Anthrax in Rhodesia During the Front War (1978-82): A Suspected Act of Biological Warfare

Exerpt from an upcoming publication:

From 1978-82, an epizootic of anthrax appeared in Rhodesia in the context of the Front War, where the minority European-controlled government fought a losing engagement against Maoist- and Soviet- backed African forces.  Ultimately, they lost but not before South African-supported Selous Scouts engaged in biological and chemical weapons development.  It is believed these activities in Rhodesia and similar incidents in Namibia were a research and development prelude to the South African Project Coast.

A documented 10,700+ human cases and an untold tens of thousands of cattle deaths were documented in Rhodesia at the time covering an estimated 200,000 km².  There were of course multiple unusual, non-routine epidemiological features documented at the time, not the least of which consideration of the prior baseline of case reporting in Rhodesia:

Figure 1.  National level baseline reporting of human anthrax cases in Rhodesia from 1926-1977.

An astounding shift in epidemiological pattern upon the onset of this infectious disease disaster (i.e. an IDIS Cat 5), where the above statistics were recorded at the national level.  The below was recorded at the provincial level and at a single hospital, respectively.

Figure 2.  Midlands Province, Rhodesia: documentation of human anthrax cases.

Figure 3.  Number of hospitalizations and fatalities due to anthrax, Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital.

The transmission intensity at Beatrice Road was such that they saw all clinical forms of anthrax: cutaneous, inhalational, gastroenteric, septic, and meningitic.  These are photographs of some of the victims (credit: JCA Davies):

Many notable anthrax experts provided their opinion of this event being a "perfectly natural" epizootic in the context of a collapsed veterinary infrastructure during the Front War.  We disagree.  Details to follow in an upcoming publication.

One of the strongly suspected perpetrators who worked with the Selous Scouts- a man we interviewed on several occasions- was bludgeoned to death this year by unidentified assailants.