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eved to be
then fleet thistle medical ~embers &cause h was beli re the out-
. Befo
`'(B were moved to write about Abe harmless to man ical literature
outbreak In s pis:millet& medical break In 1950. med
Army Tested Journal. listed fewer than a dozen cases of
an infection resulting from
hum
In little more than a month. contact with the bacterium.
Biological one mart was dead and five othe r
patients were infected apd suffer- "You have to realize that at this
in military
War in S.F. ing from chills, high fever and a time, Serratia was used
general mala ise. Befo re the out- hosp itals to check -thei r lair) ducts"
its cour se and disa p- for leak s or poss ible sabo tage ,a
break ran "No one
New York ths later , 11 cases mili tary sour ce said .
peared:five mon
tion were found. thought it was harmful to man."
At least eight United States of infec
cities and military insta llati ons
The bacterium responsible in Serratia had the added attrac-
were subjected to simulated biolog- all cases was Serratla mareescens. tion of being easy to identify: It
ical warfare attacks by Army scien- produces a distinctive pigment,
tists between 1950 and 19116. Serratia was first identified as usually red, that shows up readily
the cause of an infection at the in tests.
After an outbreak of infection Stanford Hospital on September 29.
that killed one man in San Francis- two days after the last acknowl- Sources at the Oakland lab.
es
co within weeks of the initial test. edged test by the Army. Three days now called the Naval Bioscienc
a which was head-
the military continued to use later, the bact erium was isola ted Labo rato ry and
cisco
bacterium that was Implicated in from Edward Nevins. a 75-year-old quarters for the San Fran
death . initia l iso- tests , said that Serr atla could cause
the retired pipe fitter. The
later pneu mon ia, parti cular ly in infan ts.
days
Information released by the late came from urine: ten . New sday found that. in at least two
est of New sday it was foun d in Nevi ns' blood
. Army at the requ • instances, an Army test was asso-
Rack Page I He was given antibiotics but, in ciated with a peculiar rise in
his case and in all the other cases pneumonia ,ases.
Prase Page 1
observed in the hospital. thiseerei Dr Thomas Chester of Ls.;
nt
confirmed that the tests were con- tia strain was resistant to all anti Alabama State Health Departme
e Ft.
ducted in Key West and Panama biotic's administered. Nevins contin- said that Calhoun county, wher
cases
City. Fla.. New York City and San ued to suffer from fever and chills McCellan is located. had 139
Francisco over the In-year period until November 1 when he died. of pneumonia in 1951. In 1952, the
that ended when the bacterium, year of the test. the number of
iSerr atia marc eseen s, was dispe rsed Desp ite indic ation s that the cases increased to 333 as the county.
in the New Yor k City subw ay
Army expe rime nt with Serr atia with less than three per cent of the
unted for
system. was related to the death and state's population, acco
simi lar Infe ction s in the 116Mtal• they more than 12 per cent of the state's
The Army said that In 1952.
continued to use the biicterium in. reported pneumonia cases.
testis in which bacteria were re- their so-called "vulnerability tests' the number of cases dropped to 96.
lased into the air and their spread for years. exposing ministry person-
was monitored by military person- nel and civilian populations to the In the Key West area, cases of
nel. were cond ucted in Arne insta l- pneu monia showed a startling ten-
at Poin t Mug u and Port same infection, sources said. fold incre ase. The Army statement
lations
Hueneme in Vent ura coun ty, at Ft.
Accenting to one resea rche r, said the test was carried out there cal warfare and stockpiling.
Anni ston. Ala.: and was used in an in 1952 but did not specify the time
McCellan. near Serrate probably health depart- The Army report admitt
a Navy facility in Mechanicsburg, experiment in the mid-1960s in the of year. Florida state ey said in 1966 , 16 years after the death In
itted testin g m, in ment spok esma n Gary Kinn
Pi. The Army also adm New York City subway syste went up from five San Fran cisco, It used Serratia 11C
woul d cases
bacteria at the Pentagon but which a light bulb filled with pneumonia 1953 and deat hs the New York City subway sysliannui
.
discuss no details. bacteria was dropped between ears in 1952 to 50 in 30.' In 1954. the Some details about '111*41111111
to
moving train to see how far the went from four ped to six and emerged last year lir testl
iplage
The Army released minimal of a ents would carry it. No number of rases drop niltI6 Er
abou t the tests after a air curr befor e the Senat e Selec t Corn
information adverse medical reactions were no deaths were
reported.
Newsday investigation last month reported then. on Intelligence. although &maths,
ls of the 1950 test In The infor mati on relea sed by was not identified as .thei. MOW
turned up detai nothing about used.
San Francisco and a subsequent • The bacteria were grown in the the Army revealed tests or the
outbreak in Stanford University U.S. Naval Biological Laboratory in the methods used in thealso did not Charles A. Senseney, a Defense
!1st
Hospital of Serratia infections, Oakland, specifically for the tests, results. The Army ray. rtment employee teetifiedtlieC
mention Oper ation Seasp Depa
which killed one man. Newsday learned. a light bulb containing a -stintil yl i
On the afternoon of Sept. 26, Another series of experiments, Sour ces and -documents con- agent" was dropped from a mo
1950. the U.S. Army conducted an code-named Operation Seaspray, sulted by Newsday revealed that, in subway train and the spread o the
experiment to test San Francisco's was carried out in the Bay Area in the Mechanicsburg test, the Army agent through the tunnels was
vulnerability to a germ warfare 1954 by Na.fy personnel working also used a fungus, Aspergillus monitored. •
attack. for the Army. The base of opera- fumigatus, which it adlmits can be
tions, sources said. was. Ft. Cron fatal to humans.-
The so-called "vulnerability khlte in Mann county. "ft went well through It
test" involved the relea se into the Dr. Libe ro Melt e. direc tor of entir e subway system. because mit
air of Serrano marcesce ns, to see The bact erium , set in a paste .
mycology for the feder al Cent er for start ed down around 140 street
Bay Aria was taken In smal l boat s to a poin t
Disease Control In Atlan ta. said last and samp led up as far as about,66th
'hike( winds hi the outs ide the surf and put into the week: -If I had been consulted and street, and there !was) quite a bit of
would carry germs into fir city. ria) all
sta- water. The idea was to see if the asked to choose an Aspergillus to aerosol (containing the bacte
The military had monitoring brea king wav es, wou ld toss the use in a simulated biological war- along the way," Senseney.said. -
tions taking air samples around the eria into the air where the fare setup, fumiginus is the last one
city to see where the bacteria bact y It NeWilkly
ared . The expe rime M was - re- wind could pick it up and carr I would have suggested, because we
appe into the city. A sour ce said that the know it's pathogenic."
peated the next afternoon. winds were blowing from the west
Within a week, patients In the at the time of the test and that
the The Army said it discontinued
old Stanford University Hospital to bacteria were carried into Berk eley all such tests In 1969 following an
iSan Fran cisco bega n to deve lop and Oakl and. executive ban on offensive biologi-
infections of a type that was so rare Serratia was tiled. Sour ces said,