Friday, November 20, 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

History of Anthrax

The scientific name for Anthrax is Bacillus anthracis .Anthrax is a disease that mammals and some birds get. Humans usually get these diseases indirectly or directly from infected animals, work related exposure to the disease or contaminated animal products. You can’t transfer this disease person to person. The people who are in risk of getting anthrax are farmers, veterinarians, and tannery and wool workers. There are three primary anthraxes: Cutaneous anthrax this happens when anthrax touches cut or scrape on the skin. Symptoms for Cutaneous anthrax are blisters that will form into a black scab. Inhalation anthrax happens when anthrax spore enters your lung. Gastrointestinal anthrax this will affect your mouth, esophagus, intestines, and colon. This infection can spread through your bloodstream which can cause a death.Anthrax is used as a biological weapon or can be use for bioterrorism. Bioterrorism was active in 2001 when US postal service was infected and 22 peoples had anthrax and 7 people survived. The cause of death was confirmed, that it was cutaneous anthrax disease. People believe that 17 nations have biological weapons and its unknown how many countries are using anthrax as a bio weapon. In 1800s scientists were learning about anthrax and they learned that it emerged in world war one. If you have anthrax and there isn’t any symptom you could use antibiotics like ciprofloxacin penicillin, or doxycycline it stops the anthrax from spreading.

Anthrax Timeline

Statistics

Etiology

Anthrax is caused by an organism called Bacillus anthracis.In some parts of the world Bacillus anthracis is found in cattle or other mammals. It is found in Western Europe and the US, and is most likely to be found in animals in south and Central America, south and east Europe, Asia and Africa. These bacteria can turn into spores than can easily contaminate meat, breathed in or infect the skin directly through human to animal contact.

Mode of Transmission

The most common anthrax is the cutaneous anthrax. Cutaneous anthrax infection occurs when someone is in contact with tissues of animals (cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs and others) dying of the diseases. This happens when the animals get bitten by flies and then the flies go and bit other animals that will spread the disease in the animal kingdom. People can get infected when you use the contaminated products that may be made from the carrier animal. Some of these contaminated products are hair, wool, hides or products made from them, such as drums, brushes or rugs. You will also get infected when you get in contact with soil that is associated with the infected animals. Inhalation anthrax occurs when an individual inhale spores in risky industrial processes such as tanning hides and processing wool or bone where aerosols of anthracis spores are produced. Gastrointestinal anthrax occurs when you eat contaminated undercooked meat, bone meal or other feeds and among wildlife feeding on carcasses that is infected with anthrax. Sometimes people who work in laboratory get infected accidentally.








Symptoms

The incubation period is really short because after the contact with the anthrax and start of the symptoms it will take one to five days for the individual to feel the effects. As I mentioned before there are three forms of diseases caused by anthrax and they are cutaneous anthrax, inhalation anthrax, and gastrointestinal anthrax. Each of this anthrax has different symptoms. The symptoms of cutaneous anthrax are muscle aches and pain, headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting. The illness should resolve in six weeks but you can die if you don’t receive the proper antibodies. The first symptom for inhalation anthrax is subtle, gradual and flu. In few days this can turn into deadly symptoms and this can cause shock, coma or death. Gastrointestinal anthrax is caused by eating undercooked, contaminated meat. The symptoms for gastrointestinal anthrax nausea, loss of appetite, bloody diarrhea and fever followed by abdominal pain.

Prevention

To prevent anthrax in both humans and animals people should safely dispose anthrax carcasses and vaccination. The most efficient way to dispose is heat sterilization of the underline soil. This is possible in the developed countries but in the non developed courtiers it’s difficult to heat sterilize anthrax carcasses and vaccinations.

Treatment/Cures

Anthrax can be treated with antibodies. If you are infected with the anthrax the antibodies treatment should start right away. To cure a person you must know the form of anthrax he/she is infected with, than you must provide the required antibodies immediately. The common anthrax which is called cutaneous it is cured by using penicillin, tetracycline, erythromycin, and ciprofloxacin .After a bioterrorism attack the infected people will be given antibodies before they get sick. There is a vaccine for anthrax but it’s not available for the general public yet.

Scientist linked to fatal anthrax letters kills himself

WASHINGTON–Anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and severely rattled the post-9/11 nation may have been part of an Army scientist's warped plan to test his cure for the deadly toxin, officials said today. The brilliant but troubled scientist committed suicide this week, knowing prosecutors were closing in.

The sudden naming of scientist Bruce E. Ivins as the top – and perhaps only – suspect in the anthrax attacks marks the latest bizarre twist in a case that has confounded the FBI for nearly seven years. Last month, the Justice Department cleared Ivins' colleague, Steven Hatfill, who had been wrongly suspected in the case, and paid him $5.8 million.

Ivins worked at the Army's biological warfare labs at Fort Detrick, Md., for 18 years until his death on Tuesday. He was one of the government's leading scientists researching vaccines and cures for anthrax exposure. But he also had a long history of homicidal threats, according to papers filed last week in local court by a social worker.

The letters contained anthrax powder were sent on the heels of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and turned up at congressional offices, newsrooms and elsewhere, leaving a deadly trail through post offices on the way. The powder killed five and sent numerous victims to hospitals and caused near panic in many locations.

Workers in protective garb that made them look like space men decontaminated U.S. Capitol buildings after anthrax letters were discovered there. Major postal substations were closed for years. Newsrooms were checked all over after anthrax letters were mailed to offices in Florida and New York.

The Justice Department said Friday only that "substantial progress has been made in the investigation." The statement did not identify Ivins.

However, several U.S. officials said prosecutors were focusing on the 62-year-old Ivins and planned to seek a murder indictment and the death penalty. Authorities were investigating whether Ivins, who had complained about the limits of testing anthrax drugs on animals, had released the toxin to test the treatment on humans.

The officials all discussed the continuing investigation on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Justice Department is expected to decide within days whether to close the "Amerithrax" investigation now that its main target is dead. If the case remains open, that could indicate there still are other suspects.

Ivins' attorney asserted the scientist's innocence and said he had cooperated with investigators for more than a year.

"We are saddened by his death, and disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law," said Paul F. Kemp.

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. Relatives told The Associated Press that he killed himself. Kemp said his client's death was the result of the government's ``relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo.''

For more than a decade, Ivins had worked to develop an anthrax vaccine that was effective even in cases where different strains of anthrax were mixed – a situation that made vaccines ineffective – according to federal documents reviewed by the AP. In 2003, he shared the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service for his work on the anthrax vaccine. The award is the highest honor given to Defense Department civilian employees.

Ivins conducted numerous anthrax studies, including one that complained about the limited supply of monkeys available for testing. The study also said animal testing couldn't accurately show how humans would respond to anthrax treatment.

The Fort Detrick laboratory and its specialized scientists for years have been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax mailings. In late June, the government exonerated Hatfill, whose name has for years had been associated with the attacks. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft called him a "person of interest" in 2002.

Investigators also had noticed Ivins' unusual behavior at Fort Detrick in the six months following the anthrax mailings. He conducted unauthorized testing for anthrax spores outside containment areas at the infectious disease research unit where he worked, according to an internal report. But the focus stayed on Hatfill.

Ivins' friends, colleagues and court documents paint a picture of a flourishing scientist with an emotionally unstable side. Maryland court documents show he recently received psychiatric treatment and was ordered to stay away from a woman he was accused of stalking and threatening to kill.

Social worker Jean C. Duley filed handwritten court documents last week saying she was preparing to testify before a grand jury. She said Ivins would be charged with five capital murders.

"Client has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, plans and actions towards therapists," Duley said, adding that his psychiatrist had described him as homicidal and sociopathic.

Authorities have been watching Ivins for some time. His brother, Tom Ivins, said federal agents questioned the scientist about a year and a half ago. Neighbors said FBI agents in cars with tinted windows conducted surveillance on his home. A colleague, Henry S. Heine, said that over the past year, he and others on their team had testified before a federal grand jury in Washington that has been investigating the anthrax mailings.

On July 10, police responded to Fort Detrick to speak with Ivins. He was ultimately removed from his job and taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation because of concern he had become a danger to himself or others.

The victims of the attacks had little in common.

Robert Stevens, 63, a photo editor at the Sun, a supermarket tabloid published in Boca Raton, Fla., was the first to die.

Thomas Morris Jr. 55, and Joseph Curseen, 47, worked at a Washington-area postal facility that was a hub for sorting the capital's mail.

Kathy Nguyen, 61, who had emigrated from Vietnam and lived in the Bronx, worked in a stock room at Manhattan Eye Ear & Throat Hospital, a Children's Hearing Institute. Ottilie Lundgren, 94, who lived in Oxford, Conn.

http://www.thestar.com/article/470966

Reflection

In September 11 2001 the US postal service received packages in the mail that is infected with anthrax. The anthrax infected 22 people, and 7 of them survived. Everyone around the world and US assumed this was bioterrorism but it’s not. The man who was responsible for spreading the Anthrax is an employ in army's biological warfare labs at Fort Detrick, Md. He worked there for 18 years. His name is Ivins. That they say he is brilliant but troubled scientists. Ivins got arrested and then he committed suicide when he finds out that the prosecutors were closing in on him. Ivins was one of the leading scientists, researching for new vaccines and cures for Anthrax exposure. Ivins also had a long history of homicidal threats, according to papers filed last week in local court by a social worker. After his death Ivins’s colleague, Steven Hatfill was wrongly suspected by the FBI. Steven Hatfill sued the government for 5.8 million, for falls accusation.

Bibliography

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