Rajneesh Bioterrorism | The International Outbreak Museum

Outbreak: #1984-001
Product: Restaurant salad bars
Investigation Start Date: 1985
Location: Waso County, Oregon
Etiology: Salmonella Typhimurium
Earliest known case onset date: 9/9/1985
Latest case onset date: 10/10/1985
Presumptive / Confirmed Case Count: 0 / 751
Positive Samples (Food / Environmental): 0 / 0

Rajneesh Salmonellosis Grand Rounds (1/2)

1984 Terror Attack investigation presentation
by Tom Török, April 24, 2014
This is a two-part presentation on the Oregon Health Authority investigation of this outbreak.

Rajneesh Salmonellosis Grand Rounds (2/2)

1984 Terror Attack investigation presentation
by Michael Skeels, April 24, 2014
This is a two-part presentation on the Oregon Health Authority investigation of this outbreak.

1984 salmonellosis Rajneesh bioterror attack in The Dalles, Oregon

Outbreak Summary:
The 1984 Rajneesh salmonella outbreak was the single largest bioterrorist attack in United States history. Featured: the two-part presentation on the Oregon Health Authority investigation.

Details:
A leading group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the city so that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections. The incident was the first and single largest bio-terrorist attack in United States history. The attack is one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans since 1945. 751 people contracted salmonellosis as a result of the attack; 45 of them were hospitalized. There were no fatalities. Although an initial investigation by the Oregon Public Health Division and the Centers for Disease Control did not rule out deliberate contamination, the agents and fact of contamination were only discovered a year later. On February 28, 1985, Congressman James H. Weaver gave a speech in the United States House of Representatives in which he "accused the Rajneeshees of sprinkling salmonella culture on salad bar ingredients in eight restaurants". At a press conference in September 1985, Rajneesh accused several of his followers of participation in this and other crimes, including an aborted plan in 1985 to assassinate a United States Attorney, and he asked State and Federal authorities to investigate. Oregon Attorney General David B. Frohnmayer set up an Interagency Task Force, composed of Oregon State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and executed search warrants in Rajneeshpuram. A sample of bacteria matching the contaminant that had sickened the town residents was found in a Rajneeshpuram medical laboratory. Two leading Rajneeshpuram officials were convicted on charges of attempted murder and served 29 months of 20-year sentences in a minimum-security federal prison.

Details:

A leading group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the city so that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections.

The incident was the first and single largest bio-terrorist attack in United States history. The attack is one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans since 1945.

751 people contracted salmonellosis as a result of the attack; 45 of them were hospitalized. There were no fatalities.

Although an initial investigation by the Oregon Public Health Division and the Centers for Disease Control did not rule out deliberate contamination, the agents and fact of contamination were only discovered a year later.

On February 28, 1985, Congressman James H. Weaver gave a speech in the United States House of Representatives in which he "accused the Rajneeshees of sprinkling salmonella culture on salad bar ingredients in eight restaurants". At a press conference in September 1985, Rajneesh accused several of his followers of participation in this and other crimes, including an aborted plan in 1985 to assassinate a United States Attorney, and he asked State and Federal authorities to investigate.

Oregon Attorney General David B. Frohnmayer set up an Interagency Task Force, composed of Oregon State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and executed search warrants in Rajneeshpuram. A sample of bacteria matching the contaminant that had sickened the town residents was found in a Rajneeshpuram medical laboratory. Two leading Rajneeshpuram officials were convicted on charges of attempted murder and served 29 months of 20-year sentences in a minimum-security federal prison.

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