BRITISH troops sent to Iraq will be inoculated with a new plague vaccine being developed at the research laboratories of the Ministry of Defence, write David Cracknell and Adam Nathan.

Scientists are close to completing trials of the drug, which is to be offered to thousands of British soldiers, the ministry said this weekend.

One form of the disease is the bubonic plague, which in the 14th century wiped out a third of the population of Europe. Traditional forms such as this can be treated with antibiotics but it is feared Saddam Hussein is developing a deadly “super-plague” bacterium resistant to modern treatments.

The ministry undertook the hunt for a vaccine after scientists discovered a strain of bubonic plague that was resistant to most known cures and was described as “clinically ominous”.

The health department is likely to stockpile enough supplies to safeguard the entire country against plague in case terrorists seek to spread the infection.

The Sunday Times has also learnt that the defence ministry will call up hundreds of reserve forces, including logistic and medical specialists, within the next fortnight in preparation for a possible attack on Iraq.

In another medical move, ministers have ordered enough smallpox vaccine and anti- radiation pills to protect the whole country against “dirty” bombs.

British troops are already offered protection against anthrax and smallpox, but until now there has been no effective plague vaccine.

The disease has an incubation period of up to five days and can spread rapidly through the air or by touch.

Military scientists at Porton Down, Wiltshire, have been secretly working for four years to produce a modern plague vaccine capable of protecting troops. There is no commercially available alternative deemed effective.

Last week defence officials confirmed that clinical trials involving animals and humans were almost at an end. Licensing of the drug is “not far away”, said one official. “It is a reasonable assumption that soldiers going to Iraq will be vaccinated.”

Professor Michael Langman, chairman of the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, the security subgroup of which has a leading role in biological warfare protection, is being kept up to date with the progress.

“When we have reasonable evidence that (the vaccine) works, the sort of decision on whether to buy enough vaccine to immunise the full population or ‘ring vaccinate’ large populations will be made,” he said.

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