Lethal Bacteria Found at Biofem Doctor’s Home

Preliminary tests on substances removed from the Irvine home of biomedical researcher Dr. Larry C. Ford found germs that cause cholera and salmonella, according to law enforcement sources.

The FBI is trying to determine why the doctor kept the potentially dangerous bacteria in the house and whether they were related to his medical research with Biofem Inc. or somehow linked to his involvement with the South African military’s biological weapons program, the sources said.

Cholera is a highly contagious intestinal disease that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration and can be fatal if not promptly treated. Salmonella is a leading cause of food poisoning and in rare cases can be fatal.

The findings mark another twist in the byzantine murder plot targeting Ford’s business partner. The chain of events began Feb. 28, when a masked gunman shot and wounded Biofem chief executive James Patrick Riley. On March 1, police searched Ford’s home in connection with the assassination attempt. The next day, Ford shot and killed himself.

Local authorities then evacuated more than 200 Irvine residents as police dug up a cache of illegal weapons and explosives from Ford’s home in the Woodbridge neighborhood.

Hazardous-materials teams removed from Ford’s refrigerator and garage dozens of “suspicious materials” they believed might be hazardous.

Ford and Riley were developing a female contraceptive that Biofem literature touted as capable of killing pathogens. The two were also working on a bacteria treatment that would protect against certain stomach upsets.

Officials are exploring whether the germs, found in Ford’s home among dozens of jars taken from his refrigerator and garage last month, posed any health risks and how the gynecologist had come to posses them, the sources said.

Officials are unsure whether Ford violated any laws in his storage or use of the bacteria.

The germs, along with other unidentified substances taken from the home, are being tested by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC officials on Saturday declined comment.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the salmonella and cholera germs appeared to have been stored for some time, possibly years; the preliminary tests found that some of the germs were dead but others were alive.

Both bacteria can be obtained from hospital labs and, if stored properly, can be used as part of legitimate research in laboratory settings, said Dr. Kenneth Litwack, an associate professor at UC Irvine.

Litwack said he knew of no laws preventing researchers from storing the bacteria, though he wasn’t familiar with the laws governing its use. The safest way to store the germs is in a freezer, said Litwack, an infectious disease specialist.

Biofem attorney Raymond Lee, said Saturday that the company’s work never involved using cholera or salmonella. The company research is contracted out to outside laboratories, and none of the firm’s work would have been stored at Ford’s home, he said.

“There was nothing that was harmful at all,” Lee said Saturday of Biofem’s research. “None of it is being done here anyway. It’s all being tested off site. . . . Whatever he had at home was just his.”

The law enforcement sources said the germs found in Ford’s home have prompted officials to look more closely at the doctor’s work as an advisor to the South African apartheid-era government on biochemical warfare.

While the extent of Ford’s relationship with the South African government remains unclear, the former surgeon general of the South African Defense Force said the Irvine biomedical researcher served as an “informal consultant” and provided advice on protecting military personnel against biological attacks. Others have said that Ford played a greater role involving offensive weapons.

Salmonella was used in the most significant germ warfare attack in U.S. history. In 1984, members of the Rajneeshee cult in Oregon sprayed a salad bar with the bacterium in an effort to keep people from voting in a local election. The attack gave diarrhea to 751 people.

Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, is cited along with anthrax and botulism by the CDC as a possible agent that could be used in a bioterrorist attack.

Salmonella and especially cholera have caused major health problems, in Africa and South America, where access to antibiotics is limited and they kill thousands every year. But the bacteria rarely cause serious health problems in the United States and Europe, where the drugs are much more commonly available.