Bioterrorism+ security Flashcards
Ancient use o bioterrorism
Hannibal- pots filled w/ venomous snakes thrown onto enemy ships
- Scythian archers dip arrows in feces> wounds b/cm infected
- Assyrians poison enemy wells w/ ergot> delusions
- Athens used Veratrum on water supply of Phocaea siege
- catapulting plague victs +/or D anis over castle walls during siege
- Civil War w/ confederates putting D anis in union water sources
- human experimentation (WWII)
weapons of mass destruction/ germ warfare
use of infect microbes as weapons
Mustard gas
Devod by French
First used by Germans
Refined by British
Cold war
promoted bio warfare research
=> sci.s left to USA, China, Korea to cont. research after soviet fall
Mod. terrorists and biosecurity
- want to cause max disruption to normal life + that persists long after actual threat is uncovered.
- public/media perception/response= out o proportion to actual threat=> Nat w/ mo threats than hu.s
Factors of good bio agent
easily trans (airborne/ contact)
- ^ mortality w/ mjr pub hlth impact
- likely- cause public panic and disruption
- new/ unprevented microbe= unprepared
- ease of production= nd lrg amnts- cause illness (small pox diff to grow)
Bioterrorism categories: A
most “dangerous and useful” to bioterrorists=
High Priority agents.
Bioterrorism categories: B
less “dangerous and useful”
Bioterrorism categories: C
potentially “dangerous and useful”
Top 4 bioterrorism agents
= know what to expect
- Bacillus anthracis
- Smallpox virus
- Yersinia pestis
- Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism)
- generally ease to get from environ, anis, or hu.s
Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)
spores that can be weaponized (mailed)
- white frost/ lace pattern on growth media
- orifice bleeding
- Louis Pasteur’s anthrax vacc= first vacc using live orgs
- no hu. to hu infectn
small pox
USA+ Russia w/ stockpiles=> devo vaccs, antiviral drugs, diagnostic tests
- no nat. case since late 70s
- ^ mortality
Yersinia pestis
SW USA
-incubation per=
Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism)
- cause paralysis o muscles= limp person
- No DNA/ RNA fo PCR detection
- Nerves not killed +can regenerate if person kept on respirator (4-6mo.s required)
- limitted # of respirators
Viral hemorrhagic fever
cause person to start bleeding fr/ mouth, nose, and rectum
bioterrorism case study: Oregon
Salmonellosis salad bars (usually in meat, milk, or eggs) >1 yr to find source= disgruntled religious members
microbe weapon effectiveness?
on paritial success w/ anthrax= packaging +delivery probs)
Future probs/ targets
food (central processing plants)+ water sources
-less water availability around world= likely sources of global conflicts (society is fragile)
How to combat bioterrorism
- Ust agent trans
- Management of resources
- prevention, treatment, predictive models - Edu and prepardness
- -all require funding
Microbiota Shift Dis.s
- outside normal classification schemes= >1 org involved
- imbalances of commensal orgs» generally beneficial, some circumstances= some species pathogenic
Change in formal flora
intestinal: IBD, Crohn’s Dis., Autism
oral: caries, gingivitis
vaginal: vaginosis, ^ o still births
GI microbiota shift dis.s
Involve shift fr/ some Gram+ orgs (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteium) to mix o Gram –/+ anaerobes (Clostridium
(+ve), Fusobacterium (-ve), Bacteroides(‐ve).
Devo of GI flora
Birth: initial colonizers
1st wk: conditions for favorable growth
Breast fed: bifidobacteria predominate
Formula fed: sim to days 4-7
Probiotics
‘bacteriotherapy’ for promoting healthy Gut microflora
Pathological Gut disorders
acute inflammation Pseudomembranous colitis Inflammatory bowel dis. bowel cancer IBS
