Results tagged “anthrax” from Pathophilia

On the morning of November 30, 1982, Nancy Haigwood walked out of her Gaithersburg, MD, townhome to find "KKG" carefully spray painted on her fence, sidewalk, and the rear window of her fiancé's car. Haigwood, a member of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma, had moved in only a few months earlier. Her address, she claimed, had not been published.

At the time, Bruce Ivins, a USAMRIID scientist, lived just a block away. Haigwood had known Ivins, an acquaintance, through their recent postgraduate studies at the University of North Carolina. He was an unusual, officious kind of guy who, according to Haigwood, had shown a specific interest in her ΚΚΓ membership. She was sure that Ivins was the vandal and confronted him during a chance encounter soon afterward. He denied it.

Months later, a "Nancy L. Haigwood" wrote the following letter to the editor of The Frederick News-Post. The letter, published May 9, 1983, was in response to a buried AP story in the paper about a University of Montana frat member* who had floated a dead kitten in a block of ice in a punch bowl. Despite the fact that the article did not mention fraternity hazing, the letter defended the practice.

It seems that every time I read an article in the News-Post about college fraternities or sororities, the tone of the article is decidedly negative. "Frat member floats kitten in punch" (April 15, 1983) continues that unfortunate tradition.

As a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, one of our nation's oldest and most prestigious college sororities, I am continually dismayed by attempts of the media and other outsiders to disparage the Greek System. I am especially incensed at vitriolic attacks on our practices of "hazing," which non-Greeks fail to realize serve numerous valuable functions that I would like to briefly enumerate.

First of all, hazing strengthens the mettle of pledges by preparing them for the many trials they will surely face in later life. Secondly, hazing builds loyalty to the pledge class and to the overall organization. Last but not least, hazing is the final stage of the all-important weeding-out process.

Charges that actives are to blame for accidental injuries which sometimes occur during pledge hazing are totally without foundation. No active ever forces any pledge or initiate to do anything in a sorority or fraternity—an individual is free to depledge at any time.

Charges that hazing and other related activities are detrimental to the academic performance of pledges obviously come from individuals who don't realize that the primary education in a college or university environment doesn't come from reading a book or sitting in a classroom, but rather from dynamically interacting with one's peers.

No one ever hears non-Greeks laud the accomplishments of those within the ranks, yet the proud Halls of American History are lined with men and women who were members of college fraternities and sororities. No matter what the press may say about us, I'm still proud to be in a sorority, proud to be counted among our country's very best.

NANCY L. HAIGWOOD
10265 Ridgeline Drive, Gaithersburg

Haigwood maintains that she never wrote the letter and believes that Ivins did. If true, the letter's author would have been a 37-year-old, male, USAMRIID scientist who had just published data about plasmid-mediated toxin production in Bacillus anthracis and the enhanced culture of the bacterium. 

During the last few years, as jimmyflathead at Wikipedia, Ivins showed an interest in ΚΚΓ hazing by attempting to contribute information about the subject (see previous post here).

* God only knows where that creep is now.

Primary source: Microbiologist says she was stalked by Ivins. See also the FBI's Amerithrax search warrants for more information about Ivins's alleged online activity.

Public domain photograph of Daschle "anthrax" letter from Wikipedia.

Whether you believe that Bruce Ivins perpetrated the 2001 "anthrax letter attacks," one assertion is difficult to refute: The guy was more than just an affable oddball; he was chronically and seriously disturbed.

In yesterday's NYT, Scott Shane profiles the USAMRIID microbiologist, who is alleged to have mailed spores of Bacillus anthracis, the cause of anthrax, in block-letter-addressed envelopes to news organizations and congressmen shortly after 9/11. Shane's profile is not so much an examination of the scientific evidence against Ivins but a character portrait derived from, in part, interviews with family and friends and Ivins's own e-mails.

One notable feature of the NYT piece is the observation that Ivins led a highly compartmentalized life, in which he kept his long-time obsession with sororities in general and Kappa Kappa Gamma in particular from his family. His consuming thoughts about the sorority are germane to a behavioral study of the anthrax-letter perpetrator, because the Princeton, NJ, mailbox, from which all of the letters were posted, is 60 feet from a ΚΚΓ office.

Ivins's obsession materialized most disturbingly and concretely in his fixation on microbiologist and ΚΚΓ member Nancy Haigwood, a fixation that manifested in criminal activity according to Haigwood—namely, the vandalism of personal property and the usurpation of Haigwood's identity in the early 1980s. This information has been previously reported by other news sources (for instance, here). Also, like reporters before him, Shane reveals that Ivins spent an inordinate amount of time posting online about sororities by using the names kingbadger, jimmyflathead, and goldenphoenix.

Notably jimmyflathead's contributions to Wikipedia* include mention of Haigwood as an eminent ΚΚΓ member. Below are excerpts (not mentioned in the NYT article) that contribute to Bruce Ivins's very sad, strange, and enduring legacy:

Eelmonkey, I'm not a member of KKG, but at one time I had a copy of the Book Of Ritual. I'm familiar with their secrets and rituals, but I don't think that the organization would want them revealed. I would respectfully suggest you ask the opinions of some of the Kappas who have posted here. jimmyflathead 19:40, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Eelmonkey, I also want to add that unless you have a copy of the KKG Cipher (decoder), or you have a decoded copy of the Book of Ritual, simply having the Book of Ritual won't do you any good...unless you got the information from the Fraternitysecrets.com message board which has now been down for quite some time. For example, do you know about the ***** room and *** room services? Do you know the secret names of the chapter officers? Do you know the terms for voting "yes" and "no?" Do you know what the Three Ideals of KKG are and what the Spirit is? Do you know what the ΚΚΓ Greek letters stand for? (It's NOT Key to the Kingdom of God, by the way.) The ritual book without the cipher is useless to you.jimmyflathead 19:19, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Also, I'd like to see some Kappas put down for their scientific achievments[sic]. It's not my job to do it, but I can think of Dr. Nancy Haigwood and Dr. Gail Williams Wertz immediately as alumae who have distinguished themselves. It would look good, but I'm not about to go create a Wikipedia page for them just so they can be on the Kappa page. I just get tired of seeing lots of TV and moviestars, but scientists get short shrift. jimmyflathead 03:14, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Last, I created a stub for Nancy Logan Haigwood, but she does not currently meet the criteria of having a wiki page. If we are going to keep her on the list, I think it at least makes sense for a page to be created. I don't know enough to make one - but jimmyflathead

I'm not in favor of removing Dr. Haigwood's name from the list of notable Kappas. I believe that her accomplishments warrant her inclusion and I know for certain that she is not only a KKG member, she was the chapter adviser (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) while in graduate school. I don't believe that fame or renown must derive from an individual's GLO membership and, as such, we may barely see a reference to it when describing the chief of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, or a Nobel lauriate[sic] in one of the scientific fields. There is certainly sufficient knowledge that the public can obtain (such as college yearbooks and the student newspaper, "The Daily Tarheel," to verify membership. jimmyflathead 00:25, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

* After Haigwood reluctantly struck up an e-mail correspondence with Ivins in 2006 at the behest of the FBI.

N.B. The NYT reveals that Ivins had stolen the KKG ritual book and cipher device during one of his 3 uninvited, post-college visits to a university chapter house. It is not known by me how or if Ivins ever knew Gail Wertz, PhD. Update: According to Wikipedia, there was no known relationship between Wertz and Ivins.

Public domain photograph of Daschle "anthrax" letter from Wikipedia.

Addendum: More about Ivins's activity as jimmyflathead at Wikipedia can be found here. His edits at the online encyclopedia almost exclusively concerned ΚΚΓ and escalated into an editing war, in which Ivins threatened to post derogatory or confidential information about the sorority if his additions were deleted or edited by another contributor. In at least one instance, Ivins attempted to add (and possibly re-add) information about hazing incidents. 

The subject is important vis-a-vis Ivins, because a 1983 letter to the Frederick News-Post, signed by "Nancy L. Haigwood" defended the practice of hazing; however, Haigwood recently claimed to news sources that she never wrote the letter and suspects that Ivins did—several months after he allegedly spray painted "KKG" on property at her Gaithersburg, MD, home.  

 ...before looking forward.

Pathophilia's Top 10 Medical Stories of 2008: A Recap

10. Gunvalson v. PTC Therapeutics

9. California v. Roozrokh and Cardiac-Death Organ Donation

8. Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in China

7. Continuing Backlash Against Pharma

6. Media Obsession With Delayed Results of ENHANCE Trial

5. Investigational Drugs for Alzheimer's Disease Disappoint

4. Milder Rotavirus Season Coincides With Vaccine Uptake

3. USAMRIID Scientist Identified as Sole Perpetrator of "Anthrax Letter Attacks"

2. Resurgence of Measles

1. Intentional Drug and Food Tampering in China

Other notable stories of 2008 that didn't make Pathophilia's totally arbitrary list:

• More cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) with Tysabri (natalizumab) use
• Pig-slaughter neuropathy
• US government compensates Poling family for vaccine-related autism
• Ted Kennedy diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme

In August, the FBI announced that USAMRIID scientist Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the "anthrax letter attacks" of 2001.

Pulmonary anthrax from inhaled letter spores killed 5 people, including 2 postal workers.

• Robert Stevens, 63, a photoeditor at a Florida tabloid office, died October 6, 2001.
• Thomas Morris, Jr., 55, a mail handler at the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, DC, died October 21, 2001.
• Joseph Curseen, 47, an employee at the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, DC, died October 22, 2001.
• Xinh Thi "Kathy" Nguyen, 61, a Vietnamese immigrant and New York City hospital worker, died October 31, 2001.*
• Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year-old Connecticut resident, died November 21, 2001.*

Attention was directed to Ivins when DNA-sequence variations in the letter spores led to the identification of a specific flask at USAMIRIID, which contained the same mix of Bacillus anthracis spores. Ivins, a B. anthracis microbiologist, had been the primary custodian of the flask since 1997.

Other circumstantial evidence against Ivins:

• USAMRIID, in Fort Detrick, MD, is the only relevant lab in the geographic area where the "federal eagle" envelopes used in the attacks were distributed and sold.
• According to USAMRIID lab records, Ivins worked alone in late-night shifts during September 14-16, 2001, and from September 28 to October 5, 2001, before the rounds of Post/Brokow and Leahy/Daschle letters were respectively mailed.
• Ivins submitted "unusable" and false B. anthracis spores to the FBI for testing. The initial, unusable sample that was submitted to the FBI in 2002 was destroyed by the agency; however, Paul Keim's lab at Northern Arizona University preserved a portion of this initial sample, which was later found to contain mutations identical to the letter spores. In 2004, the FBI seized the USAMRIID flask, which subsequently indicated a genetic match to the B. anthracis in the letters.

Faced with impending prosecution by the DoJ, Ivins killed himself on August 1 July 29 by taking an overdose of Tylenol with codeine. (01/07/09 addendum: News reports now indicate that Ivins took a fatal overdose of acetaminophen, citing police records.)

Relevant background reading at the Pathophilia blog is available at these links:

• DoJ Evidence Against Ivins Compelling
• Genetic Gumshoeing in the Anthrax Letter Attacks
• Despite FBI Anthrax Briefing, Media and Blogging Arguably Egg on "Grassy Knollers"
• How the Smoking-Gun "Anthrax" Flask at USAMRIID Became a Smoking Gun

Also USA Today, believe it or don't, provided some of the most comprehensive news coverage of the bioterrorism investigation.

USAMRIID = US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

* It remains unknown exactly how Nguyen and Lundgren were exposed to the B. anthracis letter spores.

Public domain photograph of Daschle "anthrax" letter from Wikipedia.

In a more complete account of last week's "anthrax" science briefing by the FBI, USA Today describes how the incriminating flask of Bacillus anthracis at USAMRIID, RMR-1029, became so genetically distinctive.

RMR-1029 started out as spores from an original Ames strain isolate, which was obtained from a dead Texas calf in 1981. At the US Army's Dugway Proving Ground, 13 production runs were initially conducted with this Ames isolate. Then USAMRIID scientist Bruce Ivins ran another 22 runs, to produce 164 liters of spores in 1997. Later Ivins concentrated the spore collection, called at this time RMR-1029, to 2 flasks in 2001 and then one 1-liter flask in 2004.

Because RMR-1029 had therefore been produced from so many generations of B. anthracis (Paul Keim of Northern Arizona University estimated that one spore colony might represent up to a trillion generations, wrote the paper), subpopulations of spores in the collection harbored distinctive mutations.* Four of these mutations were used by investigators to trace the letter spores back to RMR-1029.

*Strains of B. anthracis are usually highly genetically conserved, because spores in the wild typically remain dormant in the soil for such a long period of time before growth in an infected animal.

Scanning electron micrograph of spores of Ames strain of B. anthracis from CDC/Janice Haney Carr.

Addendum: USA Today, unlike other media outlets, also provided the FBI's list of scientific publications that relate directly to the anthrax investigation.

• Read TD et al. Comparative genome sequencing for discovery of novel polymorphisms in Bacillus anthracis. Science. 2002;296:2028-2033.
• Cummings CA, Relman DA. Genomics and microbiology: microbial forensics—"cross-examing pathogens." Science. 2002;296:1976-1979.
• Read TD et al. The genome sequence of Bacillus anthracis Ames and comparison to closely related bacteria. Nature. 2003;423:81-86.
• Whiteaker JR et al. Quantitative determination of heme for forensic characterization of Bacillus spores using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Anal Chem. 2004;76:2836-2841.
• Easterday WR et al. Specific detection of Bacillus anthracis using the TaqMan mismatch amplification mutation assay. Biotechniques. 2005;38:731-735.
• Beecher DJ. Forensic application of microbiological culture analysis to identify mail intentionally contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006;72:5304-5310.
• Van Ert MN et al. Strain-specific single-nucleotide polymorphism assays for the Bacillus anthracis Ames strain. J Clin Microbiol. 2007;45:47-53. (Discussed in a previous post, here.)
• Brewer LN et al. Forensic analysis of bioagents by X-ray and TOF-SIMS hyperspectral imaging. Forensic Sci Int. 2008;179:98-106.

Yesterday's FBI press briefing on the 2001 "anthrax" letter attacks was intended to rectify a few erroneous pieces of information in press reports and to bolster confidence in the science linking Bruce Ivins to the mailed Bacillus anthracis spores. However, several media outlets (eg, NYT) and Senator Tom Daschle, a target of one of the anthrax letters, continue to express skepticism that the FBI undeniably had its man. Specifically, to highlight the FBI's ineptitude, much is being made of an initial, unusable spore sample that was provided by Ivins to the FBI in 2002 and later destroyed by the agency.*

In an opening statement at the press briefing, Vahid Majidi, PhD, Assistant Director of the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, clarified that the mailed spores had not been "weaponized" with silicon—contrary to numerous, previous reports. Specifically Joseph Michael, PhD, at the Sandia National Laboratories (who was present at the briefing), concluded that silicon had been naturally incorporated into the spores after examining them with transmission electron microscopy. Majidi also further outlined the genetic investigation that led to the RMR-1029 flask of B. anthracis at USAMRIID (as graphically presented in a recent post).

An initial, preliminary analysis of the letter spores at the CDC revealed a mixture of several phenotypes. This discovery led to the extraction of DNA from these phenotypic variants at Northern Arizona University and full sequencing of the DNA samples at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). Majidi further advised that additional scientific information would be available in peer-reviewed publications and asked the audience to "respect the integrity of this process." He also acknowledged the FBI's inability to quell all suspicions related to the FBI's case against Ivins and added, "There's always going to be a spore on a grassy knoll," wrote the NYT.

Other panel scientists at the briefing included FBI Laboratory Director Chris Hassell, PhD; Paul Keim, PhD (Northern Arizona University); James Burans, PhD (National BioForensic Analysis Center); Rita Colwell, PhD (University of Maryland; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD (University of Maryland); and Jacques Ravel, PhD (University of Maryland).

Meanwhile, Slate blogger Glenn Greenwald—evidently forsaking all other evidence—believes the FBI's case against Ivins is completely undermined by the agency's inability to pinpoint exactly when Ivins drove from USAMRIID in Fort Detrick, Maryland, to Princeton, NJ (160 miles), on 2 occasions to mail the anthrax letters postmarked 9/18 and 10/9 of 2001.

* However, Paul Keim's lab at Northern Arizona University reportedly kept a sample of these spores for later analysis.

Additional source: ScienceNOW Daily News.

Scanning electron micrograph of spores of Ames strain of B. anthracis from CDC/Janice Haney Carr.

The techniques used to trace the Bacillus anthracis spores from the 2001 "anthrax" letter attacks to the USAMRIID laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland, weren't particularly novel, according to a report in this week's Science. By using documents released by the DoJ last week and expert speculation, writer Martin Enserink proposes the series of events that led to the source of the B. anthracis (Ames strain) that killed 5 people.

The first major task was to genetically distinguish the letter spores on the basis of phenotypic differences in cultured bacterial subpopulations, if at all possible.

The second task was to match the letter spore makeup to known, available Ames strain samples.

The FBI likely identified the USAMRIID lab as the source of the letter spores given that it was the only lab within the area where the "federal eagle" envelopes used in the attacks were distributed and sold. Although this very sound conclusion does not completely rule out the possibility that the spores came from another lab, it is the confluence of evidence (including Ivins's alleged submission of sabotaged or false B. anthracis samples to the FBI) that indicts the former USAMRIID scientist.

SNPs = single nucleotide polymorphisms.

* Sequencing work was likely performed by scientists at Northern Arizona University and The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Maryland.

08/18/08 update: According to ABC News, 8 of the positive samples originated from 2 US labs. One is presumed to be USAMRIID, and the other is not named. The original (2002), "unusable" sample of B. anthracis provided by Bruce Ivins to the FBI—a portion of which was retained by Paul Keim at Northern Arizona University—later tested positive for the 4 "letter" mutations.

While we wait for confirmation and further explanation from the scientific community (and I suspect specifically from Northern Arizona University's Paul Keim) about the forensic evidence that ties Bruce Ivins to the 2001 anthrax attacks, we can comb the documents released today by the DoJ. At least from my perspective, the evidence against Ivins is very compelling.

Among the presented information is the fact that the Ames strain of Bacillus anthracis contained in the mailed letters can be directly linked to a single spore batch, called RMR-1029. This identification was accomplished by the detection of 4 characteristic genetic mutations, which are otherwise not described in the DoJ documents; however, it is possible that these mutations refer to the use of highly mutable single nucleotide repeat (SNR) markers described in a previous post here on the subject.

Of the 16 domestic labs that had RMR-1029 before the 2001 anthrax attacks, only one—the USAMRID facility in Fort Detrick, MD—was located where the identified "federal eagle" envelopes used in the attacks were distributed and sold (Maryland or Virginia).

At Fort Detrick, RMR-1029 was stored in the B3 biocontainment suite in Building 1425, to which Bruce Ivins had "unrestricted access." Moreover, Ivins had been "the sole custodian of RMR-1029 since it was first grown in 1997."

Because the B. anthracis spores in the letters sent to the Post and Tom Brokaw (postmarked 9/18/2001) were physically different* from those contained in the letters to Senators Leahy and Daschle (postmarked 10/9/2001), the investigators concluded that the spore batches were created from the RMR-1029 flask at Fort Detrick on two separate occasions. This conclusion is supported by the presence of a B. subtilis contaminant in the Post/Brokaw letters, which could not have been derived from the Fort Detrick flask.

On the basis of nighttime work records at Fort Detrick, the DoJ proposes that Ivins produced the Post/Brokaw B. anthracis during September 14-16 and the Leahy/Daschle spores sometime from September 28 to October 5. It is important to note that Ivins worked alone during these late-shift periods, and that his work time differed considerably from those of other Fort Detrick researchers with access to RMR-1029.

Probably most damning is the allegation that Ivins stalled the genetic identification of the RMR-1029 batch at Fort Detrick by submitting possibly sabotaged or false samples to the FBI for analysis. Initial samples provided by Ivins in 2002 were unusable, according to the DoJ documents, and a second sample of RMR-1029 from Fort Detrick did not contain the characteristic 4 mutations. In 2004, the FBI seized the RMR-1029 flask, which subsequently indicated a genetic match to the B. anthracis contained in the letters. 

A final note of curiosity is the return address provided on the Senators' letters: "4th Grade, Greendale School, Franklin Park, NJ, 08852." Former person of interest Stephen Hatfill had been loosely linked to the fictitious address, owing to erroneous media reports that he lived near a "Greendale Elementary School" while in Zimbabwe. The DoJ documents suggest that the return address may be an indirect reference to the Greendale Baptist Academy in Wisconsin and a related suit filed by the ultra-conservative American Family Association against the Wisconsin Department of Public Services, which was investigating the corporal punishment of a 4th-grade student at the Academy. The DoJ notes that "Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Ivins," who were practicing Catholics, made several donations over the years to the AFA and received the organization's newsletter, which would have referenced the suit.

* Genomic sequencing, however, revealed that the B. anthracis spores in all 4 letters were identical.

Scanning electron micrograph of spores of Ames strain of B. anthracis from CDC/Janice Haney Carr.

According to Fox News, the FBI has shortened its list of suspects who perpetrated the 2001 "anthrax letter attacks" to about 4, and 3 of those suspects are scientists with links to the bioweapons research facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland (USAMRIID). The 3 USAMRIID suspects are described as a former deputy commander, a leading "anthrax" scientist, and a microbiologist, whose writing samples have been obtained by the FBI. The current short list apparently does not include former "person of interest" and USAMRIID scientist Steven Hatfill.

It is presently believed that the attacks were perpetrated by placing a "weaponized" powder version of Bacillus anthracis, which was taken from Fort Detrick, inside the mailed letters. Fox News obtained an e-mail (the date of which was not provided), in which USAMRIID scientists discussed how the B. anthracis powder that was provided by the FBI for analysis was "nearly identical" to that made by a colleague, whose name was deleted from the e-mail.

The B. anthracis strain identified in the 2001 anthrax attacks belongs to the Ames strain, and its genotype (62) indicates that it was originally obtained from a dead cow in Texas in 1981. According to leading B. anthracis investigators, the Ames strain is now apparently rare in nature but is in widespread use in laboratories. Consequently it is believed that the strain of the 2001 anthrax attacks was obtained from a laboratory involved in B. anthracis study.

The big trick in the investigation has been to narrow the attack strain to a single laboratory—a very big trick, since B. anthracis generally and the Ames strain specifically are highly genetically conserved. Just last year, B. anthracis expert Paul Keim and colleagues at Northern Arizona University published their identification of 6 single nucleotide polymorphisms* (SNPs) that merely distinguish the Ames strain from other B. anthracis strains, including close genetic relatives.

However, in a March 18 letter to the Letters in Applied Microbiology, the same investigators reported that they were able to identify 6 distinct genotypes of a single B. anthracis clone (obtained from a 2005 outbreak in South Dakota) by using 4 highly mutable single nucleotide repeat (SNR) markers. SNRs are variable-number tandem repeats in the DNA sequence that exhibit very high mutation rates. The authors concluded, "SNR markers are powerful tools for detailed tracking of natural B. anthracis outbreaks and could also prove useful in forensic investigations."

It seems logical that investigators would be using (or have used) SNR markers in an attempt to subtype various Ames strain isolates from different laboratories.

*Six SNPs were highly specific for the Ames strain: 4 were on the chromosome; 1 was on the pX01 plasmid; and 1 was on the pX02 plasmid.