital in plague-endemic regions.

But the authors add: "However, removal of the fleas' normal food supply by poisoning their usual hosts can increase human contact with starving fleas, so flea control by application of insecticides in plague outbreak areas is also important."

----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
----------------------------

Contact: Professor Mike Prentice
Lancet

http://www.world-science.net/otherne...409_plague.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/67390.php

[Truthed]

... the plot thickens

[Tecnos]

Mainstream tabloids are now suggesting that the Al-Qaeda members killed themselves developing their own biological weapon.....

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle2150050.ece

[Mingus]

I think they just took a stupid chance hiding out in the caves and are paying for it. Until otherwise proven, I'll stand by this.