Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and domestic lower vertebrates (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, antelopes, and other herbivores), but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals or tissue from infected animals.
Anthrax is most common in agricultural regions where it occurs in animals. These include South and Central America, Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. When anthrax affects humans, it is usually due to an occupational exposure to infected animals or their products. Workers who are exposed to dead animals and animal products from other countries where anthrax is more common may become infected with B. anthracis (industrial anthrax). Anthrax outbreaks occur in the United States on an annual basis in livestock and wild game animals such as deer.
Anthrax infection can occur in three forms: cutaneous (skin), inhalation, and gastrointestinal. B. anthracis spores can live in the soil for many years, and humans can become infected with anthrax by handling products from infected animals or by inhaling anthrax spores from contaminated animal products. Anthrax can also be spread by eating undercooked meat from infected animals. It is rare to find infected animals in the United States.
It's as simple as A, T, G, C. Northwestern University scientists have exploited the Watson-Crick base pairing of DNA to provide a defensive tool that could be used to fight the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria -- one of the world's most pressing public health problems.
Biochemists at North Carolina State University have answered a fundamental question of how important bacterial proteins make life-and-death decisions that allow them to function, a finding that could provide a new target for drugs to disrupt bacterial decision-making processes and related diseases.
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have discovered the key chemical that signals Bacillus anthracis , the bacterium that causes anthrax, to become lethal.
A musician and drum maker has died in Britain from anthrax after handling animal skins thought to have been imported from Africa.
Bacteria can directly cause human blood and plasma to clot - a process that was previously thought to have been lost during the course of vertebrate evolution, according to new research at the University of Chicago, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Institut Pasteur in Paris. Their findings will be published online Nov. 2 in Nature Chemical Biology.
Chronic hepatitis B infects 400 million people worldwide, many of them children. Even with three effective vaccines available, hepatitis B remains a stubborn, unrelenting health problem, especially in Africa and other developing areas. The disease and its complications cause an estimated 1 million deaths globally each year.
The United States Patent & Trademark Office issued a patent for an environmentally "Green" low cost process that eliminates the effects of a broad range of pollutants using oxidants.
Authorities in the United States say a suspect in the 2001 anthrax mailings case has committed suicide.
Multiple vaccinations have not been a cause of ill health in UK service personnel deployed to Iraq, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
A former U.S. Army scientist has won his case against the United States Justice Department for being unfairly implicated in anthrax attacks in 2001.
Human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) - highly specific, identical, infection-fighting proteins produced in large quantities in the lab in cell lines that are derived from a single antibody-producing cell - against influenza can be rapidly produced in the lab, according to a new report from scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 killed between 30 and 50 million people. In the infected patients, the ultimate cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This fatal condition is a massive reaction of the body during which the lung becomes severely damaged. ARDS can be induced by various bacterial and viral infections, but also by chemical agents.
Early studies show that a new mucosal vaccine against anthrax has the potential to provide military personnel with more effective and efficient protection against a "popular" bioweapon, according to a study published in the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology (CVI).
A team of Washington State University scientists has devised a method that could lead to the development of vaccines against some of the most troubling infectious diseases we face diseases that have so far been difficult or impossible to vaccinate against.
One day soon a biosensing nanodevice developed by Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch may eliminate long lines at airport security checkpoints and revolutionize health screenings for diseases like anthrax, cancer and antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company specializing in the development and commercialization of medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, and Avecia Biologics Limited, a contract manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, has announced that the companies have entered into a definitive sale and purchase agreement under which PharmAthene will acquire all of the assets and intellectual property related to Avecia's biodefense vaccines business.
A cup of black tea could be the next line of defence in the threat of bio-terrorism according to new international research.
The Centers for Disease Control has awarded the Indiana University School of Medicine a $2.6 million initial contract with the possibility of nearly $10 million in funding over 5 years to accelerate the real-time ability of local, state and regional entities to share data and information to enhance rapid response to and management of potentially catastrophic infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies.
Cells are coded with several programs for self-destruction.
Researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have developed a powerful sensor that can detect airborne pathogens such as anthrax and smallpox in less than three minutes.
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