Infectious diseaseDecision on smallpox virus destruction delayed for three years

After a second round of committee negotiations Tuesday, the World Health Assembly (WHA) agreed to postpone setting a date for destruction of the world’s remaining smallpox virus stocks for another three years.

The assembly simultaneously reaffirmed previous statements that the virus stocks should be destroyed after “crucial research” is completed, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a press statement. The decision came on the last day of the WHA’s annual session.

The WHO statement said the 67th WHA (in 2014) will review the state of variola virus research when it once again takes up the question of a destruction date.

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) reports that during negotiations Monday and Tuesday, several countries, mainly developing ones, pushed for immediate destruction of the smallpox virus stocks, while others suggested a short delay for setting a deadline.

Approval of the 3-year postponement came at a session of the full WHA in the afternoon.

On 16 May U.S. officials had introduced a resolution to retain the virus stocks for at least another five years to allow work on bioterrorism countermeasures to continue. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius said, however, that the United States was committed to the eventual destruction of the virus stocks.

Nils Daulaire, MD, MPH, director of the HHS Office of Global Affairs, who was in Geneva as part of the U.S. delegation, told CIDRAP News that even though the timeline for revisiting the virus destruction issue is shorter than the US had proposed, the decision was a consensus one that is workable.

“It’s a good outcome,” he said, adding that three more years of countermeasures research and development will allow experts to more precisely assess issues related to destroying the world’s remaining stocks.

Daulaire said one stumbling block during the discussions about the draft resolution was Iran’s objection to a provision that requires all countries to report if they have any variola stocks and what happened to any they previously had. He said seven other countries spoke in favor if Iran’s position.

Twenty seven other countries signed on as cosponsors of the U.S. proposal, Daulaire said, adding that some were from sub-Saharan Africa, an area he says is becoming more concerned about the potential threat of a biological attack and the emergence of other related infectious diseases.

In 1996 the WHA agreed that the remaining virus stocks should be destroyed, but the decision on a timeline has been postponed four other times. The United States and Russia have kept supplies of the virus for research purposes, while several developing nations have regularly pushed for the timely destruction of the remaining samples.

Last December an expert group convened by the WHO recommended that researchers and regulators work together to find new ways to test smallpox countermeasures to clear the way for the destruction of the remaining virus stocks. The group based its recommendations on a WHO advisory committee report that reviewed the progress of smallpox research and development. That panel concluded that continued testing of smallpox vaccines and antivirals builds confidence in their efficacy, though it’s now possible to create the virus from scratch..

CIDRAP News notes that according to a detailed report on the smallpox virus deliberations from the Third World Network (TWN), a nongovernmental organization that observed the proceedings, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan informally helped broker the final agreement today and said she would continue the work of the two WHO groups that released the recommendations and report, if no countries object. The TWN, based in Malaysia, does advocacy work for developing countries.