By CHACOUR KOOP The Daily News
Dennis Bente was in college when he read “The Hot Zone,” a popular thriller chronicling the deadly spread of the Ebola virus. As was the case with many future scientists, the best-selling book sparked the interest of Bente, who was studying to become a research veterinarian.
Flash forward two decades and he is still studying emerging viruses — but now the University of Texas Medical Branch researcher is working in the only laboratory of its kind. The Galveston National Laboratory is the only facility in the world allowed to use live ticks for research at biosafety level 4, the highest containment requirement for dangerous and exotic diseases. Bente used the unique laboratory to study tick-borne hemorrhagic fevers, particularly the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
“We’re leaving out a key component if we’re not working with the ticks,” Bente said. “That’s a key understanding in getting rid of these diseases.”
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, which was first discovered when it infected Russian and German soldiers during World War II, is found on three continents and has no cure.
“You see how widespread this is, from China all the way to Spain and Africa,” Bente said.
While the virus doesn’t kill thousands yearly, it is re-emerging in Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan — areas where NATO soldiers are stationed. In 2009, a U.S. soldier died from the disease, Bente said. The disease hasn’t crossed to North or South America. Still, scientists are concerned about its potential to emerge in new areas.
“Since West Nile, and Zika now, I think we’re all a bit nervous about how things can spread from continent to continent,” Bente said.
The virus-hijacks the body within day and causes the immune system to overreact, which leads to organs failing. Bente led the difficult effort to bring live ticks to the Galveston National Laboratory, an expensive process with a bevy of governmental permitting requirements. For Bente, it’s an amazing opportunity to teach students and conduct research at a high level. He makes a point of using social media to relate new teaching techniques to students and for community outreach.
“In terms of science, it’s always important to me to understand the big picture of things: the tick, the virus, the human side of things,” Bente said. “From the education side, if I can give some of the enthusiasm that was given to me, I would be very happy.”
The medical branch is educating the next generation of scientists while leading the fields of research, Bente said.
“If you would have stopped by 10 years ago and people talked about Zika and Ebola, they would have been like ‘What is all this obscure stuff?’” Then diseases like that pop up and we’re really at the forefront,” Bente said.
“This all sounds probably weird and obscure — tick-borne viruses. But who knows, maybe five years down the road all of a sudden we have something, and then what are you going to do?”
Contact reporter Chacour Koop at 409-683-5241 or chacour.koop@galvnews.com.