World warned: Prepare for more Ebola-like outbreaks

Dr David Nabarro, the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on Ebola, told The Independent the world should prepare for more major outbreaks of zoonotic diseases – those which can pass from animals to humans – which he said were a “local and global threat to humanity”.

Ebola outbreak is just the beginning of pattern of deadly diseases, science writer David Quammen warns

THE current Ebola outbreak is just the beginning of a pattern of deadly emerging diseases that will wreak havoc in coming years, a leading science writer has warned.

David Quammen has spent years researching emerging viruses officially known as zoonotic — they live in an animal host and occasionally jump to, or “spill over”, into human beings.

With the US in the grips of an Ebola panic after Texan nurse Nina Pham was diagnosed with the deadly virus, Quammen has issued an ominous warning: “This is not a one-time deal”.

The author, whose 2012 book on the subject Spillover won an award from the National Association of Science Writers, told mashable.com even if the current Ebola epidemic was brought under control, it’s “not going to be the end of the story”.

French lab shut after losing SARS virus samples

PARIS (AP) French medical authorities have ordered a prestigious laboratory to suspend its activities after it lost more than 2,000 test tubes containing the SARS respiratory virus.

Found! Iran’s Secret Ballistic Missile Base

WND has learned of the existence of a secret ballistic missile base in Iran’s Semnan Province to which the Islamic regime has moved missiles armed with microbial warheads.

The Badr base, a center for air defense which has about 50 underground missile silos housing Iran’s Shahab 3 ballistic missiles, serves as Iran’s second-largest missile-launching site, and is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards.

The base, in the deserts of Semnan far from any city, has many underground tunnels connecting to the silo launching pads, according to a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit.