pRIMrose
09-03-2003, 07:07 PM
By Jim Hauser
Talon News
September 3, 2003
BETHESDA, MD (Talon News) -- Earlier this week, scientists at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston announced the development of a new vaccine against anthrax that uses a dual approach in warding off the infectious disease. But another study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) indicates that little is known about the disease once it infects its victim.
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 used as a biological weapon as was the case in October, 2001 at the Brentwood Mail Processing and Distribution Center in Washington, DC.
A compound called poly-gamma-D-glutamic acid (PGA) helps bacillus anthracis multiple in the body by forming a capsule around the bacterium preventing detection by the immune system. As it spreads, it secretes toxins.
Current vaccines work by sensitizing the body to the toxins so that the immune system can detect and destroy them. But the vaccines now in use do not address the capsules around the bacteria and are of little use in actually killing the bacteria.
Source (http://www.gopusa.com/news/2003/september/0903_anthrax_study.s html)
Talon News
September 3, 2003
BETHESDA, MD (Talon News) -- Earlier this week, scientists at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston announced the development of a new vaccine against anthrax that uses a dual approach in warding off the infectious disease. But another study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) indicates that little is known about the disease once it infects its victim.
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 used as a biological weapon as was the case in October, 2001 at the Brentwood Mail Processing and Distribution Center in Washington, DC.
A compound called poly-gamma-D-glutamic acid (PGA) helps bacillus anthracis multiple in the body by forming a capsule around the bacterium preventing detection by the immune system. As it spreads, it secretes toxins.
Current vaccines work by sensitizing the body to the toxins so that the immune system can detect and destroy them. But the vaccines now in use do not address the capsules around the bacteria and are of little use in actually killing the bacteria.
Source (http://www.gopusa.com/news/2003/september/0903_anthrax_study.s html)