Experts fear ISIS jihadists may infect themselves to spread virus in West

Terrorist group Isis may be considering using Ebola as a suicide bio-weapon against the West, according to a military expert. The virus is transmitted by direct contact with an infected person who is showing the symptoms – and it wouldn’t be difficult for fanatics to contract it then travel to countries they want to wreak havoc in, according to a military expert.

Capt. Al Shimkus, Ret., a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, said that the strategy is entirely plausible.

He told Forbes: ‘The individual exposed to the Ebola Virus would be the carrier. In the context of terrorist activity, it doesn’t take much sophistication to go to that next step to use a human being as a carrier.’

And Professor Anthony Glees, Director at Buckingham University’s Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, agrees that the strategy might be considered.

He said: ‘In some ways it’s a plausible theory – IS fighters believe in suicide and this is a potential job for a suicide mission. They are sufficiently murderous and well-informed to consider it, and they know that we’ve been remiss in the UK.’

The virus is running rampant in West Africa, with 3,800 dead in just a matter of months and the first cases appearing in Europe at the U.S.

The possibility that Isis, also known as Islamic State and Isil, could make the situation far worse is one that should be taken very seriously, another expert said.

In the May 2013 issue of the journal Global Policy, Amanda Teckman, author of the paper The Bioterrorist Threat Of Ebola In East Africa And Implications For Global Health And Security concluded: ‘The threat of an Ebola bioterrorist attack in East Africa is a global health and security concern, and should not be ignored,’ Forbes reported.

Far from being lone voices on this theory, concern in America about Ebola being used as a bioweapon was in fact a catalyst for its $5.6billion Project Bioshield, according to a source familiar with the matter, who did not wish to be named.

Signed off by President George W. Bush in 2004, it ensures generous funding for scientists researching bioweapon counter-measures, as well as accelerating research against chemical, radiological and nuclear agents.

It also grants the U.S government the power to stockpile huge quantities of medical countermeasures.

However, Jennifer Cole, Senior Research Fellow, Resilience & Emergency Management, at the Royal United Services Institute, while acknowledging that Isis using Ebola as a weapon isn’t out of the question, says that now would not be the best time to employ this strategy.

She told MailOnline: ‘Everyone’s looking out for signs of Ebola at the moment so they’d be very unlikely to get away with it.

‘The other issue with Ebola is that it’s very hard to control. The militants could just end up wiping themselves out before they’ve had the chance to pass it on.

‘For a suicide attack, strapping sticks of dynamite to your chest is far more effective.’

Middle East security expert Andreas Krieg, from King’s College London’s Department of Defence Studies, echoed Cole’s scepticism.

He said: ‘It is certainly possible for Isis to use the Ebola virus as it is a cheap and accessible source in West Africa. However, considering the WHO’s and international community’s effort to contain the spread of the virus it will be increasingly difficult to “export” the virus via air transport to other parts of the world. It would require a lot of effort and have a low chance of success.’

He added: ‘Isis is not currently focusing on the West. At the moment Isis’ focus is on expanding its territory and influence in Syria and Iraq. It is bogged down there. Within this context I do not see any place for Ebola as a bio-weapon to be used against any of the opponents. It would be too risky as they would likely infect their own fighters and people living in their territory.’

Professor Glees added: ‘It would be logistically very difficult to get an IS fighter to West Africa, come into contact with Ebola, wait to find out if they were infected, then leg it to London.’

The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. died on Wednesday despite intense but delayed treatment, and the government announced it was expanding airport examinations to guard against the spread of the deadly disease.

The checks will include taking the temperatures of hundreds of travelers arriving from West Africa at five major American airports.

The new screenings will begin Saturday at New York’s JFK International Airport and then expand to Washington Dulles and the international airports in Atlanta, Chicago and Newark. An estimated 150 people per day will be checked, using high-tech thermometers that don’t touch the skin.

The White House said the fever checks would reach more than 9 of 10 travelers to the U.S. from the three heaviest-hit countries – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

President Barack Obama called the measures ‘really just belt and suspenders’ to support protections already in place. Border Patrol agents now look for people who are obviously ill, as do flight crews, and in those cases the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is notified.

As of Wednesday, Ebola has killed about 3,800 people in West Africa and infected at least 8,000, according to the World Health Organization.

A medical official with the U.N. Mission in Liberia who tested positive for Ebola arrived in the German city of Leipzig on Thursday to be treated at a local clinic with specialist facilities, authorities said.

The unidentified medic infected in Liberia is the second member of the U.N. mission, known as UNMIL, to contract the virus. The first died on September 25. He is the third Ebola patient to arrive in Germany for treatment.

The virus has taken an especially devastating toll on health care workers, sickening or killing more than 370 of them in the hardest-hit countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – places that already were short on doctors and nurses.

There are no approved medications for Ebola, so doctors have tried experimental treatments in some cases, including drugs and blood transfusions from others who have recovered from Ebola.

The survivor’s blood could carry antibodies for the disease that will help a patient fight off the virus.

Mailonline

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