DOHA: The practical and field training course for biological weapons inspectors was launched yesterday. The course is organised by Qatar’s National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons (NCPW) under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah.
It is held in cooperation with University of Nebraska of the US and will run till today. The course was inaugurated by Chairman of NCPW Major General Staff (Pilot) Nasser Mohammed Al Ali and a speech was delivered by NCPW Secretary, Captain Abdul Aziz Al Ahmad where he welcomed the attendees and said based on the State of Qatar’s keenness to combat weapons of mass destruction and is one of the first countries to join the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
He added that Qatar enacted legislation to put the convention into force, referring to Qatar’s Law No. 4 of 2016 on biological weapons. On her part, Director Center for Biosecurity, Biopreparedness, and Emerging Infectious Diseases of the University of Nebraska Dr. Sharon Medcalf thanked the State of Qatar represented by the NCPW for hosting this course.
She praised Qatar’s interest and keenness to combat weapons of mass destruction and terrorism.
She highlighted the program of the course which includes activities to prepare biological weapons inspectors in a constructive cooperation with the NCPW in the field of preparation and the implementation of the provisions of the BWC.
After the opening, a film was screened on the activities of the NCPW and Doha regional center for training on weapons of mass destruction conventions and the committees role in implementing conventions related to weapons of mass destructions.
The first session was chaired by head of biological weapon prohibition group-NCPW Dr. Jameela Al Ajmi and Captain Abdul-Aziz Al Ahmad spoke about the goals and achievements of the NCPW. Associate Director of the Biocontainment Unit at University of Nebraska Dr. Ted Cieslak presented a lecture on Anthrax.
He spoke about the history of this disease and how it spread. He also talked about its properties, its incubation and ways of infecting humans through contact, hair, bone, wool and through eating, inhalation and breathing.
Dr Ted also spoke about plague, which caused the death of more than 200 million people in 1346, saying that the disease caused the deaths of more than 25 percent of the world’s population, as it is transmitted by some animals such as mice, cats, fleas, and rodents, pointing out that the disease is transmitted to the lymph nodes leading to the explosion and thus the spread of 3 types of plague, and explained that the treatment of this disease requires treatment with antibiotics such as gentamicin and tetracycline chlorine amphithenol.
