tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/anthrax-2569/articlesAnthrax – The Conversation2022-12-05T12:16:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955012022-12-05T12:16:40Z2022-12-05T12:16:40ZPandoravirus: the melting Arctic is releasing ancient germs – how worried should we be?<p>Scientists have <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.10.515937v1">recently revived</a> several large viruses that had been buried in the frozen Siberian ground (permafrost) for tens of thousands of years. </p>
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<p>The youngest virus to be revived was a sprightly 27,000 years old. And the oldest – a <em>Pandoravirus</em> – was around 48,500 years old. This is the oldest virus ever to have been revived.</p>
<p>As the world continues to warm, the thawing permafrost is releasing organic matter that has been frozen for millennia, including bacteria and viruses – some that can still reproduce. </p>
<p>This latest work was by a group of scientists from France, Germany and Russia; they managed to reanimate 13 viruses – with such exotic names as <em>Pandoravirus</em> and <em>Pacmanvirus</em> – drawn from seven samples of Siberian permafrost. </p>
<p>Assuming that the samples were not contaminated during extraction (always difficult to guarantee) these would indeed represent viable viruses that had previously only replicated tens of thousands of years ago. </p>
<p>This is not the first time that a viable virus has been detected in permafrost samples. Earlier studies have reported the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1320670111">detection of a <em>Pithovirus</em></a> and a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1510795112"><em>Mollivirus</em></a>. </p>
<p>In their preprint (a study that is yet to be reviewed by other scientists), the authors state that it is “legitimate to ponder the risk of ancient viral particles remaining infectious and getting back into circulation by the thawing of ancient permafrost layers”. So what do we know so far about the risk of these so-called “zombie viruses”?</p>
<p>All the viruses cultured so far from such samples are giant DNA viruses that <a href="https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article/39/6/779/550971">only affect amoebae</a>. They are far from viruses that affect mammals, let alone, humans and would be very unlikely to pose a danger to humans. </p>
<p>However, one such large amoebae-infecting virus, called <em>Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus</em>, has been <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/2/05-0434_article">linked to pneumonia in humans</a>. But this association is still far from proven. So it does not appear that the viruses cultured from permafrost samples pose a threat to public health. </p>
<p>A more relevant area of concern is that as the permafrost thaws it could release the bodies of long-dead people who might have died of an infectious disease and so release that <a href="https://www.livescience.com/2403-climate-threat-thawing-tundra-releases-infected-corpses.html">infection back into the world</a>. </p>
<p>The only human infection that has been eradicated globally is smallpox and the reintroduction of smallpox, especially in hard-to-reach locations, could be a global disaster. Evidence of smallpox infection has been <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1208124">detected in bodies from permafrost burials</a> but “only partial gene sequences” so broken bits of virus that could not infect anyone. The smallpox virus does, however, survive well when frozen at -20°C, but still only for a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-7643-7557-7_19">few decades and not centuries</a>.</p>
<p>In the last couple of decades, scientists have exhumed the bodies of people who died from the Spanish flu and were buried in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.96.4.1651">permafrost-affected ground in Alaska</a> and Svalbard, Norway. The influenza virus was able to be sequenced but not cultured from the tissues of these deceased people. Influenza viruses can survive frozen for at least a year when frozen but <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3471417/">probably not several decades</a>.</p>
<h2>Bacteria could be more of a problem</h2>
<p>Other types of pathogen, such as bacteria, could be a problem, though. Over the years, there have been several outbreaks of anthrax (a bacterial disease that affects livestock and humans) affecting reindeer in Siberia. </p>
<p>There was a particularly large outbreak in 2016 that led to the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.668420/full">deaths of 2,350 reindeer</a>. This outbreak coincided with a particularly warm summer, which led to the suggestion that anthrax released from thawing permafrost may have triggered the outbreak. </p>
<p>Identified outbreaks of anthrax affecting reindeer in Siberia <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25887/understanding-and-responding-to-global-health-security-risks-from-microbial-threats-in-the-arctic">date back to 1848</a>. In these outbreaks, humans were also often affected from eating the dead reindeer. But others have highlighted alternative theories for these outbreaks that do not necessarily <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10393-020-01474-z">rely on thawing permafrost</a>, such as stopping anthrax vaccination and overpopulation by reindeer. </p>
<p>Even if permafrost thawing was triggering anthrax outbreaks that had serious effects on the local population, <a href="https://europepmc.org/article/MED/19723532">anthrax infection of herbivores is widespread globally</a>, and such local outbreaks are unlikely to trigger a pandemic. </p>
<p>Another concern is whether antimicrobial-resistant organisms could be released into the environment from thawing permafrost. There is good evidence from multiple studies that antimicrobial resistance genes can be <a href="https://fems-microbiology.org/femsmicroblog-microbes-antibiotic-resistance-genes-in-arctic-permafrost/">detected in samples of permafrost</a>. Resistance genes are the genetic material that enable bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics and can be spread from one bacterium to another. This should not be surprising as many antimicrobial resistance genes have evolved from soil organisms that <a href="https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/MMBR.00016-10">predate the antimicrobial era</a>. </p>
<p>However, the environment, especially rivers, is already heavily contaminated with <a href="https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/etc.5289">antimicrobial-resistant organisms and resistance genes</a>. So it is doubtful that antimicrobial resistance bacteria thawing from the permafrost would contribute greatly to the already great abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes already in our environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Hunter consults for the World Health Organization. He receives funding from National Institute for Health Research, the World Health Organization and the European Regional Development Fund</span></em></p>A Pandoravirus has been revived after remaining dormant in the Siberian permafrost for nearly 50,000 years.Paul Hunter, Professor of Medicine, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1913952022-09-28T12:32:45Z2022-09-28T12:32:45ZLouis Pasteur’s scientific discoveries in the 19th century revolutionized medicine and continue to save the lives of millions today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486616/original/file-20220926-26-u8ycb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8764%2C5689&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Louis Pasteur was a pioneer in chemistry, microbiology, immunology and vaccinology.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/louis-pasteur-royalty-free-illustration/1176911773?adppopup=true">pictore/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some of the greatest scientific discoveries haven’t resulted in Nobel Prizes.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-0691.2012.03945.x">Louis Pasteur</a>, who lived from 1822 to 1895, is arguably the world’s best-known microbiologist. He is widely credited for the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK24649/">germ theory of disease</a> and for inventing the process of pasteurization – which is named after him – to preserve foods. Remarkably, he also developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2249.2012.04592.x">the rabies</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/basics/anthrax-history.html#">anthrax</a> vaccines and made major contributions to <a href="https://www.vbivaccines.com/evlp-platform/louis-pasteur-attenuated-vaccine/#">combating cholera</a>.</p>
<p>But because he died in 1895, six years before the first <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/">Nobel Prize</a> was awarded, that prize isn’t on his resume. Had he lived in the era of Nobel Prizes, he would undoubtedly have been deserving of one for his work. Nobel Prizes, which are awarded in various fields, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/the-nobel-prize-organisation/#">including physiology and medicine</a>, are not given posthumously.</p>
<p>During the current time of ongoing threats from emerging or reemerging infectious diseases, from <a href="https://www.contagionlive.com/view/virus-spillover-and-emerging-pathogens-pick-up-speed">COVID-19</a> and polio to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-monkeypox-a-microbiologist-explains-whats-known-about-this-smallpox-cousin-183499">monkeypox</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.12703/b/9-9">rabies</a>, it is awe-inspiring to look back on Pasteur’s legacy. His efforts fundamentally changed how people view infectious diseases and how to fight them via vaccines. </p>
<p>I’ve worked in <a href="https://rodneyerohde.wp.txstate.edu/">public health and medical laboratories</a> specializing in viruses and other microbes, while <a href="https://www.health.txstate.edu/cls/">training future medical laboratory scientists</a>. My career started in virology with a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8XtvOZ8AAAAJ&hl=en">front-row seat to rabies detection and surveillance</a> and zoonotic agents, and it rests in large part on Pasteur’s pioneering work in microbiology, immunology and vaccinology. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white illustration of Pasteur with a group of patients." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486641/original/file-20220926-8928-88tfgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An illustration of Louis Pasteur, right, supervising the administration of the rabies vaccine at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1886.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-illustration-shows-french-biologist-louis-pasteur-right-news-photo/1266883710">Library of Congress/Interim Archives via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>First, a chemist</h2>
<p>In my assessment, Pasteur’s strongest contributions to science are his remarkable achievements in the field of medical microbiology and immunology. However, his story begins with chemistry. </p>
<p>Pasteur studied under the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Baptiste-Andre-Dumas">French chemist Jean-Baptiste-André Dumas</a>. During that time, Pasteur became interested in the origins of life and worked in the field of <a href="https://www.pasteur.fr/en/institut-pasteur/history/early-years-1847-1862">polarized light and crystallography</a>. </p>
<p>In 1848, just months after receiving his doctorate degree, Pasteur was studying the properties of crystals formed in the process of wine-making when he discovered that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/science/louis-pasteur-chirality-chemistry.html">crystals occur in mirror-image forms</a>, a property known as chirality. This discovery became the foundation of a subdiscipline of chemistry known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hlca.201900098">stereochemistry</a>, which is the study of the spatial arrangement of atoms within molecules. This chirality, or handedness, of molecules was a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03401596">revolutionary hypothesis</a>” at the time. </p>
<p>These findings led Pasteur to suspect what would later be proved through molecular biology: All life processes ultimately stem from the precise arrangement of atoms within biological molecules.</p>
<h2>Wine and beer – from fermentation to germ theory</h2>
<p>Beer and wine were <a href="https://ageofrevolutions.com/2016/12/05/intoxication-and-the-french-revolution/">critical to the economy of France</a> and Italy in the 1800s. It was not uncommon during Pasteur’s life for products to spoil and become bitter or dangerous to drink. At the time, the scientific notion of “spontaneous generation” held that life can arise from nonliving matter, which was believed to be the culprit behind wine spoiling. </p>
<p>While many scientists tried to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation, in 1745, English biologist <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstl.1748.0072">John Turberville Needham</a> believed he had created the perfect experiment favoring spontaneous generation. Most scientists believed that heat killed life, so Needham created an experiment to show that microorganisms could grow on food, even after boiling. After boiling chicken broth, he placed it in a flask, heated it, then sealed it and waited, not realizing that air could make its way back into the flask prior to sealing. After some time, microorganisms grew, and Needham claimed victory. </p>
<p>However, his experiment <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17940406/">had two major flaws</a>. For one, the boiling time was not sufficient to kill all microbes. And importantly, his flasks allowed air to flow back in, which enabled microbial contamination.</p>
<p>To settle the scientific battle, the French Academy of Sciences sponsored a contest for the best experiment <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00033798800200281">to prove or disprove spontaneous generation</a>. Pasteur’s response to the contest was a series of experiments, including a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffimmu.2012.00068">prize-winning 1861 essay</a>. </p>
<p>Pasteur deemed one of these experiments as “unassailable and decisive” because, unlike Needham, after he sterilized his cultures, he kept them free from contamination. By using his now famous swan-necked flasks, which had a long S-shaped neck, he allowed air to flow in while at the same time preventing falling particles from reaching the broth during heating. As a result, the flask remained free of growth for an extended period. This showed that if air was not allowed directly into his boiled infusions, then no “living microorganisms would appear, even after months of observation.” However, importantly, if dust was introduced, living microbes appeared.</p>
<p>Through that process, Pasteur not only refuted the theory of spontaneous generation, but he also demonstrated that microorganisms were everywhere. When he showed that food and wine spoiled because of contamination from invisible bacteria rather than from spontaneous generation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffimmu.2012.00068">the modern germ theory of disease was born</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Pasteur’s discoveries resonate to this very day.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The origins of vaccination in the 1800s</h2>
<p>In the 1860s, when the silk industry was being devastated by two diseases that were <a href="https://www.pasteur.fr/en/institut-pasteur/history/middle-years-1862-1877">infecting silkworms</a>, Pasteur <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-0691.2012.03945.x">developed a clever process</a> by which to examine silkworm eggs under a microscope and preserve those that were healthy. Much like his efforts with wine, he was able to apply his observations into industry methods, and he became something of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fbiom12040596">a French hero</a>.</p>
<p>Even <a href="https://www.biography.com/scientist/louis-pasteur">with failing health</a> from a severe stroke that left him partially paralyzed, Pasteur continued his work. In 1878, he succeeded in identifying and culturing the bacterium that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00068">caused the avian disease fowl cholera</a>. He recognized that old bacterial cultures were no longer harmful and that chickens vaccinated with old cultures could survive exposure to wild strains of the bacteria. And his observation that surviving chickens excreted harmful bacteria helped establish an important concept now all too familiar in the age of COVID-19 – asymptomatic “healthy carriers” can still spread germs during outbreaks.</p>
<p>After bird cholera, Pasteur turned to the prevention of <a href="https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/anthrax/">anthrax</a>, a widespread plague of cattle and other animals caused by the bacterium <em>Bacillus anthracis</em>. Building on his own work and that of German physician <a href="https://doi.org/10.12816/0003334">Robert Koch</a>, Pasteur developed the concept of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00068">attenuated, or weakened, versions of microbes</a> for use in vaccines.</p>
<p>In the late 1880s, he showed beyond any doubt that exposing cattle to a weakened form of anthrax vaccine could lead to what is now well known as immunity, dramatically reducing cattle mortality.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A computer-generated image of the rabies virus, colored brown in this illustration and resembling a pinecone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486643/original/file-20220926-25-dha566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The deadly rabies virus. Although preventable by vaccination, rabies still kills approximately 59,000 people worldwide every year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/rabies-virus-illustration-royalty-free-illustration/1191008423">Nano Clustering/Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>The rabies vaccine breakthrough</h2>
<p>In my professional assessment of Louis Pasteur, the discovery of vaccination against rabies is the most important of all his achievements. </p>
<p>Rabies has been called the “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13403051-rabid">world’s most diabolical virus</a>,” spreading from animal to human <a href="https://doi.org/10.12703/b/9-9">via a bite</a>. </p>
<p>Working with rabies virus is incredibly dangerous, as <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/books/rabies/wilson/978-0-323-63979-8">mortality approaches 100%</a> once symptoms appear and without vaccination. Through astute observation, Pasteur discovered that drying out the spinal cords of dead rabid rabbits and monkeys resulted in a weakened form of rabies virus. Using that weakened version as a vaccine to gradually expose dogs to the rabies virus, Pasteur showed that he could effectively immunize the dogs against rabies.</p>
<p>Then, in July 1885, Joseph Meister, a 9-year-old boy from France, was severely bitten by a rabid dog. With Joseph facing almost certain death, his mother took him to Paris to see Pasteur because <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/louis-pasteurs-risky-move-to-save-a-boy-from-almost-certain-death">she had heard</a> that he was working to develop a cure for rabies.</p>
<p>Pasteur took on the case, and alongside two physicians, he gave the boy a series of injections over several weeks. Joseph survived and Pasteur shocked the world with a cure for a universally lethal disease. This discovery opened the door to the widespread use of Pasteur’s rabies vaccine around 1885, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390%2Ftropicalmed2020005">dramatically reduced rabies’ deaths in humans and animals</a>. </p>
<h2>A Nobel Prize-worthy life</h2>
<p>Pasteur once famously <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/directors-messages/serendipity-and-the-prepared-mind">said in a lecture</a>, “In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.” </p>
<p>Pasteur had a knack for applying his brilliant – and prepared – scientific mind to the most practical dilemmas faced by humankind.</p>
<p>While Louis Pasteur died prior to the initiation of the Nobel Prize, I would argue that his amazing lifetime of discovery and contribution to science in medicine, infectious diseases, vaccination, medical microbiology and immunology place him among the all-time greatest scientists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodney E. Rohde has received funding from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP), American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), U.S. Department of Labor (OSHA), and other public and private entities/foundations. Rohde is affiliated with ASCP, ASCLS, ASM, and serves on several scientific advisory boards. See <a href="https://rodneyerohde.wp.txstate.edu/service/">https://rodneyerohde.wp.txstate.edu/service/</a>.</span></em></p>On World Rabies Day – which is also the anniversary of French microbiologist Louis Pasteur’s death – a virologist reflects on the achievements of this visionary scientist.Rodney E. Rohde, Regents' Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science, Texas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1733402021-12-07T14:59:01Z2021-12-07T14:59:01ZHyenas’ unpicky feeding habits help clean up a town in Ethiopia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436084/original/file-20211207-19-kknfvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Hyenas aren’t the most popular animals. Sometimes they kill people’s livestock. They are also thought of as scavengers, with some unappealing eating behaviour. Then there’s their cackling “laugh” and their physical looks, less graceful in some eyes than other large predators like lions or leopards. </p>
<p>But there’s a more positive side to these often misunderstood creatures. In Mekelle, a town in northern Ethiopia, <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.14024">research</a> has exposed and quantified the economic and health benefits that spotted hyenas bring to the community. Every year, they consume over 200 tons of waste in and around Mekelle. </p>
<p>The research also ran some disease transmission models. It found that by eating discarded carcasses, the hyenas are reducing the potential spread of diseases like anthrax and bovine tuberculosis. That’s a service to people and other animals, and saves some disease treatment and control costs.</p>
<p>In today’s episode of Pasha, biology student Chinmay Sonawane and wildlife conservation researcher Neil Carter take us through their findings on the benefits that spotted hyenas provide to the people of Mekelle.</p>
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<p><strong>Photo</strong>
“Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), also known as the laughing hyena.” Photo by Vladimir Wrangel found on <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/spotted-hyena-crocuta-known-laughing-1177808107">Shutterstock.</a></p>
<p><strong>Music:</strong>
“Happy African Village” by John Bartmann, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/John_Bartmann/Public_Domain_Soundtrack_Music_Album_One/happy-african-village">FreeMusicArchive.org</a> licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a>.</p>
<p>“Ambient guitar X1 - Loop mode” by frankum, found on <a href="https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/393520/">Freesound</a> licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Attribution License.</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Spotted hyenas provide ecosystem services that improve human welfare and contribute to sustainable development goals.Ozayr Patel, Digital EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1282792020-01-31T18:33:53Z2020-01-31T18:33:53ZAnthrax vs. cancer – researchers harness the deadly toxin to cure dogs and hopefully people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311709/original/file-20200123-162210-hdmgw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C29%2C4830%2C3193&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dogs with terminal bladder cancer improved with this new modified anthrax treatment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-veterinarian-examining-great-dane-on-309191816">Lucky Business/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can the feared anthrax toxin become an ally in the war against cancer? Successful treatment of pet dogs suffering bladder cancer with an anthrax-related treatment suggest so.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/basics/index.html">Anthrax is a disease caused by a bacterium</a>, known as <em>Bacillus anthracis</em>, which releases a toxin that causes the skin to break down and forms ulcers, and triggers pneumonia and muscle and chest pain. To add to its sinister resumé, and underscore its lethal effects, this toxin has been <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/bioterrorism/index.html">infamously used</a> <a href="https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/anthraxasweapon.html">as a bioweapon</a>. </p>
<p>However, my colleagues and <a href="https://www.bio.purdue.edu/People/faculty_dm/directory.php?refID=184">I</a> found a way to tame this killer and put it to good use against another menace: <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder">bladder cancer</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/purdue_aguilab?lang=en">I am a biochemist and cell biologist</a> who has been working on research and development of novel therapeutic approaches against cancer and genetic diseases for more than 20 years. <a href="https://www.bio.purdue.edu/People/faculty_dm/publications.php?refID=184">Our lab has investigated, designed and adapted agents</a> to fight disease; this is our latest exciting story.</p>
<h2>Pressing needs</h2>
<p>Among all cancers, the one affecting the bladder is the sixth most common and in <a href="https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/urinb.html">2019 caused more than 17,000 deaths</a> in the U.S.
Of all patients that receive surgery to remove this cancer, about 70% will return to the physician’s office with more tumors. This is psychologically devastating for the patient and makes the cancer of the bladder one of the most expensive to treat. </p>
<p>To make things worse, currently there is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/low-prices-of-some-lifesaving-drugs-make-them-impossible-to-get/2019/06/18/abd03190-66bb-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html?noredirect=on">a worldwide shortage of <em>Bacillus Calmette-Guerin</em></a>, a bacterium used to make the preferred immunotherapy for decreasing bladder cancer recurrence after surgery. This situation has left doctors struggling to meet the needs of their patients. Therefore, there is a clear need for more effective strategies to treat bladder cancer. </p>
<h2>Anthrax comes to the rescue</h2>
<p>Years ago scientists in the <a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/news/legacy-deciphering-toxins">Collier lab</a> modified the anthrax toxin by physically linking it to a naturally occurring protein called the epidermal growth factor (EGF) that binds to the EGF receptor, which is abundant on the surface of bladder cancer cells. When the EGF protein binds to the receptor – like a key fits a lock – it causes the cell to engulf the EGF-anthrax toxin, which then induces the cancer cell to commit suicide (a process called apoptosis), while leaving healthy cells alone.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311712/original/file-20200123-162194-1vd21jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The EGF-anthrax protein binds to bladder cancer cells triggering apoptosis or programmed cell death, which is a regulated process leading to the death of cell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/apoptosis-programmed-cell-death-regulated-process-761151586">Soleil Nordic/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In collaboration with <a href="https://medicine.iu.edu/departments/urology/faculty/4930/koch-michael/">colleagues at Indiana University</a> medical school, <a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/news/legacy-deciphering-toxins">Harvard University</a> and <a href="https://chemistry.mit.edu/profile/bradley-l-pentelute/">MIT</a>, we designed a strategy to eliminate tumors using this modified toxin. Together we demonstrated that this novel approach allowed us to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.32719">eliminate tumor cells taken from human, dog and mouse bladder cancer</a>. </p>
<p>This highlights the potential of this agent to provide an efficient and fast alternative to the current treatments (which can take between two and three hours to administer over a period of months). I also think it is good news is that the modified anthrax toxin spared normal cells. This suggests that this treatment could have fewer side effects. </p>
<h2>Helping our best friends</h2>
<p>These encouraging results led my lab to join forces with <a href="https://www.purdue.edu/vet/directory/person.php?id=28">Dr. Knapp’s group</a> at the Purdue veterinary hospital to treat pet dogs suffering from bladder cancer. </p>
<p>Canine patients for whom all available conventional anti-cancer therapeutics were unsuccessful were considered eligible for these tests. Only after standard tests proved the agent to be safe in laboratory animals, and with the consent of their owners, six eligible dogs with terminal bladder cancer were treated with the anthrax toxin-derived agent. </p>
<p>Two to five doses of this medicine, delivered directly inside the bladder via a catheter, was enough to shrink the tumor by an average of 30%. We consider these results impressive given the initial large size of the tumor and its resistance to other treatments.</p>
<h2>There is hope for all</h2>
<p>Our collaborators at Indiana University Hospital surgically removed bladder cells from human patients and sent them to my lab for testing the agent. At Purdue my team found these cells to be very sensitive to the anthrax toxin-derived agent as well. These results suggest that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.32719">this novel anti-bladder cancer strategy</a> could be effective in human patients.</p>
<p>The treatment strategy that we have devised is still experimental. Therefore, it is not available for treatment of human patients yet. Nevertheless, my team is actively seeking the needed economic support and required approvals to move this therapeutic approach into human clinical trials. Plans to develop a new, even better generation of agents and to expand their application to the fight against other cancers are ongoing.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128279/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>R. Claudio Aguilar received funding from National Institutes of Health </span></em></p>Anthrax is best known as a bioweapon. But researchers have figured out how to tweak the deadly toxin and use it to fight cancer. So far, dogs are the first to benefit from the new therapy.R. Claudio Aguilar, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1260792019-11-07T12:16:09Z2019-11-07T12:16:09ZSalad bars and water systems are easy targets for bioterrorists – and America’s monitoring system is woefully inadequate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300366/original/file-20191105-88409-dyikez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hospital workers wearing biohazard suits scrub down a man in a decontamination drill.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-NE-United-States-APHS103-DECONTAMIN-/9a882262d0f94a6dacb4cff91ce87179/35/0">AP Photo/Nati Harnik</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In October 2019, a House Homeland Security Committee subcommittee held a <a href="https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=110097">hearing</a> entitled “Defending the Homeland from Bioterrorism: Are We Prepared?” The answer was a resounding no. </p>
<p>The experts testified that our biodefense system has been vulnerable and outdated for <a href="http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2002/03/us-vulnerable-foodborne-bioterrorism-cdc-report-says">well over a decade</a>. This might provoke worries about weaponizing disease-causing microorganisms, or pathogens, like Ebola or anthrax. But you should probably also take a moment to consider your lunch: The next threat might come not from a hard-to-come-by virus but from something as simple as food that has been deliberately contaminated.</p>
<p>I teach food and drug law at Saint Louis University’s <a href="https://www.slu.edu/law/health/index.php">Center for Health Law Studies</a>. While monitoring pathogens likely to pose severe threats to public health, my colleagues and I spend a lot of time studying viruses and bacteria that are very hard to obtain, like <a href="https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/8157/anthrax">anthrax</a> or the <a href="https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/plague">plague</a>. One less-known facet of bioterrorism, however, is that simpler pathogens like salmonella, a bacterium found in many types of food, can also be used to deliberately harm people. In fact, the largest bioterrorism attack in American history <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/docs/forensic_epidemiology/Additional%20Materials/Articles/Torok%20et%20al.pdf">started at the salad bars</a> of a handful of restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300478/original/file-20191106-12481-1315xnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300478/original/file-20191106-12481-1315xnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300478/original/file-20191106-12481-1315xnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300478/original/file-20191106-12481-1315xnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300478/original/file-20191106-12481-1315xnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300478/original/file-20191106-12481-1315xnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300478/original/file-20191106-12481-1315xnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his disciples, who sprayed lab-cultured salmonella bacteria onto salad bars in Oregon over a two-week period in 1984.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-Oregon-United-St-/8f47005b64e5da11af9f0014c2589dfb/1/0">AP Photo/Jack Smith</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A primer on bioterrorism</h2>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security defines bioterrorism as the <a href="https://www.ready.gov/Bioterrorism">deliberate release</a> of bacteria, viruses and toxins with the purpose of causing injury or other harm to people. Pathogens can be spread in multiple ways. Some travel through air or water. Others pass directly from person to person or through contact with infected animals. Last, but not least, food systems can be used to spread biological agents.</p>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta classify bioterrorism agents into <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.asp">three categories</a>. The classification is based on factors like ease of disease transmission and morbidity and mortality rates. Category A includes high-priority agents that can spread easily, result in high mortality rates and pose a risk to national security. Examples include <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/index.html">smallpox</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/index.html">anthrax</a>. Category B includes pathogens that are moderately easy to disseminate but don’t kill as many people as the microbes in Category A. These include <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/cholera/index.html">cholera</a> and pathogens causing <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/easternequineencephalitis/index.html">viral encephalitis</a>. Category C includes existing pathogens that could one day be engineered for purposes of bioterrorism, such as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/">hantavirus</a> or <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/nipah/index.html">Nipah virus</a>.</p>
<h2>Pathogens – the usual suspects</h2>
<p>Although bioterrorism may sound like a new phenomenon, it is not. One of the earliest cases dates back to 1346, when the Tartar army infected the besieged city of Caffa, in modern-day Crimea, with the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/index.html">plague</a>. This event has been ultimately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2004.11928002">linked to the Black Death</a> that decimated Europe in the following years. Some historians believe that, in the mid-eighteenth century, colonists purposely gave Native Americans blankets <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4LY4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=Francis+Parkman+blanket+smallpox&source=bl&ots=OUuAjx9Zjd&sig=ACfU3U04DlSOq3YnlpavPQtwEeptEyo7rQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilpc2M19TlAhVHA6wKHagPDXM4FBDoATADegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=Francis%20Parkman%20blanket%20smallpox&f=false">infected</a> with smallpox. And during World War II and the Cold War, several countries, including the United States, experimented with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-0691.12706">weaponizing pathogens</a> including anthrax, smallpox, plague and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/index.html">botulism</a>. </p>
<p>The most recent case of bioterrorism in America took place in the aftermath of 9/11. <a href="https://ctc.usma.edu/bioterrorism-still-a-threat-to-the-united-states/">Anthrax spores were mailed</a> to politicians and media organizations, <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/amerithrax-or-anthrax-investigation">killing</a> five people and injuring another 17. </p>
<p>Agents like anthrax or smallpox remain among the most feared in connection with bioterrorism attacks. Even though it is extremely hard for most people and institutions to acquire samples of these pathogens, they can pose devastating public health risks if <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(14)61246-0.pdf">mishandled</a> or if they fall in the wrong hands.</p>
<p>The list of bioterrorism agents, however, is broader than one might think. It contains bacteria that routinely contaminate our food supply, like <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/index.html">salmonella</a>. And it was precisely salmonella that triggered the <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/11/the-largest-bioterrorism-attack-in-us-history-was-an-attempt-to-swing-an-election/">largest bioterrorism attack</a> on American soil. </p>
<h2>Unusual pathogens</h2>
<p>Between September and October 1984, followers of <a href="https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/biographies/bhagwan-shree-rajneesh-biography/#.XcD_Yy2ZPOQ">Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh</a>, the leader of an Oregon-based <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/329642328/Bhagwan-Shree-Rajneesh-FBI-File?campaign=SkimbitLtd&ad_group=88665X1541752X8685f49499b5efa62af2b963068d0f95&keyword=660149026&source=hp_affiliate&medium=affiliate">sect</a>, intentionally contaminated food in salad bars in several restaurants in The Dalles, in Wasco County, Oregon. Members of the sect stole salmonella from a lab in Seattle, mixed it into a brown liquid and discreetly dropped small quantities on items like <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/01/09/the_largest_bioterror_attack_in_us_history_began_at_taco_time_in_the_dalles.html">salsa and salad dressing</a>. Though no one died, 751 people were <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/docs/forensic_epidemiology/Additional%20Materials/Articles/Torok%20et%20al.pdf">infected</a>, at a time when The Dalles had a population of 10,500. </p>
<p>It took <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/taco-time-in-the-dalles-oregon">a full year</a> for the authorities to understand the cause of the outbreak, which initially was attributed to poor hygiene.</p>
<p>Even outside the context of bioterrorism, salmonella poses substantial threats to public health. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/index.html">On average</a>, it causes 1.2 million illnesses each year in the U.S., 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths. If it were weaponized, the results could be catastrophic. Currently, the CDC <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.asp">classifies</a> salmonella and other food safety threats like <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/index.html">E. coli</a> as Category B agents. This category also includes pathogens that may be used to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/crypto/index.html">contaminate our water supply</a>. </p>
<p>Infecting water and food supplies is not a new tactic. In the twelfth century, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-0691.12706">poisoned water wells</a> during the siege of Tortona, in Italy. Six hundred years later, Napoleon’s troops <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1469-0691.12706">flooded</a> the plains around Mantua to exacerbate an ongoing malaria outbreak. </p>
<p>Water and food supply systems have greatly changed since these historic examples. Imagine what could happen if the next act of bioterror targeted the salad bars of restaurants in Times Square. Or if part of the water supply of Los Angeles was tampered with. We cannot afford to overlook bioterrorism preparedness – but according to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwyBDDB55Ao">experts who recently testified</a> in Congress, that is precisely what is happening.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300476/original/file-20191106-12450-jwkohj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This mobile lab is a roving tool, part of the airborne pathogen early warning system known as BioWatch now deployed in about 30 cities across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SEPT-11-BioTerror-Tech/bb58a95caff34ba7bc31c248b4560cfa/31/0">(AP Photo/Ben Margot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bioterrorism preparedness</h2>
<p>Since 2003, the United States has relied on <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/biowatch-program">BioWatch</a>, a monitoring and early warning program for major urban areas. The program, considered <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-113hhrg85446/html/CHRG-113hhrg85446.htm">outdated</a> for more than a decade, is now being phased out. Its replacement, <a href="http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20190226-experts-question-biowatch-s-replacement">BioDetection21, was announced</a> in early 2019, but the new sensor technology it uses to detect pathogens was deemed inadequate at an October congressional hearing. </p>
<p>The detectors are <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/bioweapon-threat-didnt-end-in-cold-war-experts-warn-house/">not reliable</a>, routinely producing false positives and often taking too long to identify biological threats. A <a href="https://homelandprepnews.com/countermeasures/38238-experts-testify-united-states-is-underprepared-for-bioterrorism-threats/">possible solution</a> put forward by <a href="https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=110097">biodefense experts</a> at the congressional hearing would be to form partnerships between the public and private sectors to develop better pathogen detection technology. </p>
<p>When it comes to responding to threats, there is a profound lack of coordination between federal agencies and local communities. When asked about what happens after notifications of a possible bioterrorism attack, Dr. Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, answered: “<a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/bioweapon-threat-didnt-end-in-cold-war-experts-warn-house/">They go off but nobody knows what to do.</a>” </p>
<p>This happens at a time when other countries are becoming savvier about preparedness. Japan is now <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/japan-imports-ebola-olympic-games">collecting and studying viruses</a> before the 2020 Olympics. <a href="http://www.caiq.org.cn/eng/">China</a> and other Asian countries have also invested more in bioterrorism preparedness, developing monitoring programs for heavily trafficked areas like <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2009/05/bioterrorism-in-asia/">airports and subway lines</a>. The United States should not be the exception in a world in which infectious diseases travel faster than ever before. </p>
<p>Addressing the concerns voiced by our biodefense experts would be an important first step in increasing bioterrorism preparedness in the United States. This entails figuring out how to fund better detection technologies and how to create response plans that engage state and local institutional players. But there are additional steps that can be taken. </p>
<p>For instance, public health scholars have called attention to the need to develop <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(18)30298-6/fulltext#%20">new vaccines and antimicrobial therapies</a> that can be used for natural epidemics and for bioterrorism alike. Already, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority <a href="https://www.phe.gov/about/barda/Pages/default.aspx">BARDA</a>, an office within the Department of Health and Human Services, is funding some projects in this area. As emerged from the congressional hearing, increasing our bioterrorism preparedness is not a task that can be accomplished by a single office or agency.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend.</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Santos Rutschman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Talk of bioterrorism might provoke fears of smallpox and anthrax, but mundane threats like salmonella may pose greater danger. And experts say that the U.S. is not prepared for an attack.Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912642018-03-19T16:00:07Z2018-03-19T16:00:07ZA 1988 song about television addiction is more pertinent today than ever<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209895/original/file-20180312-30958-14fup9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chuck D (L) and Flavor Flav of the US rap group Public Enemy performing in 2009.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve C Mitchell/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Veteran American hip hop group <a href="http://publicenemy.com/">Public Enemy</a> need no introduction when it comes to paradigm shifts in that music genre. From the moment leader and rapper Chuck D, fellow rappers Flavor Flav and Professor Griff, group DJ Terminator X and the S1W group (aka Security of the First World) launched off the <a href="http://www.defjam.com/">Def Jam</a> record label’s platform in 1987, their acute sociopolitical presence resonated throughout hip hop culture and far beyond.</p>
<p>With their debut album <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/yo%21-bum-rush-the-show-mw0000194784">“Yo! Bum Rush The Show”</a> (1987), it was clear that Chuck D’s lyrical pressure was destined to confront racism, destitution and a myriad of other issues connected with African American life. </p>
<p>However, the song I would like to discuss here is the lesser-celebrated <a href="https://genius.com/Public-enemy-she-watch-channel-zero-lyrics">“She Watch Channel Zero?!”</a> from their 1988 sophomore album <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-albums-of-the-eighties-20110418/public-enemy-it-takes-a-nation-of-millions-to-hold-us-back-20110330">“It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back”</a>. Dealing with the subject of television addiction, Chuck D reaches beyond the sphere of the African American and into most of westernised existence.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RoBw0Fz8mu4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘She watch Channel Zero?!’ by Public Enemy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This reach is further exemplified through the sonics of the song. Its driving metal edge also championed the rap-metal fusion sub-genre. It not only forged collaborations with the American heavy metal band <a href="https://anthrax.com/">Anthrax</a>, but also opened the door for <a href="https://www.ratm.com/">Rage Against The Machine</a>, <a href="https://linkinpark.com/">Linkin Park</a> and <a href="http://www.paparoach.com/">Papa Roach</a>. </p>
<h2>The ills of television</h2>
<p>The track appears second on side two, after the serene yet curt non-rap “Show ‘Em Whatcha Got”, and follows Flav’s intro speech:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’re blind baby, you’re blind from the facts</p>
<p>oh, y'are 'cause you’re watching that garbage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And so, successive to a brief five seconds of white noise, a metal-laden foray strikes on the ills of television. Four bars of bellicose guitars sampled from the intense “Angel of Death” by American thrash metal band <a href="https://www.slayer.net/">Slayer</a> underpinned with sharp metallic samples and purposely muffled TV snippets construct the atmosphere for Chuck D’s contextual assault:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The woman makes the men all pause</p>
<p>And if you got a woman she might make you forget yours</p>
<p>There’s a five letter word to describe her character </p>
<p>But her brains being washed by an actor.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Chuck D constructs a narrative about a woman who is addicted to soap operas. She becomes wholly obsessed with certain characters in the shows. This obsession damages her ability to distinguish between real life and television representation. As she becomes more overcome by “osmosis” through her television sceeen, desperation sets in as she channel-surfs “cold lookin’ for that hero”. </p>
<p>As broadcasts across channels meld into one, she could be watching any channel. And so she does indeed “watch channel zero”, amplifying the emptiness of all television channels. The song’s timing was highly apposite; the Baby Boomers were seduced by soap operas and Generation X sucked into MTV, and the message here is twofold. The song’s message is that the TV watcher, under the illusion that the heroes she seeks do not exist in reality, she ostracises herself from the realities of life, including her family: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>But her children</p>
<p>Don’t mean as much as the show, I mean</p>
<p>Watch her worship the screen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She measures herself and her desires against this “perfect” world:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And she hopes the soaps are for real</p>
<p>she learns that it ain’t true, nope…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet, she still denies the real and continues her futile diversion. </p>
<p>After Chuck’s first verse, Flav reappears, this time taking the traditional role of the male partner:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yo baby, you got to cut that garbage off</p>
<p>Yo! I want to watch the game</p>
<p>Hey yo, lemmie tell you a little sommin’: </p>
<p>I’m'a take all your soaps</p>
<p>An’ then I’m gonna hang ‘em on a rope.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The male antagonist here also longs to watch television, resorting to threats if he too can’t consume his televised ball game.</p>
<h2>Hostile drone</h2>
<p>Repeated no less than 24 times throughout the song, the phrase “she watch” morphs into the music’s relentlessly repetitive yet hostile drone, echoing the experience of television addiction. It’s a metaphor for the process of hyperreality. This story of course, is representational of broader and even current society. Whilst the song’s elements are conventional, the dialogues and sonics reveal the ominousness of screen dependence, the second facet of the song’s message.</p>
<p>French philosopher <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/07/guardianobituaries.france">Jean Baudrillard</a>’s notion of <a href="https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-baudrillard-9/">“hyperreality”</a> is a valuable theory to explore this situation. Within the frame of hyperreality, the idea of the simulacra or likenesses replaces that of reality. Characters on TV shows, or indeed, stage sets, film locations and sometimes the actors themselves become signs which can consume and distort one’s sense of reality.</p>
<p>When these signs become more important than the real, one’s real relationships break down. Signs and reality are no longer juxtaposed; rather the sign supplants the real. Once the real disappears, positioning the imaginary against the everyday becomes impossible, leading to problematic social engagement. </p>
<p>Following the explosion of screen-based personal devices such as smartphones and tablets, currently perceived as essential components of contemporary life, the risk of users slipping into hyperreality has multiplied enormously since the television age. As a result the Boomers and Generation X have become highly critical of Millennials (born between 1979 and 1991) and <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-be-worried-about-generation-z-joining-the-workforce-heres-why-not-81038">Generation Z</a> (people born after 1992), and anxious for anyone born after 2010 – <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/generation-alpha-2014-7-2?IR=T">Generation Alpha</a> – and their future of living life through a screen. </p>
<p>However, we need to remember that the simulacra that have resulted in this way of life started way before the arrival of the smartphone. The message in “She Watch Channel Zero?!” is more pertinent today than ever, and not only for young people.</p>
<p><em>This article is part of a series featuring Songs of Protest from across the world, genres and generations.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam de Paor-Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Following the explosion of screen-based personal devices, the risk of users slipping into hyper reality has multiplied enormously since the television age.Adam de Paor-Evans, Principal Lecturer in Cultural Theory / Research and Innovation Lead, School of Art, Design and Fashion, Faculty of Culture and the Creative Industries, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/779632017-05-29T14:00:49Z2017-05-29T14:00:49ZHere’s how to prevent another anthrax outbreak in Kenya<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170069/original/file-20170519-12254-qjidcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People who eat raw or undercooked meat from infected animals may get anthrax.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thumbi Mwangi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Meat lovers in Thika, north east of Nairobi, are worried. In just one week, eight licensed people who load meat for sale into vans were <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Anthrax-outbreak-in-Thika/1056-3923088-i8k8tv/">hospitalised</a> with symptoms similar to anthrax. </p>
<p>They were later discharged, but the story is a sobering reminder of what anthrax and other zoonotic diseases – those passed from animals to humans – can do.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.who.int/csr/disease/Anthrax/en/">Anthrax</a>, caused by a bacterium called <em>Bacillus anthracis</em>, is primarily a disease of herbivores, and is most commonly transmitted to people through contact with infected materials or the consumption of infected meat. </p>
<p>The latest hospitalisations follow other instances of anthrax outbreaks in Kenya. In May 2016, <a href="http://outbreaknewstoday.com/kenya-16-hospitalized-for-suspected-anthrax-after-eating-a-sick-cow-91434/">16 patients</a> were hospitalised after eating meat from a cow that had died of anthrax.</p>
<p>In August 2015, about <a href="http://outbreaknewstoday.com/kenya-anthrax-update-300-buffaloes-dead-at-lake-nakuru-national-park-58005/">300 buffaloes</a> died of anthrax at the Nakuru National Park.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://outbreaknewstoday.com/hippo-meat-the-source-of-anthrax-outbreak-in-kenya-91953/">another case</a> in May 2014, several people died and some were hospitalised after reportedly eating meat from a hippopotamus infected with anthrax.</p>
<p>The disease <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201704200175.html">isn’t unique</a> to Kenya or Africa, it’s known to cause sporadic outbreaks even in more <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-07/anthrax-outbreak-kills-80-cattle-on-queensland-grazing-property/8333256"> developed economies</a>. </p>
<p>The concern of anthrax infection to humans in anthrax endemic countries is associated with handling and consumption of infected meat. However, its potential use as a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200731/">bioterrorism</a> weapon when anthrax spores are deliberately released to the public has earned it international repute.</p>
<p>So, how should Kenya deal with anthrax outbreaks?</p>
<h2>Transmission</h2>
<p>Biologically, the anthrax bacterium’s survival strategy is to form highly resistant spores in unfavourable conditions for it to grow. This allows it to live in soils for long periods of time. Animals then get infected when they graze on soils contaminated with anthrax spores.</p>
<p>The spores germinate, multiply and eventually get into the animal’s blood stream, producing toxins that destroy the blood vessels, eventually killing the infected host.</p>
<p>There are three main forms of the disease in humans associated the route of anthrax infection;</p>
<ul>
<li>cutaneous form</li>
</ul>
<p>It’s the most common form of disease associated with introduction of the bacteria when broken skin comes into contact with infected material.</p>
<ul>
<li>the gastrointestinal form</li>
</ul>
<p>It is associated with the consumption of anthrax infected food and water. It’s common in anthrax endemic countries where public awareness about risk of anthrax is low.</p>
<ul>
<li>pulmonary form</li>
</ul>
<p>This is caused by inhaling anthrax spores. It’s common in industries where workers inhale dust laden with anthrax spores. The deliberate release of high volumes of spores as a biological weapon, like the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/02/15/93170200/timeline-how-the-anthrax-terror-unfolded">anthrax-laced </a> letters in the US in 2001, make this form of the disease fearful.</p>
<p>The cutaneous and gastrointestinal types are easily preventable through wearing appropriate protective clothing and gloves, especially for persons at occupational risk of exposure, and public health education about risk associated with eating infected meat.</p>
<p>Persistence of anthrax transmission in animals is dependent on three main factors: the survival of spores, the presence of susceptible animals to the disease, and contact between the spores and these animals.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Preventing anthrax demands that the cycle of transmission and infection be broken in the most logical, cost effective and practical approach. </p>
<p>Governments in anthrax endemic countries should build efficient surveillance systems that incorporate anthrax detection, confirmation of diagnosis, efficient reporting, data collation and feedback.</p>
<p>Using data on the occurrence of anthrax outbreaks, methods such as ecological niche modelling can be used to identify potential outbreak areas. This method has been used to identify suitable habitats and hot spots for Rift Valley fever disease <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27863533">in Kenya</a> and in <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0005002">Tanzania</a>.</p>
<p>The identification of anthrax hot spots allows for timely interventions such as vaccination of susceptible animals to be done. This leads to prudent use of limited resources available for disease control in anthrax endemic countries.</p>
<p>Governments should prioritise investments in the prevention of zoonotic diseases. <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0161576">Kenya</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771416300155">Ethiopia </a> have determined the priority zoonotic diseases with anthrax ranking among the top. </p>
<p>Public education focusing on proper disposal of anthrax carcasses, decontamination of infected sites to kill the bacteria, and avoidance of consumption of suspected infected meat, is paramount.</p>
<p>To prevent infection in humans, persons at high risk such as farmers, veterinarians, abattoir workers (like those involved in the recent outbreak in Kenya), or people who work in industries that process animal products – such as bones and hides – should wear appropriate protective clothing to minimise exposure.</p>
<p>The good news is that most anthrax strains can be treated by common and readily available antibiotics. Patients who receive treatment early recover, highlighting the need for effective surveillance systems to catch the disease early.</p>
<p>Like most other zoonotic diseases, stopping anthrax requires close collaboration between the human health, animal health and environmental health practitioners like the <a href="http://zdukenya.org/">zoonotic disease unit</a> in Kenya. This <a href="http://www.ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/725/993">One-Health</a> approach offers both an efficient and cost effective strategy to the success of prevention and control of zoonotic diseases.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77963/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thumbi Mwangi receives funding from Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and World Health Organization. </span></em></p>Governments in anthrax endemic countries should build efficient surveillance systems that incorporate detection, confirmation and efficient data collation and feedback.Thumbi Mwangi, Clinical assistant professor, Washington State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/722352017-02-21T01:19:16Z2017-02-21T01:19:16ZHow governments and companies can prevent the next insider attack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155695/original/image-20170206-18520-oy6tx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An insider can bypass many layers of security. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Los Alamos National Laboratory</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that they are in office, President Donald Trump and his team must protect the nation from many threats – including from insiders. Insider threats could take many forms, such as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/18/edward-snowden-leaks-grave-threat">next Edward Snowden</a>, who leaked <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-23123964">hundreds of thousands of secret documents</a> to the press, or the next <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nidal-hasan-sentenced-to-death-for-fort-hood-shooting-rampage/2013/08/28/aad28de2-0ffa-11e3-bdf6-e4fc677d94a1_story.html">Nidal Hasan</a>, the Fort Hood mass killer. </p>
<p>Indeed, in today’s high-tech and hyperconnected world, threats from insiders go far beyond leakers and lone-wolf shooters. A single insider might be able to help adversaries steal nuclear material that terrorists could use to make a crude nuclear bomb, install malware that could compromise millions of accounts or sabotage a toxic chemical facility to cause thousands of deaths. How can we better protect against the enemy within, no matter what it is that needs to be protected?</p>
<p>President Obama became so alarmed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/us/snowden-used-low-cost-tool-to-best-nsa.html?_r=0">the government’s weak protections against insiders</a> that he created a “<a href="https://fas.org/sgp/obama/insider.pdf">National Insider Threat Policy</a>.” It required each federal agency to put in place a set of basic safeguards against internal betrayals, such as software to detect mass downloading of secret documents and systems to encourage reporting of worrying behavior. </p>
<p>But President Trump will find there is a great deal still to be done. This is in part because the insider problem is so challenging. Insiders are known and trusted by other employees (and have to be, if the organization is to function well); they may have detailed knowledge of the security system and its weaknesses; and they can take months or even years to plan their activities.</p>
<p>We co-organized a research project to investigate this challenge and suggest potential solutions, which led to our new book, “<a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100868640">Insider Threats</a>.” The book was prepared as part of the <a href="https://www.amacad.org/content/Research/researchproject.aspx?d=289">Global Nuclear Futures initiative</a> at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The volume analyzes a range of situations as diverse as <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/04/27/135761076/afghan-officer-fires-on-nato-troops-kills-several">Afghan Army soldiers</a> attacking their U.S. trainers and the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/02/15/93170200/timeline-how-the-anthrax-terror-unfolded">anthrax attacks</a> in the United States in 2001 – which were probably perpetrated by Bruce Ivins, a disturbed scientist from the U.S. Army’s biological defense lab. The cases reveal a series of hard-learned lessons that can help organizations protect against threats from insiders.</p>
<h2>‘Not in my organization’</h2>
<p>First, a remarkable number of people wrongly assume their workplace couldn’t possibly be threatened by insiders. That is a bias we dub “NIMO,” for “not in my organization.” That overconfidence can have fatal consequences. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155699/original/image-20170206-18508-63ojfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Killed by insiders: Indira Gandhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Indira_Gandhi_1977.jpg">Dutch National Archives</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1984, for example, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/31/newsid_2464000/2464423.stm">killed by two of her own Sikh bodyguards</a>, one of them a <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/1984/1106/110608.html">trusted favorite</a>. Her security chief had even <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/1984/1106/110608.html">warned her to remove the Sikhs from her guard</a>, citing Sikh anger about an <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10881115/Operation-Blue-Star-How-an-Indian-army-raid-on-the-Golden-Temple-ended-in-disaster.html">Indian military attack</a> on Sikhism’s holiest site, the <a href="http://www.goldentempleamritsar.org/">Golden Temple</a>.</p>
<h2>Missing the red flags</h2>
<p>One of the most striking elements of the cases in our study is how organizations ignore even the most obvious and alarming red flags. U.S. Army biodefense researcher Bruce Ivins, for example, complained about his increasingly dangerous paranoia in an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/washington/07ivins.html">email to a colleague</a>. Ivins even speculated about being mentioned in newspaper reports with the headline: “Paranoid man works with deadly anthrax.” </p>
<p>No one reported, or acted on, that or any of his many other signals that something was amiss. Instead, his coworkers wrote them off as harmless eccentricity. Even when an employee told his boss that she feared he would attack her, <a href="https://www.med.unc.edu/psych/forensic/files/EBAP_Report_ExSum_Redacted_Version.pdf#page=23">no action was taken</a>.</p>
<p>Companies and government agencies must provide strong incentives for their employees to report worrying behavior – including clear and well-enforced reporting rules, and recognition for those who do the right thing. Those efforts should make clear that in some cases, the result of reporting will be that a troubled colleague gets much-needed help.</p>
<h2>Disgruntlement dangers</h2>
<p>Employees who are upset are far more common than mentally disturbed ones, and therefore more likely to pose an insider threat. <a href="https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/asset_files/TechnicalReport/2008_005_001_14981.pdf">One study</a> of insider cyber-sabotage found that 92 percent of the cases examined occurred “following a negative work-related event such as termination, dispute with a current or former employer, demotion, or transfer.”</p>
<p>More than half of the insiders in these cases were already seen as disgruntled before the incident occurred. Fortunately, simple steps can <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/12/morale.aspx">combat employee dissatisfaction</a>. These include providing effective processes for making and resolving complaints, complimenting and rewarding employees for good work and reining in bullying bosses.</p>
<h2>Multiple layers of defense</h2>
<p>Organizations often make the mistake of thinking a single element of defense – such as background checks – is enough to protect them from insiders. But defenses are often less effective than they seem. Years ago, for example, Roger Johnston and his colleagues in the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Los Alamos National Laboratory tested over 100 types of widely used tamper-indicating seals. They found that all of them could be defeated with equipment from any hardware store, with <a href="http://scienceandglobalsecurity.org/archive/sgs09johnston.pdf">average defeat times of less than five minutes</a>.</p>
<p>Hence, organizations need a comprehensive approach to protecting against insiders, from ensuring that no one can access the protected items without being monitored to building a vigilant, questioning culture. Nuclear facilities, for example, should keep material that could be used in a nuclear bomb in a locked vault to which few have access, constantly monitor the vault, ensure that no one is ever in the vault alone and, where practical, keep the material in forms too big and heavy for one person to carry and hide. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155702/original/image-20170206-23515-3q8ehg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A turbine at this Belgian nuclear plant was destroyed by insider sabotage in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Doel_Kerncentrale_2.JPG">Torsade de Pointes</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Monitoring people, information and physical spaces can be critical. After an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-bunn/belgium-nuclear-terrorism_b_9559006.html">insider destroyed a nuclear reactor’s turbine in Belgium</a> in 2014, for example, the country established new rules ensuring no one could ever be alone and unwatched in key reactor areas.</p>
<p>Testing and constantly looking for vulnerabilities are also key. Johnston’s effort is only one example of an essential approach: assigning intelligent teams to look for ways to defeat security systems, identifying weaknesses and helping to fix them.</p>
<p>Building a strong security culture in the organization – in which all employees take security seriously and are constantly on the lookout for vulnerabilities to be addressed or concerning behavior the organization should know about – is fundamental. The Fort Hood massacre can be blamed, in part, on a breakdown of security culture. Despite clear danger signs in erratic behavior and radical statements, none of Nidal Hasan’s <a href="http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/issues/summer_2015/7_zegart.pdf">commanders wanted to cope with the hassle</a> of disciplining him.</p>
<p>Fixing these systemic problems takes focused leadership from the top of the organization, incentives for strong security performance and a broad understanding of both the threat and the <a href="http://www.nuclearinst.com/write/MediaUploads/SDF%20documents/_Security/Key_attributes_of_an_excellent_Nuclear_Security_Culture.pdf">relevance of security measures to deal with it throughout the organization</a>. Capable leadership will make organizations more successful and more secure.</p>
<p>In our high-tech society, the insider threat is ever-present. High-security organizations, governments and companies alike need to take action to counter the organizational and cognitive biases that often blind us to the insider danger – or future blunders will condemn us to more disasters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Global Nuclear Futures project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences sponsored this insider threat research, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation
of New York, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the
Flora Family Foundation, and the Kavli Foundation for their support.
Matthew Bunn's research at the Managing the Atom project of the Harvard Kennedy School receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The U.S. Department of Energy has contracted with Bunn for studies on security culture. Bunn is a consultant for Oak Ridge National Laboratory and has previously consulted for Pacific Northwest, Livermore, and Brookhaven national laboratories.
Bunn is a member of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine; of the steering committee of the Fissile Material Working Group; and of the Board of Directors of the Arms Control Association.
Matthew Bunn is related to a member of The Conversation's editorial team.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott D. Sagan's recent research has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation and the Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (PASCC) under the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. He is a consultant to the Sandia National Laboratory and is on the advisory board of the Federation of American Scientists and the Frankfurt Peace Research Institute.</span></em></p>Basic safeguards are not enough to protect against insider threats. It requires rethinking how to overcome the biases that cause us to dismiss the danger.Matthew Bunn, Professor of Practice, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Kennedy SchoolScott D. Sagan, Professor of Political Science, Stanford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/703332017-02-03T02:09:53Z2017-02-03T02:09:53ZDefining dual-use research: When scientific advances can both help and hurt humanity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154798/original/image-20170130-7649-4r4cfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not always obvious where a new technology will end up.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/28603360673/in/dateposted/">NIH Image Gallery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientific research can change our lives for the better, but it also presents risks – either through deliberate misuse or accident. Think about studying deadly pathogens; that’s how we can learn how to successfully ward them off, but it can be a safety issue too, as when CDC <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/news-multimedia/lab-incident/">workers were exposed to anthrax</a> in 2014 after an incomplete laboratory procedure left spores of the bacterium alive. </p>
<p>For the last decade, scholars, scientists and government officials have worked to figure out regulations that would maximize the benefits of the life sciences while avoiding unnecessary risks. “Dual-use research” that has the capacity to be used to help or harm humanity is a big part of that debate. As a reflection of how pressing this question is, on Jan. 4, the U.S. National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine <a href="http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/stl/durc/index.htm">met to discuss</a> how or if sensitive information arising in the life sciences should be controlled to prevent its misuse. </p>
<p>For the new Trump administration, one major challenge will be how to maintain national security in the face of technological change. Part of that discussion hinges on understanding the concept of dual use. There are three different dichotomies that could be at play when officials, scholars and scientists refer to dual use – and each uniquely influences the discussion around discovery and control. </p>
<h2>For war or for peace</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154801/original/image-20170130-7680-1bzk1xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">WWI infantry wore respirators to protect against mustard gas, a chemical weapon that can be made from common solvents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Australian_infantry_small_box_respirators_Ypres_1917.jpg">Captain Frank Hurley</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first meaning of dual use describes technologies that can have <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(97)00023-1">both military and civilian uses</a>. For example, technologies useful in industry or agriculture can also be used to create chemical weapons. In civilian life, a chemical called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiodiglycol">thiodiglycol</a> is a common solvent, occasionally used in cosmetics and microscopy. Yet the same chemical is used in the creation of mustard gas, which decimated infantry in <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31042472">World War I</a>.</p>
<p>This distinction is one of the clearest to be made about a particular technology or breakthrough. Often when governments recognize something has both civilian and military uses, they’ll attempt to control how, and with whom, the technology is shared. For instance, the <a href="http://www.australiagroup.net/en/">Australia Group</a> is a collection of 42 nations that together agree to control the export of certain materials to countries which might use them to create chemical weapons.</p>
<p>Technologies can also be dual use because there are benefits that were secondary to their development. An obvious example is the internet: The packet switching that underlies the internet was originally created as a means to <a href="http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/papers/2008/P1995.pdf">communicate between military installations in the event of nuclear war</a>. It has since been released into the civilian domain, allowing you to read this article. </p>
<p>This distinction between military and civilian uses doesn’t always mirror a distinction between good and bad uses. Some military uses, such as those that underpinned the internet, are good. And some civilian uses can be bad: Recent controversies over the <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/12-2013/will_the_growing_militarization_of_our_police_doom_community_policing.asp">militarization of police</a> through the spread of technologies and tactics meant for war into the civilian sphere demonstrate how proliferation in the other direction can be controversial.</p>
<p>Dual use in this sense is about control. Both military and civilian uses could be valuable, as long as a country can maintain authority over its technologies. Because both uses can be valuable, dual use can also be used to justify expenditures, by providing incentives to governments to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(97)00023-1">invest in technology that has multiple applications</a>.</p>
<h2>For good or for evil</h2>
<p>In the January meeting at the NAS, however, the key distinction was between beneficent and malevolent uses. Today this is the most common way to think about dual-use science and technology.</p>
<p>Dual use, in this sense, is a distinctly ethical concept. It is, at its core, about what kinds of uses are considered legitimate or valuable, and what kinds are destructive. For example, some research on viruses allows us to better understand potential pandemic-causing pathogens. The work potentially opens the door to possible countermeasures and helps public health officials in terms of preparedness. There is, however, the risk that the <a href="http://osp.od.nih.gov/sites/default/files/Gain_of_Function_Research_Ethical_Analysis.pdf">same research could, through an act of terror or a lab accident</a>, cause harm.</p>
<p>As of 2007, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity provides advice on regulating “<a href="http://osp.od.nih.gov/sites/default/files/resources/Framework%20for%20transmittal%20duplex%209-10-07.pdf">dual-use research of concern</a>.” This is any life sciences research that could be misapplied to pose a threat to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment or materiel. </p>
<p>The challenging ethical question is finding an acceptable trade-off between the benefits created by legitimate uses of dual-use research and the potential harms of misuse.</p>
<p>The recent NAS meeting discussed the spread of dual-use research’s findings and methods, and who, if anyone, should be responsible for controlling its dispersal. Options that were considered included:</p>
<ul>
<li>subjecting biology research to security classifications, even in part;</li>
<li>relying on scientists to responsibly control their own communications;</li>
<li>export controls, of the type used by the Australia Group with its concerns about military/civilian dual-use of chemicals.</li>
</ul>
<p>Participants reached no firm conclusions, and it will be an ongoing challenge for the Trump administration to tackle these continuing issues.</p>
<p>The other side of the equation, whether we should do some dual-use research in the first place, has also been considered. On Jan. 9, the outgoing Obama administration released <a href="https://www.phe.gov/s3/dualuse/Pages/GainOfFunction.aspx">its final guidance for “gain-of-function research”</a> that may result in the creation of novel, virulent strains of infectious diseases – which may also be dual use. They recommended, among other things, that in order to proceed, the experiments at issue must be the only way to answer a particular scientific question, and must produce greater benefits than they do risks. The devil, of course, is in the details, and each government agency that conducts life sciences research will have decide how best to implement the guidance. </p>
<h2>For offense or for defense</h2>
<p>There’s a third, little discussed meaning of “dual use” that distinguishes between offensive and defensive uses of biotechnology. A classic example of this kind of dual use is “<a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_10/Tucker">Project Clear Vision</a>.” From 1997 to 2000, American researchers set out to recreate Soviet bomblets used to disperse biological weapons. This kind of research treads the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2990/1471-5457(2005)24%5B32:USBILA%5D2.0.CO;2">delicate area between a defensive project</a> – the U.S. maintains Project Clear Vision’s goal was to protect Americans against an attack – and an offensive project that might violate the Biological Weapons Convention. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154806/original/image-20170130-7653-puuf5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even an assault rifle might be dual use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_Afghan_Local_Police_recruit_fires_an_AK-47_rifle_during_a_weapons_class_in_the_Latif_district,_Ghazni_province,_Afghanistan,_April_1,_2012_120401-N-FV144-121.jpg">MC1 David Frech</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What is offensive and what is defensive is to some degree in the eye of the beholder. The Kalashnikov submachine gun was designed in 1947 to defend Russia, but has since become the weapon of choice in conflicts the world over – <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-13/ak-47-rifle-inventor-mikhail-kalashnikov-regrets-creating-weapon/5198396">to the point that its creator expressed regret for his invention</a>. Regardless of intent, the question of how the weapon is used in these conflicts, offensively or defensively, will vary depending on which end of the barrel one is on. </p>
<h2>Regulating science</h2>
<p>When scientists and policy experts wrangle over how to deal with dual-use technologies, they tend to focus on the division between applications for good or evil. This is important: We don’t necessarily want to hinder science without valid reason, because it provides substantial benefits to human health and welfare. </p>
<p>However, there are fears that the lens of dual use could stifle progress by driving scientists away from potentially controversial research: Proponents of gain of function have argued that graduate students or postdoctoral fellows <a href="http://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02525-14">could choose other research areas</a> in order to avoid the policy debate. To date, however, the total number of American studies put on hold – as a result of safety concerns, much less dual-use concerns – <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf5753">was initially 18</a>, with all of these being permitted to resume with the implementation of the policies set out on Jan. 9 by the White House. As a proportion of scientific research, this is vanishingly small.</p>
<p>Arguably, in a society that views science as an essential part of national security, dual-use research is almost certain to appear. This is definitely the case in the U.S., where the work of neuroscientists, increasingly, <a href="http://thebulletin.org/when-neuroscience-leads-neuroweapons9962">is funded by the national military</a>, or the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4685481/">economic competitiveness that emerges from biotech</a> is considered a national security priority.</p>
<p>Making decisions about the security implications of science and technology can be complicated. That’s why scientists and policymakers need clarity on the dual-use distinction to help consider our options.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas G. Evans receives funding from the Greenwall Foundation to study the dual-use implications of cognitive neuroscience.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aerin Commins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scientific breakthrough in a vacuum may be free of ethical implications. But many developments can be used for good or evil, or both. There’s a fine balance on what to control and to what extent.Nicholas G. Evans, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, UMass LowellAerin Commins, Ph.D. Student, Global Studies Program, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/674442016-12-21T01:38:23Z2016-12-21T01:38:23ZWeekly Dose: doxycycline treats a host of human plagues, but it won’t work forever<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145951/original/image-20161115-13998-d0b8kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pathogens like malaria get inside our cells - so an antibiotic to combat them needs to as well. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/7694655428/in/photolist-cHX7YU-9M7z9X-njGj7X-bEw8gp-81RKbf-9y3cgk-bBzyvE-6KXii7-cVenpS-cVenw7-cVenub-7jxRvu-bu5fXr-cVenrQ-bmtm9b-a89QJq-cVenyA-8YRQTF-64Aerb-e9jtqQ-bBzywu-bQuffr-cVenny-bzodNi-koAcjr-9RM3wg-a86Us8-5KmsAb-cVengj-9RQrLJ-kh6DAs-bBzyDj-bBzyS5-cVenku-7XonZ4-5AZ8ha-dmmiS1-9RPWso-dBmmsz-oDtBij-dHmgZk-5MXsA2-dkd7Ty-njYAJr-8haqFS-cVeniA-boKniN-bxm5G3-nGYKh5-nvzhNr">Penn State/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Doxycycline is an antibiotic drug that kills a wide, weird and wonderful range of bugs that are often difficult to treat with other antibiotics. These include bacteria and parasites that take up residence inside our cells (called “intracellular organisms”), making them hard for most antibiotics to reach.</p>
<p>Unlike many other antibiotics, doxycycline penetrates deep into our tissues and ends up inside our cells, where it can kill these bugs. Examples of intracellular organisms susceptible to doxycycline include numerous “<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-hendra-now-bat-lyssavirus-so-what-are-zoonotic-diseases-12444">zoonotic infections</a>” (infections that are spread from animals to humans), <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-trachoma-blinding-aboriginal-children-when-mainstream-australia-eliminated-it-100-years-ago-63526">chlamydia</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/hospital-outbreak-of-legionella-should-we-be-worried-3031">legionella</a> (the cause of legionnaire’s disease) and <a href="https://theconversation.com/weekly-dose-mefloquine-an-antimalarial-drug-made-to-win-wars-55566">malaria</a>. </p>
<p>Other susceptible microorganisms include “spirochaetes” (that can cause syphilis and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-lyme-disease-and-does-it-exist-in-australia-57717">Lyme disease</a>) and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/acne-treatment-antibiotics-dont-need-to-kill-bacteria-to-clear-up-your-skin-56188">bacteria that cause acne</a>, <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/bioterrorism/threat.html">anthrax</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/has-haitis-cholera-epidemic-become-a-permanent-problem-55790">cholera</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146183/original/image-20161116-13526-1z0ucg7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146183/original/image-20161116-13526-1z0ucg7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146183/original/image-20161116-13526-1z0ucg7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146183/original/image-20161116-13526-1z0ucg7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146183/original/image-20161116-13526-1z0ucg7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146183/original/image-20161116-13526-1z0ucg7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146183/original/image-20161116-13526-1z0ucg7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mechanism</h2>
<p>Doxycycline interferes with a microorganism’s ability to manufacture proteins – the “building blocks” of life. Protein manufacture occurs in a part of the cell called the “ribosome” and is fundamental to any organism’s survival. </p>
<p>The reason doxycycline kills bacteria and parasites, but not our own cells, is that ours have a different type of ribosome to these simpler organisms. </p>
<h2>Uses</h2>
<p>Because doxycycline kills a wide range of bacteria that can infect the respiratory system, it is commonly prescribed for pneumonia and bronchitis. It is also widely used for treating acne and infections of the urinary and genital systems. </p>
<p>It is usually taken orally as tablets or capsules but can also very occasionally be given as an intravenous injection.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145953/original/image-20161115-13995-zrxosm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doxycycline interferes with a microorganism’s ability to manufacture proteins - which is essential for survival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tep/373530231/">Tim Proctor/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Doxycycline continues to exert its effects for some time after being taken. This means it can be used not only as treatment, but also for prevention or “prophylaxis”. </p>
<p>Its most widespread use as prophylaxis is for tourists and other travellers (such as military personnel) going to tropical countries where it is used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/weekly-dose-mefloquine-an-antimalarial-drug-made-to-win-wars-55566">protect primarily against malaria</a>. It may also provide additional protection from <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-gastroenteritis-and-why-cant-i-get-rid-of-it-34351">common bacterial causes of diarrhoea</a>.</p>
<p>To be effective in preventing infection, it needs to be taken once a day during the time the person is at risk. Doxycycline is also active against a number of bacteria that could possibly be used as agents of “germ” warfare. This included, most notably, <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/bioterrorism/threat.html">anthrax</a>. So it could be used as prophylaxis in military or other populations thought to be at risk of bio-warfare or following release of anthrax into the environment by terrorists.</p>
<h2>Development</h2>
<p>The development of doxycycline followed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/weekly-dose-penicillin-the-mould-that-saves-millions-of-lives-63770">momentous discovery of penicillin</a>, a natural compound produced by a certain type of mould. </p>
<p>This lead many pharmaceutical companies to investigate the microbe-killing properties of a large number of other natural products, such as those produced by other microorganisms and plants, a process termed “bio-discovery”. </p>
<p>This unearthed natural compounds with anti-microbial activity and further synthetic modification <a href="https://theconversation.com/natural-medicine-is-great-but-chemists-can-make-it-even-better-28362">improved these natural compounds</a>.</p>
<h2>Resistance</h2>
<p>Like all antibiotics, doxycycline is susceptible to bugs that <a href="https://theconversation.com/perspectives-on-antibiotic-resistance-how-we-got-here-where-were-headed-60140">develop resistance</a>. There is evidence this has already occurred in settings where the drug is widely used, <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(15)00527-7/abstract">such as treatment of acne</a>. </p>
<p>This means its use may be curtailed or overtaken by alternative drugs for some conditions, now or in the future.</p>
<h2>Side effects and reactions</h2>
<p>The most commonly reported side effect is inflammation of the oesophagus (food pipe), causing heartburn. This can be quite unpleasant but is somewhat preventable by taking the medication with plenty of water, while standing and well before going to bed. </p>
<p>“Photosensitivity” (heightened sensitivity to sunlight resulting in being easily sunburnt) is also common ( in <a href="http://www.ajtmh.org/content/84/4/517.full">up to 20%</a> of people taking it). This is especially problematic for travellers using it as malaria prophylaxis in tropical countries. </p>
<p>Doxycycline should not be used in children or in pregnant women where it can result in permanent brown staining of teeth and have other effects on foetal bone development. </p>
<p>Doxycycline can <a href="https://theconversation.com/weekly-dose-methotrexate-the-anti-inflammatory-drug-that-can-kill-if-taken-daily-60322">increase the toxicity</a> of the anti-inflammatory drug <a href="https://theconversation.com/weekly-dose-methotrexate-the-anti-inflammatory-drug-that-can-kill-if-taken-daily-60322">methotrexate</a>.</p>
<h2>Controversies</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/weekly-dose-mefloquine-an-antimalarial-drug-made-to-win-wars-55566">Recent high-profile controversies</a> regarding side-effects from antimalarial drug mefloquine in defence-force personnel and refugees have highlighted the role of doxycycline as one of two main alternatives to mefloquine.</p>
<p>It is now generally considered a preferable initial choice to mefloquine for malaria prophylaxis. Interestingly, previous studies suggest many people actually <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2005/182/4/mefloquine-and-doxycycline-malaria-prophylaxis-australian-soldiers-east-timor">prefer taking mefloquine</a> to doxycycline.</p>
<p>This may reflect the nature of doxycycline’s side effects, but also its less convenient daily dosing (mefloquine is taken weekly).</p>
<h2>Possible future uses</h2>
<p>It has <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0064561">recently been found</a> doxycycline affects processes in human cells, especially a group of enzymes important for the body’s inflammatory response. This property may be beneficial and could lead to applications for treating various non-infectious conditions.</p>
<p>These include cancers (especially those involving bone), inflammatory and autoimmune conditions (including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis) and atherosclerotic diseases (plaque build-up in your arteries that can cause heart disease). However, these applications are currently still mostly in the experimental stage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67444/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harin Karunajeewa is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council fellowship. </span></em></p>Doxycycline is an antibiotic drug that kills a wide, weird and wonderful range of bugs that are often difficult to treat with other antibiotics.Harin Karunajeewa, Associate Professor, Walter and Eliza Hall InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652672016-09-22T17:11:53Z2016-09-22T17:11:53ZAssessing the risk from Africa as Libya loses its chemical weapons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138483/original/image-20160920-12483-hu9bm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The threat of chemical weapon attacks is on the rise globally.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Libya’s remaining chemical weapons left over from the Gaddafi regime are now being safely <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37308753">disposed</a> of in a German facility. This eliminates the risk of them falling into the wrong hands. But can these same hands acquire weapons of mass destruction from the rest of Africa?</p>
<p>Weapons of mass destruction are commonly broken into four categories: chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.opcw.org/about-chemical-weapons/what-is-a-chemical-weapon">Chemical agents</a> include choking agents (chlorine), blister agents (mustard), blood agents (hydrogen cyanide and nerve agents as well as sarin or VX). Biological weapons involve a microorganism such as bacteria (anthrax is an example), fungi or a virus (such as smallpox) and <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/intro/bio_tox.htm">toxins</a>. <a href="http://www.nti.org/learn/radiological/">Radiological attack</a> material is usually combined with radioactive material in conventional explosives while a full nuclear detention involves fission. </p>
<p>There is limited open source information on African countries’ current biological and chemical weapons programmes. And all African countries, with just two exceptions- Egypt and South Sudan - have signed the <a href="https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/">Chemical Weapons Convention</a> which commits countries to destroy all stockpiles. No African state <a href="http://nwp.ilpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Africa-nuclear-weapons.pdf">at the moment</a> possesses nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>State-owned stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction on the continent are therefore not the biggest threat. Rather there is growing <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/dual-use-traders-the-real-wmd-threat-in-southeast-asia/">concern</a> about dual-use goods. These are materials that are primarily produced for peaceful purposes but can also be used for deadly purposes. </p>
<p>Examples include chemical products used by industry such as herbicides or pesticides that can be turned into weapons or biological agents created using your typical research lab equipment. For example, Australian <a href="https://www.amacad.org/content/publications/pubContent.aspx?d=22233">researchers</a> exploring ways to control the mouse population unexpectedly produced a lethal mousepox virus.</p>
<p>Governments often have limited knowledge of chemical production since it is the preserve of the private sector. Often these facilities are not as well secured as government facilities.</p>
<p>Kenya, with the help of the US, has just taken steps to prevent terrorists laying their hands on biomedical toxins that could be used to make <a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Research-labs-set-for-Sh1-7bn-upgrade-to-avert-terror-attack/539546-3381412-135ih62/">biological weapons</a>. The country has been the target of deadly attacks by al-Shabaab terrorists in <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-sense-of-horrific-violence-in-kenya-39746">recent times</a>. </p>
<h2>What is known</h2>
<p>Egypt <a href="http://fas.org/nuke/guide/egypt/nuke/">decided</a> to concentrate on increasing conventional forces, and chemical and biological weapons, rather than nuclear weapons. It is also one of the few states to <a href="http://www.nti.org/learn/countries/egypt/">have used</a> chemical weapons in wartime in the 1960s. In the 1980s Egypt <a href="http://www.idsa.in/cbwmagazine/CBWinEgyptandLibya_DanyShoham">intensified</a> its biological activity, working closely with Iraq. Information on its current programmes is limited. </p>
<p>The country has been very vocal on the subject of the Chemical Weapons <a href="https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/">Convention</a>. It justifies the fact that it has not signed the convention <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-ratifying-the-chemical-weapons-convention-is-in-israels-best-interest-63889">on the grounds that</a> Israel has also not ratified it. </p>
<p>South Sudan is the only other remaining African country that’s not party to the convention. The newly established country was believed to be on the receiving end of chemical weapons attacks in early 2016. The <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article57879">accusation</a> was that the Sudanese Army used such weapons during fighting in the Lanyi and Mundri areas. The UN Mission in South Sudan <a href="https://radiotamazuj.org/en/article/unmiss-says-no-evidence-chemical-weapons-use-mundri">investigated</a> and declared no signs of chemical weapons and that smoke inhaled by children may have come from either conventional weapons or teargas. </p>
<p>Sudan was believed at one point to be <a href="http://bio-defencewarfareanalyst.blogspot.com/2014/05/up-comingsudans-pursuit-of-biological.html">pursuing</a> biological weapons and to <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2001/10/were_the_sudanese_making_chemical_weapons.html">possess</a> VX nerve gas. But open source evidence is inconclusive. </p>
<h2>The case of Libya</h2>
<p>Unlike its chemical weapons programme, Libya’s biological weapons never really came to life.</p>
<p>It <a href="http://www.idsa.in/cbwmagazine/CBWinEgyptandLibya_DanyShoham#footnoteref23_o6dongg">allegedly</a> sought assistance for the programme from countries like Cuba and Pakistan, and tried to recruit apartheid era South African scientists. American and British specialists invited to Libya in 2003 <a href="http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/78338.pdf">found</a> no concrete evidence of an ongoing biological effort. </p>
<p>Libya was more successful in its nuclear programme, which Gaddafi gave up in 2003. The last of Libya’s highly enriched uranium left the country on a Russian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-cables-libya-enriched-uranium">chartered plane</a> on December 21 2009. </p>
<p>The country retains a stockpile of natural uranium ore concentrate, also known as yellow cake, which is stored in a former military facility near Sebha in the south of the country. According to the <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2015/257522.htm">US State Department</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>(the risk of trafficking and proliferation of this material is low, due to) the bulk and weight of the storage containers and the need for extensive additional processing before the material would be suitable for weapons purposes. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Nuclear on the continent</h2>
<p>Today, highly enriched uranium is an extremely rare commodity in Africa. Since Libya’s clean out in 2009, only Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa <a href="http://www.fmwg.org/fmwg_wg_2015/HEU_Free_Zone_Report_FINAL.pdf">still have</a> stocks. Ghana and Nigeria each possess less than 1 kilogram.</p>
<p>During the apartheid era in South Africa the government’s <a href="https://www.enca.com/south-africa/inside-dr-deaths-laboratory">Project Coast</a> focused on the development of chemical weapons and various drugs like mandrax. South Africa developed <a href="https://www.issafrica.org/about-us/press-releases/understanding-south-africas-past-nuclear-weapons-programme">six and a half nuclear bombs</a> that were eventually dismantled. South Africa’s Pelindaba research centre still houses large quantities of weapons grade material. </p>
<p>Other nuclear facilities in Africa do exist. Of the world’s <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/non-power-nuclear-applications/radioisotopes-research/research-reactors.aspx">243 operational</a> research reactors, only 10 are in Africa. This includes research reactors typically found at universities. Their lower enriched nuclear material can be used to make a dirty radiological bomb.</p>
<h2>Non-state actors and less secure spaces</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.fmwg.org/2015-_Nuclear_and_WMD_proliferation__A_View_from_Algeria__Arslan_Chikhaoui-8_August_2015_.pdf">Intelligence reports</a> have indicated that groups such as Al Qaeda in the Maghreb have made multiple attempts to manufacture materials for weapons of mass destruction.</p>
<p>Analysts also envision militants known as <a href="http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2014/10/05/ebola-as-isis-bio-weapon/&refURL=&referrer=#1775c9f01c7b">suicide infectors</a> visiting an area with an infectious disease outbreak like Ebola to purposely infect themselves and then using air travel to carry out the attack. Reports from 2009 <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/4287469/Black-Death-kills-al-Qaeda-operatives-in-Algeria.html">show</a> 40 al-Qaeda linked militants being killed by the plague at a training camp in Algeria. There were claims that they were developing the disease as a weapon. </p>
<p>Islamic State has already <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/315025-islamic-state-chemical-weapons/">produced</a> and used toxic chemicals such as mustard and chlorine gas. In Africa, an Islamic State cell in Morocco was <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/isis-cell-had-been-preparing-chemical-attack-in-morocco-a6886121.html">planning</a> an attack involving six jars of sulphur-containing chemical fertiliser which when heated can release a fatally toxic gas and possibly the tetanus toxin. According to Iraqi and US intelligence officials, Islamic State is aggressively <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/officials-islamic-state-seeking-chemical-weapons/">pursuing</a> further development of chemical weapons and has set up a branch dedicated to research and experiments using scientists from throughout the Middle East. </p>
<p>The disposal of Libya’s chemical weapons has lowered the risk of weapons of mass destruction in Africa. But we have seen how far non-state actors are willing to go to either produce or steal such weapons. </p>
<p>The threat they pose cannot be ignored. African countries, with help from bilateral partners and the international community, has <a href="http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/1540/ISSAfricanpespectivesof1540.pdf">broadened</a> its nonproliferation focus. It will need to keep doing so if the goal is to effectively counter this threat.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Firsing does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Governments often have limited knowledge of chemical production as it is the preserve of the private sector. Often these facilities are not as well secured as government facilities.Scott Firsing, Adjunct professor, University of North Carolina WilmingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/576702016-04-13T09:59:28Z2016-04-13T09:59:28ZNew weapon in war on rabies: mobile phones<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118544/original/image-20160413-23605-z72iyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rabies rates are rising in Africa</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/rabies-a-global-killer-that-dog-jabs-can-eliminate-32289">Andy Wagstaffe</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Outside Dr Chibonda’s clinic in a remote village in the rural heartland of Tanzania, seven families sit waiting anxiously. One mother is with her teenage daughter and two young sons, and finding it particularly difficult to hide her fear. A few days ago, she and her children were bitten by their neighbour’s dog, which has not been seen since. Last month, she was at a funeral in the next village for her friend’s eight-year-old son. That little boy had died of rabies.</p>
<p>All these families are waiting to see whether the doctor’s colleague makes it back in time from the capital, Dar es Salaam, with rabies vaccines. On this occasion the vaccines come through, but there are never guarantees. It is a four-day round trip and it is not easy getting the money together to buy them privately. In the past, Dr Chibonda advised families to go and buy the vaccine themselves, but then one parent returned with her comatose child. That was in 2008 and he is still haunted by it. </p>
<p>Tens of thousands of people die from Rabies each year – one every ten minutes. It <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0003709">kills more</a> people in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else besides India, and rates <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0000626">have been increasing</a> in Africa. Once symptoms begin, death is inevitable within ten days. Muscle control deteriorates; the pain is excruciating and victims lapse between lucidity and severe agitation. Lucid patients are well aware of what the future holds and that nothing more can be done. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118403/original/image-20160412-15875-tk8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surveillance records in Tanzania medical office.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate Hampson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In low-income countries in Africa, vaccines are often out of stock in rural clinics such as Dr Chibonda’s. The problem is not a lack of vaccines per se, but a supply chain that is not responsive to demand because there are no electronic records and monitoring systems are virtually non-existent. The information available to the authorities tends to <a href="https://theconversation.com/rabies-a-global-killer-that-dog-jabs-can-eliminate-32289">reveal only</a> the tip of the iceberg. And this is not just a problem for rabies, but for essential medical supplies in general. </p>
<p>Mobile phones look like the answer to this information problem. Many sub-Saharan countries went through a technological revolution in the early 2000s when mobile phones arrived, leapfrogging landlines as the commonest communications tool. Over 97% of Tanzanians now <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11205-006-9079-x">have access to a mobile phone</a>. While most clinics do not have a computer, every health worker has a mobile. </p>
<h2>The app</h2>
<p>A few years ago, former University of Glasgow PhD researcher Zac Mtema developed an application for <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002002">rabies monitoring</a> that could run on the most basic handsets (less than 5% of health workers in Tanzania <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002002">own</a> a smart phone). It lets health workers record information on patients with animal bites and their treatment using a simple form; while veterinary workers can submit records on outbreaks and dog vaccinations. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VgFlw1y_i68?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>All this information goes to a website that is accessed by government staff. It lets them see where dog bites are occurring, where stocks are running low and where not enough dogs have been vaccinated. Equally important, it lets two sets of workers share information in real time in a place where typically lines of communication between sectors are weak. </p>
<p>It is worth stressing the wider potential here: when it comes to diseases that spread from animals to people, such as anthrax and ebola, you need veterinary and health workers to co-operate. In a similar way, controlling diseases spread by mosquitos, such as malaria and zika, depends on the joint efforts of environmental and health workers.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118537/original/image-20160413-23635-1akfuzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dr Chibonda (checks) with veterinary workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katie Hampson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We have just reached the end of a five-year trial of this system in southern Tanzania. It has involved over 300 health and veterinary workers submitting over 30,000 records across an area that is home to several million people. It has supported a WHO-funded <a href="http://www.who.int/rabies/bmgf_who_project/en/">rabies control programme</a> in which the government has been aiming to vaccinate at least 70% of dogs in the 2,000-plus villages across the region every year since 2011. This is part of a <a href="http://www.who.int/rabies/international_conference_dog_mediated_human_rabies/en/">global push</a> to eliminate human deaths from rabies by 2030. </p>
<p>Our results have been very encouraging. Patients reporting to clinics with dog bites have halved over the past five years, and rabies has disappeared entirely from Pemba, an island with a population of over 400,000. Admittedly, it is much easier to eliminate rabies from an island with a small dog population, but the trajectories across the pilot area are promising, too. Dr Chibonda used to see bite patients almost every day, but now sees just one or two a month; and where previously he didn’t even know the veterinary officer in his community, now they call one another and even carry out joint outbreak investigations. </p>
<p>The system may not solve the problem of chronic underfunding, but it helps make the most of the resources available. The fact that the handsets are so familiar and easy to use is almost certainly one of the reasons why it has taken off. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118408/original/image-20160412-15885-d4p0yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zac Mtema training a healthworker to use the application.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katie Hampson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our programme is an example of “mhealth” – using mobile phones for healthcare. It’s a promising and rapidly growing area, though there are few examples of programmes of <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002002">this scope and scale</a>. The government has adopted our application as a pilot in the region for rabies prevention. We hope it will be rolled out across Tanzania, where the disease <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0002510">remains rampant</a>. Elsewhere in the country, it has already been adapted for other uses including monitoring pregnancies and birth complications, as well as for malaria control. </p>
<p>The more that cheap, easy to use, and familiar tools such as ours can become standard practice to support healthworkers, the better equipped they will be to deal with the entrenched disease problems of today – and for epidemics in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Hampson receives funding from The Wellcome Trust, but this article represents purely her views. </span></em></p>New initiative with old handsets halves rates of the disease in southern Tanzania – and is being applied to other conditions, too.Katie Hampson, Reader, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/449952015-07-23T10:08:43Z2015-07-23T10:08:43ZExplainer: biosafety and biosecurity in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89350/original/image-20150722-1479-8qygt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa needs to ensure that it is equipped to deal with bioterrorism attacks and possible laboratory outbreaks.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mariana Bazo/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the scientific world, laboratories provide the crucial space for scientists to work and test hypotheses that they are working on. There are dangers involved, though. Laboratories may contain many hazardous chemicals and the spread of these could have devastating effects on the environment, humans, livestock and agriculture. </p>
<p>It is imperative that the necessary precautions are taken to ensure that hazardous material and potentially dangerous pathogens are handled safely and securely.</p>
<p>Biosafety generally means the adherence to good laboratory practices and <a href="http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=33817">procedures</a>. It also refers to the use of appropriate safety equipment and facilities in order to ensure the safe handling, storage and disposal of biological material. This includes <a href="http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/lbg-ldmbl-04/ch2-eng.php">pathogens</a> – infectious agents that cause disease. </p>
<p>Measures to prevent harm caused by the accidental exposure to harmful pathogens and toxins fall under the term biosafety. Physical containment barriers and practices are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2493080/">mandatory</a>. This is to prevent unintentional exposure to biological agents. They are also required to prevent accidental release into the environment.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/tbis.html">Biosecurity</a> refers to the misuse or abuse of biological material. This includes pathogens and their products. There need to be ways to protect their misuse from causing harm to humans, livestock or crops. </p>
<p>Measures need to be implemented to control any harm in the event of exposure. This includes the protection, control and accountability for harmful biological materials – specifically in <a href="http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/biosafety/WHO_CDS_EPR_2006_6.pdf">laboratories</a>, in order to prevent their unauthorised access, loss or theft.</p>
<p>Bio-risk assessment is the quantitative and/or qualitative assessment of the possibility of a particular biological event. This includes natural disease outbreaks such as Ebola, accidents or the deliberate misuse of biological agents. The type of biological event that may adversely affect the health of humans, animals and crops. </p>
<h2>Why it is relevant to South Africa</h2>
<p>The use of biological material for harmful purposes is becoming an increasing threat. Even though it is not widely publicised, there have been incidents of both unintentional and deliberate exposure to harmful biological agents. Some of the most common agents used in bioterrorism include <a href="http://gulfnews.com/news/americas/usa/sarin-how-nazis-developed-deadly-neurotoxin-1.1179868">sarin neurotoxin</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-33607623">ricin</a> and <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/02/15/93170200/timeline-how-the-anthrax-terror-unfolded">anthrax</a>. </p>
<p>Existing legislation and capacity to monitor and deal with these types of problems is <a href="http://uctscholar.uct.ac.za/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=1277&local_base=GEN01">fragmented</a> in South Africa. This is scattered across a number of <a href="http://www.acgt.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/South-Africa-status-with-respect-to-biotechnology-and-biosafety_Hennie-Groenewald.pdf">departments</a> such as Agriculture, Health, and Trade and Industry. This makes reporting and monitoring very difficult. </p>
<p>It would be appropriate for one department, such as Science and Technology, to take overall responsibility for the implementation of biorisk assessment legislation in South Africa. </p>
<p>South Africa has excellent ethical guidelines in place for human and animal <a href="http://www.kznhealth.gov.za/research/ethics3.pdf">experimentation</a>. But there is a lack of education and training in research ethics for life scientists working with harmful biological <a href="http://sabioriskassociation.org/">material</a>. </p>
<p>There is a conspicuous absence of a database of both public and commercial laboratories working on such material within South Africa. There is generally a disconcerting low level of awareness among life scientists about national and international conventions, laws and regulations related to their research.</p>
<h2>How vulnerable is South Africa?</h2>
<p>South Africa has largely been spared the threats of bioterrorism. But given that South Africa is the <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/africa/">gateway</a> to Africa and the transit route to many Western and Eastern destinations, we will not be immune from such threats forever. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89349/original/image-20150722-1473-lfqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89349/original/image-20150722-1473-lfqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89349/original/image-20150722-1473-lfqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89349/original/image-20150722-1473-lfqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89349/original/image-20150722-1473-lfqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89349/original/image-20150722-1473-lfqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89349/original/image-20150722-1473-lfqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All scientists in South Africa need to be aware of the dangers that stem from laboratories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research and development in the life sciences are crucial in driving the bio-economy in South Africa. It is also imperative that such research is conducted in a safe, secure and ethically sound manner. There is a general attitude that “this does not apply to me or my work” or “my work cannot be used for harmful purposes by <a href="http://www.gov.za/minister-naledi-pandor-international-symposium-bio-safety-genetically-modified-organisms">scientists”</a>. </p>
<p>Creating awareness and accepting that the misuse of scientific technology is a reality is in the interest of both South Africans and the life science community.</p>
<p>Although the South African legislative framework is robust and comprehensive, it suffers from several <a href="http://innovationsymposium.wits.ac.za/usrfiles/users/1/pdfs/Pamela_Andanda.pdf">limitations and challenges</a>. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Lack of coherence in the categorisation of pathogens;</p></li>
<li><p>The lack of harmonisation of guidelines; and</p></li>
<li><p>The deficiency in infrastructure and capacity to meet the challenges for implementation of the legislation. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>South Africa also has a complex set of regulations governing the detection, identification, control, and prevention of human, animal and plant diseases caused by infectious agents. There is a definite need to develop a single, locally relevant list of infectious agents. There is also a need for their control and eradication. This list should be dynamic and regularly updated. </p>
<p>One should not be alarmist, but given the increasing threats elsewhere in the world, South Africa should not be complacent. The country should rather be proactive in putting in place preventative measures to protect its population. Criminal elements intending to use technology for harmful purposes are always a threat anywhere in the word. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Find the official Academy of Science of South Africa report <a href="http://www.assaf.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Final-WEB-K-12423-ASSAF-Biosafety-and-Biosecurity-Report_DevV11LR.pdf">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iqbal Parker receives research funding from the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Research Foundation (NRF)</span></em></p>In the science world, laboratories are essential but safety precautions should be taken to prevent any incidents like the Ebola outbreak or biochemical attacks.Iqbal Parker, Director, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/261332014-05-06T11:25:07Z2014-05-06T11:25:07ZTen-year research reveals new leads for anthrax vaccine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47872/original/zt2rt8p7-1399372704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anthrax in the mail can be deadly.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Belga Photo/Yves Boucau</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anthrax occupies a special role as a feared and potentially lethal disease, but the culmination of a ten-year research project has identified a section of its toxin that could produce an effective new vaccine. Published in <a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/">PLOS Pathogens</a>, colleagues and I have found a new inroad to developing an anthrax vaccine.</p>
<p>Since the Cold War, anthrax has had special status through the notion that it might be weaponised as an agent of biowarfare. Its <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/02/15/93170200/timeline-how-the-anthrax-terror-unfolded">use as a biological weapon in 2001</a>, with spores sent through the US postal system, killed five people, infected 17 others.</p>
<p>Anthrax is caused by the bacterium <em>Bacillus anthracis</em>. It produces spores that release toxins, which can be inhaled, ingested or absorbed into the skin. Those infected by it may suffer disease ranging from treatable skin lesions to sepsis over the whole body. If the spores hit our lungs or intestines they can cause death within a few days. An <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plague/sverdlovsk/">accident in 1979 at a military facility in Russia</a> accidentally released anthrax spores and more than 100 people died.</p>
<p>Although anthrax has <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000461">existed for millennia</a>, it has not actually had a major impact on humans, except for occupational exposure in those working with livestock, animal skins or wool, because it exists as long-lived spores in the soil and in the hides of livestock. What has led to work on vaccines more recently, however, is the fear of its use by armies or terrorists and a high value has been placed on ensuring that military personnel are effectively vaccinated.</p>
<p>Initial anthrax vaccines used weakened forms of the anthrax spore, which is a common way of developing vaccines. But its use led to concerns over high levels of “adverse reactions” – both soreness where the injection is delivered and heavy fevers. Until recently, vaccines used to protect against anthrax had been the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2783700/">AVA (Biothrax) vaccine in the US and AVP vaccine in the UK</a>. </p>
<p>Both of these use weakened samples of the bacteria to enable the body to produce antibodies that target one of the key anthrax toxins, the “protective antigen” or “PA”. The idea here is that high levels of antibody to this antigen would mop up and neutralise any incoming anthrax spores before they can do damage. Next generation vaccines work on the same principle, but still require frequent topping up to maintain immunity.</p>
<h2>Lethal factor</h2>
<p>The toxic effects of anthrax are caused by a combination of three proteins: protective antigen (PA), edema factor (EF) and lethal factor (LF). Our new study reappraised our immune response when exposed to anthrax. So far, existing vaccines have focused on the PA protein, but we decided to look at the lethal factor after learning of farmers and shepherds in the Kayseri region of Turkey who recover from anthrax and never seem to be afflicted by it again.</p>
<p>These farmers and shepherds often had strong, presumably protective immunity to anthrax antigens that seemed to target LF more than PA.</p>
<p>With this in mind, we mapped antigen recognition in exposed and recovered farmers and compared it with biodefense workers who were given the old vaccine containing, as well as in mice. Because white blood cells carry a memory of the pathogens they have previously encountered, allowing a faster and more potent immune response on next encounter, it was possible to track how immunity developed after exposure to both LF and PA.</p>
<h2>Surprising findings</h2>
<p>There were a number of interesting and sometimes surprising findings. In mapping the antigens, we found some regions that were recognised exceptionally strongly by the immune response. We identified one stretch of 20 to 30 amino acids within LF that caught our attention due to its ability to bind strongly to very diverse human tissue types and, perhaps as a consequence of this, stimulate very powerful, protective immune responses from the relevant white blood cells, “T cells”.</p>
<p>Regions such as this could easily be incorporated into vaccines and we were able to use an LF-based vaccine of this type to successfully protect mice from the toxic effects of anthrax spores. </p>
<p>While this remains some way off development of vaccines for clinical trials in humans, the work points the way to developing a vaccine that may be a little more empirical and fleet of foot than traditional ones, building in data on the strongest antigens targeted by the body’s protective cells.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danny Altmann receives funding from the MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust and NIH.</span></em></p>Anthrax occupies a special role as a feared and potentially lethal disease, but the culmination of a ten-year research project has identified a section of its toxin that could produce an effective new…Danny Altmann, Professor of Immunology, Imperial College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.