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Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague
Buford C Nuzzle-Chunks writes "PhysOrg is reporting that 'The FBI and New Jersey officials have started a hushed but intensive search for three missing lab mice reportedly infected with deadly strains of plague'. The Washington Post says it's not that big a deal, but I was dismayed at the PhysOrg article's quote from Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University microbiologist, about certain federal bio-terrorism labs: 'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
I find it hard to believe the line about the security, it seems like it's been put there to add impact to an otherwise not that important story. I work in university labs, granted not with things like the plague, but anywhere animal use takes place there is pretty good security. This is perhaps not a result of the dangers of the animals escaping but rather to stop animal-rights activists from getting in. Yes, it could be better, but the McDonalds quote is just flamebait IMHO.
It's not as dangerous as you might think - yersinia pestis has not been eradicated by any means. There are still problems with it in rodent populations - for instance, Boulder County, CO has had a problem with it just this summer in the groundhog population.
The route of transmission to humans is
rodent > flea > human
(if it turns into pneumonia in a human it can be passed human to human, otherwise not).
Since fleas aren't nearly the problem they were in the middle ages, and we don't have travelers trekking on foot (and picking up fleas) through areas that have a high incidence of yersinia pestis in the rodent population, it just doesn't spread as quickly as it used to. There still end up being a few cases of bubonic plague every year in the US, but it doesn't have the opportunity to spread the way it used to.
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
Actually, the CDC has already looked into this, running in at least one team of state troopers led by a scientist with bolt cutters to destroy all of the hazardous samples &c. (all possible scientific value was lost when the power failed allowing samples to thaw &c.)
a trina_lost_research
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050914/ap_on_he_me/k
Apparently all other sites were relatively undamaged and were still secure.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Plague is not that uncommon in the southwestern US. Doctors (at least in areas where plague is endemic) are aware of the signs and symptoms of plague and plague can be successfully treated with garden variety antibiotics, including tetracycline.
IIRC, Plague's primary tranmission vector was fleas:
The classic mode of transmission to humans is a fleabite. Alternately, broken skin serves as a portal when tissue or blood of an infected animal is handled (skinning or evisceration of infected animals). Competency of the flea to serve as vector for transmission of plague to humans depends on its willingness to feed on a human host and its tendency to regurgitate intestinal contents during a blood meal. Fleas from sylvatic rodents feed on humans only reluctantly. However, the Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) is an effective vector because of its tendency to regurgitate and to feed on nonrodent hosts. When the flea takes a blood meal from an infected rodent, stomach enzymes cause a clot to form, blocking the flea's proventricularis. At its next attempt to feed, unable to swallow due to the blockage, the flea regurgitates plague bacilli into the bite wound.
http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1819.htm
Not sure if you can catch/spread the plague by eating an infected corpse. Seems unlikely this would move through the food chain.
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
We worked with this about 20 years ago - Pasteurella sp., though this species is similar. It needs incubation at body temperature, outside of that it doesn't do well - IIRC cultures were dead in less than a day out of their ranges, but we autoclaved everything jsut for good measure. Plus we signed a big piece of paper from NIH saying we'd take full responsibility for it all. Some good news is that not all strains are human pathogens. More good news is it doesn't form spores, so dead bacteria is dead bacteria. Plus it responds well to antibiotics. What we call "plague" bacteria are very common in livestock - ag people call it "shipping fever" because it's usually not a problem until you stuff lots of animals in a stock trailer or car and let them breath, scratch and bite each other for a week, and you can have high mortality on arrival. The wild strains of some of these are nearly ubiquitous in rabbits, and more common than you'd think in household and farm animals.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
The NM plague fact sheet says bobcats and other predators can catch the plague from eating rodents.
I Want To Believe
there only carriers of bubonic plague
It's the same bacteria that causes em... it just depends on where you get infected with it. Flesh and lymphatic systems = bubonic, lungs = pneumonic, septicemic = blood.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
You mean like one of three people in the suburban US that get plague. Its still endemic in a lot of parts of the world and there are even small outbreaks in the southwestern US every now and then. The reason we don't get a lot of it around here is because we generally have good sanitation and don't have hordes of rats roaming around (i.e. Europe in the middle ages).
A lot more than 3 people get it each year. About 3 people die of it each year. (one of my friends in los alamos, nm died of it when I was in high school)
The plague in rodents is actually very common, and occurs naturally. Here in the town where I live, it's a known fact that many many rodents, a hell of a lot more than 3, carry the plague. Two cats this year were discovered in my town with plague. It's known to be spread all over the county. You don't see me posting stories on slashdot about it.
See:http://www.turnto23.com/news/4883235/detail.ht ml?subid=22100581&qs=1;bp=t
First I saw this stupid story on drudgereport, and tried to explain to some co-workers that it was totally not a danger to anyone, then I see it on slashdot the next day. Sigh. Stay away from my mountain stronghold.
"'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."