Deadly biohazard hits D.C. anti-war protests
A week after the massive anti-war demonstrations in Washington, it has been revealed that biohazard sensors detected the dangerous tularemia bacteria over the crowds.
Just so you understand the implications, here is a brief history (from the Journal of the American Medical Association) of tularemia and how it is stockpiled as a bioweapon by the U.S. military ...
Tularemia was first described as a plaguelike disease of rodents in 1911 and, shortly thereafter, was recognized as a potentially severe and fatal illness in humans. Tularemia's epidemic potential became apparent in the 1930s and 1940s, when large waterborne outbreaks occurred in Europe and the Soviet Union and epizootic-associated cases occurred in the United States. As well, F tularensis quickly gained notoriety as a virulent laboratory hazard. Public health concerns impelled substantial early investigations into tularemia's ecology, microbiology, pathogenicity, and prevention.
Francisella tularensis has long been considered a potential biological weapon. It was one of a number of agents studied at Japanese germ warfare research units operating in Manchuria between 1932 and 1945; it was also examined for military purposes in the West. A former Soviet Union biological weapons scientist, Ken Alibeck, has suggested that tularemia outbreaks affecting tens of thousands of Soviet and German soldiers on the eastern European front during World War II may have been the result of intentional use. Following the war, there were continuing military studies of tularemia. In the 1950s and 1960s, the US military developed weapons that would disseminate F tularensis aerosols; concurrently, it conducted research to better understand the pathophysiology of tularemia and to develop vaccines and antibiotic prophylaxis and treatment regimens. In some studies, volunteers were infected with F tularensis by direct aerosol delivery systems and by exposures in an aerosol chamber.click here for more of this strange story, and as i side note i'd like all the copters that flew over dc last week swabbed please!STAT
Just so you understand the implications, here is a brief history (from the Journal of the American Medical Association) of tularemia and how it is stockpiled as a bioweapon by the U.S. military ...
Tularemia was first described as a plaguelike disease of rodents in 1911 and, shortly thereafter, was recognized as a potentially severe and fatal illness in humans. Tularemia's epidemic potential became apparent in the 1930s and 1940s, when large waterborne outbreaks occurred in Europe and the Soviet Union and epizootic-associated cases occurred in the United States. As well, F tularensis quickly gained notoriety as a virulent laboratory hazard. Public health concerns impelled substantial early investigations into tularemia's ecology, microbiology, pathogenicity, and prevention.
Francisella tularensis has long been considered a potential biological weapon. It was one of a number of agents studied at Japanese germ warfare research units operating in Manchuria between 1932 and 1945; it was also examined for military purposes in the West. A former Soviet Union biological weapons scientist, Ken Alibeck, has suggested that tularemia outbreaks affecting tens of thousands of Soviet and German soldiers on the eastern European front during World War II may have been the result of intentional use. Following the war, there were continuing military studies of tularemia. In the 1950s and 1960s, the US military developed weapons that would disseminate F tularensis aerosols; concurrently, it conducted research to better understand the pathophysiology of tularemia and to develop vaccines and antibiotic prophylaxis and treatment regimens. In some studies, volunteers were infected with F tularensis by direct aerosol delivery systems and by exposures in an aerosol chamber.click here for more of this strange story, and as i side note i'd like all the copters that flew over dc last week swabbed please!STAT
