Tularemia is a disease of animals and humans caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. Rabbits, hares, and rodents are especially susceptible and often die in large numbers during outbreaks. Humans can become infected through several routes, including tick and deer fly bites, skin contact with infected animals, ingestion of contaminated water, or inhalation of contaminated dusts or aerosols. In addition, humans could be exposed as a result of bioterrorism. Symptoms vary depending upon the route of infection. Although tularemia can be life-threatening, most infections can be treated successfully with antibiotics. Steps to prevent tularemia include use of insect repellent, wearing gloves when handling sick or dead animals, and not mowing over dead animals. In the United States, naturally occurring infections have been reported from all States except Hawaii.
An investigation into outbreaks of salmonella poisoning by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has prompted U.S. health officials to warn the public to take care when handling mice, rats and hamsters after human cases of salmonella have been linked to pet rodents.
As many as 3,750 medical laboratories, all but 75 of which are in the U.S., have been told by the World Health Organization to destroy a pandemic flu virus sent to them as part of routine testing kits.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded 14 contracts totaling more than $73 million to fund the Large-Scale Antibody and T Cell Epitope Discovery Program, an initiative aimed at quickly identifying the regions of selected infectious agents that elicit immune reactions.
United States Department of Health and Human Services has announced four new contracts totaling more than $232 million to fund development of new vaccines against three potential agents of bioterrorism: smallpox, plague and tularemia. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), will administer the contracts.
Ticks as small as a freckle can transmit a number of illnesses for which there is no vaccine and, in some cases, no cure. These creatures even could become bioterrorism weapons.
Two teams of researchers, one based in the United States and the other in Europe, have decoded the genetic blueprint of the tularemia (rabbit fever) bacterium, a highly infectious human and animal pathogen.
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