Outbreak Traditional Cache
kylvag: It's been a fun cache, but now it's time to make space for something new.
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This cache is placed at the site of the
first outbreak of the Ebola virus in the US. The event is
described in the book "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston and
inspired the Hollywood movie "Outbreak" from 1995, starring
among others Dustin Hoffman.
this area is extremely muggle-saturated during business hours, so
please use plenty of stealth.
Hazleton Research
Products' Reston Primate Quarantine Unit in Reston,
Virginia
October 2, 1989, 100 cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis)
from Ferlite Farms in Mindanao Island, Philippines were flown from
Manila, through Amsterdam to New York. They were then transported
by truck to Hazleton Research Products' Reston Primate Quarantine
Unit in Reston, Virginia. October 4, 1989, the monkeys were placed
in Room F of the Reston Unit. Hazleton Research Products' (HRP)
Reston Unit already had about 5/00 cynomolgus monkeys when the
shipment arrived. There had not been any African species
quarantined in the Reston unit for several years, therefore it is
not possible that the monkeys contracted Ebola from monkeys
contaminated by a previous shipment of monkeys. Because of the 1976
Marburg incident, all primates imported into the United States must
be quarantined for 30 days before they are released to insure they
are not infected with any diseases.
In any transcontinental shipment of animals, a high reduction rate
is to be expected due to the experience on the animal, however,
this particular shipment of non human primates had a far larger
number of deaths in Room F than would normally have been expected.
The HRP veterinarian conducted a few necropsies of the dead monkeys
from this shipment in Room F. Based on the clinical symptoms and on
gross anatomy, made an initial diagnosis of simian hemorrhagic
fever (SHF). SHF is a terrible disease in monkeys (it does not
infect humans) and is easily transmitted. The HRP vet then sent
tissue samples of the dead monkey to United States Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) for a conclusive
diagnosis. Simian hemorrhagic fever was isolated in the tissue
samples that HRP sent to USAMRIID.
Before USAMRIID finished their diagnosis, HRP made the decision to
euthanize the remaining monkeys in Room F to prevent possible
further spread of the virus. During the ten days after the
euthanization of all the monkeys in Room F, there were sporadic
deaths in the remaining monkey population at Reston. The pattern of
deaths, nor the pathology in the dead monkeys, was indicative of
SHF, which caused the HRP vet to become alarmed.
Meanwhile, USAMRIID was conducting additional tests on the monkey
tissue cultures. From an electron micrograph of damaged tissue from
one of the dead Reston monkeys, they discovered Ebola was also
responsible for the deaths of the Reston monkeys. Unfortunately,
the pathogen was not contained by the euthanization of the monkeys
in Room F, therefore 29 additional monkeys in Room H also died. The
monkeys in Room H were from a separate shipment, but from the same
supplier (Ferlite Farms). They had arrived at the Reston Unit on
November 8.
Were the monkeys in room H contracting the pathogen from the
Reston Quarantine Unit, or were they infected with the pathogen
back in the Philippines?
On November 16, the Room F
monkeys were euthanized, and the Room H shipment of monkeys
arrived on November 8. Both the cynomolgus monkey shipments
(those in Room F and Room H) came from Ferlite Farms in the
Philippines, which was experiencing a hemorrhagic disease
outbreak concurrently. It is possible that the Room H monkeys
were sub-clinically harboring Ebola on arrival at Reston
(Ebola has an incubation period ranging from five to seven
days in non human primates). However the Room H monkeys
arrived at the Reston unit while the monkeys in Room F were
still alive.
On November 29, 1989, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the
Virginia Department of Health met with USAMRIID, and a plan of
action was formulated to insure the safety of the community and the
humane treatment of the primates at Reston. November 30th, because
of the threat that Ebola might spread to the remaining animals in
the quarantine unit and might infect the staff, the remaining
animals (about 500) in Room H were euthanized.
On November 28, 1989, Ferlite Farms, unknowingly, sent a shipment
of cynomolgus monkeys to Philadelphia that were infected with
Ebola.
Six of the 178 people who had contact with the infected monkeys at
the Reston Quarantine Unit had contracted the strain. None of the
six, however, developed a filovirus-related illness (Ebola is a
filovirus). Of the six, four (all were animal handlers at one
quarantine facility) had serologic evidence of a recent infection
with Ebola Reston. It is likely that one of the four infected
himself when he cut his finger while performing a necropsy on an
infected monkey, however the mode of transmission for the other
three handlers is unknown. The remaining two people had evidence of
past infection, and one of the two people is a worker at a facility
that temporarily houses non human primates before delivery to US
quarantine facilities (The person had regular contact with
quarantined non human primates for three years), and the second
person was an employee at Hazleton's Texas Primate Center.
On 5/30/1995, After 6 years of vacancy, the physical building in
which the outbreak occurred was demolished and a new building
constructed in its place. This facility, which is part of an office
park, became a Kindercare and is a Mulberry Child Care and
preschool center as of 2007.
Congratulations to CatBert for the FTF and to Ludozone for the 2TF.
Also, huge thanks to CatBert for sharing the pictures of the
original monkeyhouse. Much appeciated.
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