StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax as WMD - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Anthrax has been well studies for over 150 years; however, the re3cent threat of anthrax as a bioterrorism agent has necessitated improvements in pathogen detection methods (Popoviv, 2005). Because anthrax spore are hardy, highly infectious, and easily airborne, environmental detection of the pathogens in facilities and public areas is particularly necessary…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.1% of users find it useful
Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax as WMD
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax as WMD"

Anthrax has been well studies for over 150 years; however, the re3cent threat of anthrax as a bioterrorism agent has necessitated improvements in pathogen detection methods (Popoviv, 2005). Because anthrax spore are hardy, highly infectious, and easily airborne, environmental detection of the pathogens in facilities and public areas is particularly necessary. Many research activities and political actions have been taken to improve the reliability and speed of anthrax detection through sampling of bioagents on-site as well as in-lab culturing and confirmation of bioagents in collected samples.

Following the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, the United States Postal service, and other public facilities, instituted Biowatch programs, specifically geared at early anthrax detection in order to minimize contamination. At this point no standard method existed for determining airborne anthrax threats, of particular concern. The USPS "Biohazard Detection System (BDS)" is a system that was put in place to identify potential threats and confirm these threats quickly by high-reliability LRN laboratory analysis (Popoviv, 2005).

The CDC conducted regular sampling of many facilities in order to ensure that anthrax was not present. The sampling process is the first phase of anthrax detection, and it is the one that is the most difficult to control because of variants in sampling environments and in personnel responsible for attaining samples. At the Brentwood postal facility, the CDC conducted scientific “side-by-side” studies that demonstrated that different sampling methods showed much different in-lab results for anthrax spores.

The study compared dry-swab, wet-swab, and vacuum methods for sample collection using different swab materials, showing that pre-moistened cotton tipped swabs or macro-foam swabs were the most effective for successful collection of anthrax from surfaces. At the Trenton postal facility, the CDC conducted similar “side-by-side” trials to identify airborne anthrax using analysis of various air sampling methods and filter types, published in peer-reviewed literature. Additional research provided the details on amount of moisture, light, and temperature required to successfully transport anthrax samples to LRN laboratory facilities (Popoviv, 2005).

Great steps forward were made in anthrax sampling techniques in response to bioterrorism threats. In the lab, anthrax, like other bioagents, must be cultured in order to provide enough anthrax for isolation from other bacteria and fungi that may have been captured in the sampling method, and eventual analysis. Anthrax can be cultured on media, like many other microbes; however, the CDC conducted research on using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology in comparison to standard culture approaches, resulting in methods that take much less time to amplify the samples needed in order to undergo analysis that will allow for identification of anthrax in a sample (Popoviv, 2005).

These advanced methods of anthrax culturing allow for a much faster overall laboratory analysis timeframe, because culturing microbes traditional can take long periods of time when significant amounts are required. Anthrax confirmation tests are completed according to standardized methods. When new methods are developed, they are normally compared against a standard reference method or tested against a sample with known concentration. This allows the method’s accuracy and precession to be documented and compared with other methods.

In addition to accuracy and precision, however, methods for determining anthrax must also be economical and, most importantly, fast in order to provide adequate response in the case of a bioterrorism event (Popoviv, 2005). The CDC and many other public and private institutions have engaged in method development for anthrax identification. The standard method for B. anthracis (anthrax) identification was created by the LRN and made public to other interested laboratory facilities in the literature.

The first standard was a culture-based method that took long period to culture the pathogen before testing. More contemporary methods include nucleic-acid and immunological testing that require very little living bacterial cultures, but can be instead artificially amplified by technique such as PCR for quick results. One of the biggest advancements was the availability of Total Analysis Systems (TAS) for anthrax based on PCR methods. These are full equipment methods designed to be conducted on-site or in a research lab, specifically geared to combine the culture and analysis process to provide immediate results, with less skills technicians needed (Edwards et al., 2006). The implementation of these systems has made testing for anthrax in smaller public health facilities much more affordable in terms of both resources and manpower.

In addition to environmental sampling, as discussed above, detection of anthrax for diagnostic purposes may be performed by analysis of the blood, capable of identifying anthrax at very low levels. In addition, modern physicists have created methods that allow for laser identification of anthrax directly from a surface, those these methods have not yet found in-field application, partially due to their expense (Edwards et al., 2006). Laboratory diagnostic by amplification and subsequent analysis remains the standard for anthrax identification, though new techniques that allow for anthrax identification in the field exist but are not widely applied.

The important steps of anthrax identification are sampling, culturing or amplification, and analysis for presence of the pathogen. Response time, critical in the event of bioterrorist activity, has been greatly improved primarily by improvements in testing methods that do not require traditional culturing, but instead rely on quicker, less expensive gene amplification methods. Additionally, sampling has been standardized, reducing errors in detection. References Edwards, Katie; Clancy, Harriet; and Baeumner, Antje. (2006) Bacillus anthracis: toxicology, epidiology and current rapid-detection methods.

Anal Bioanal Chem, 384, 73-74. Popovic, Tanja. (2005). Assessing Anthrax Detection Methods. Statement before The Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations United States House of Representatives Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t050405.html

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax as WMD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax as WMD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/health-sciences-medicine/1438464-bio-terrorism-and-anthrax-as-wmd
(Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax As WMD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax As WMD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words. https://studentshare.org/health-sciences-medicine/1438464-bio-terrorism-and-anthrax-as-wmd.
“Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax As WMD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/health-sciences-medicine/1438464-bio-terrorism-and-anthrax-as-wmd.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Bio-Terrorism and Anthrax as WMD

What If Al Qaeda Terrorists Launch Anthrax Attack at New Years Eve Merrymakers on NY Times Square

The threat of terrorism acquired a new dimension when anonymous letters filled with anthrax spores were mailed to US senators and selected media men in October 2001.... It also evaluates the wisdom and sufficiency of the preventive measures that the city and federal governments were compelled to undertake in the aftermath of 9/11 and the 2001 anthrax scare....
17 Pages (4250 words) Essay

MAZMAT responses to Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Agents and Incidents

There was no clear indication of what kind of weapon was actually acquired, but sources speculated that these biological elements included a supply of diseases such as ebola, anthrax, and salmonella.... Gurr and Cole (2005) also discuss that in 1998, about 200 people from the Joan Finney Office building in Wichita, Kansas, USA were evacuated when a state employee discovered a package containing white powder and the note enclosed claimed that the substance was anthrax....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Chemical and Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction

Weapons of Mass Destruction (wmd) usually refer to arms that can cause destruction to the highest scale or those that may be used to destroy many numbers of people at ease.... nbsp;… Biological terrorism is the use of biological agents by terror groups to achieve political or ideological objectives that peaked in 1998 and 2001 through anthrax mailings.... The al-Qaeda made efforts to acquire biological WMDs through a sophisticated anthrax project that would have produced weapon capable of destroying a large population of the world especially the United States while the use of chemical toxins and pathogens has been left to cells associated with al-Qaeda such as ricin and cyanide that has been used in attacks in Europe....
11 Pages (2750 words) Term Paper

The Thread of Biological Weapons

While it is a known fact that killing of humans beings to be an expected outcome of any warfare activity, Weapons of Mass Destruction(wmd) pose catastrophic and unprecedented challenges to overall peace and security in a nation.... These stockpiles of wmd not only pose dangers, but they also create and encourage avenues of the proliferation of wmd and associated technologies to countries, illegal groupings and terrorist networks through clandestine means and black-market trades weapons and technologies (Cordesman,2009)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Bioterrorism Attack To The US

Bioterrorism agents such as smallpox virus can be passed from one individual to another and others like anthrax, however, cannot.... The paper "Bioterrorism Attack To The US" discusses such programs as epidemiological surveillance and systems like sentinel monitoring in place for the majority of metropolitan regions, with using of which the instant danger of a great-scale bioterrorist assault may be quite limited....
11 Pages (2750 words) Research Paper

Assessment of the Terrorist Threat of ISIS and AQAP

Lastly, we will analyze the possibility of these groups having the intention and capability to carry out a terrorist attack using a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapon or device, including a crude wmd device.... This essay explores the relevance of the terrorist threat in the world....
12 Pages (3000 words) Research Paper

The Present Terrorists Group Organization Overview

From the paper "The Present Terrorists Group Organization Overview" it is clear that the war on terror is a hard war, and no state can end it in a quick, easy way.... The end of the war should be systematic to ensure all the terror groups are no longer there.... hellip; The war of the US Military in the Middle East and South Asia has led to an increase in terror groups rising from those people....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study

Threat from Weapons of Mass Destruction

eapons of mass destruction or wmd, comprises of nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) and, increasingly, radiological weapons.... It was only after the September 11 attacks on the United States that the fear of wmd started to come into focus, during political campaigns and social movements.... Weapons of mass destruction, such as anthrax, smallpox, botulism, sarin gas, suitcase nuclear devices and so on are indiscriminate by nature....
13 Pages (3250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us