U.S. gathers vaccine researchers to talk bioterrorism threat Q fever Read more: U.S. gathers vaccine researchers to talk bioterrorism threat Q fever - FierceVaccines fiercevaccines/story/us-gathers-vaccine-researchers-talk-bioterrorism-threat-q-fever/2013-11-20#ixzz2lLPgMLoR Subscribe at FierceVaccines While anthrax, smallpox and other category A bioterrorism threats dominate the collective public consciousness, a larger pool of lower-priority agents are also a danger. Q fever falls into this second tier, but the U.S. government is still sufficiently concerned to gather researchers to talk vaccine development. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has called for researchers with an interest in Q fever vaccine development to attend a webinar next month. At the webinar, DTRA will outline its interest in a vaccine for Q fever, which affected 134 people in the U.S. in 2011. The largest outbreak was linked to exposure to goats, which along with sheep are carriers of the bacteria. While the rarity of the disease--and its low virulence--mean it is currently a minor health problem, the fear is that someone will turn it into a weapon. DTRA knows this is possible because the U.S. researched it as part of its biological weapon program. The bacterias stability in aerosols across a range of temperatures and high-infection rate make it suitable for use as a biological weapon. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union developed a Q fever-based biological weapon, and some believed Saddam Hussein was also running a program, USA Today reports. U.S. troops fighting in Iraq reportedly returned home with the disease. Read more: U.S. gathers vaccine researchers to talk bioterrorism threat Q fever - FierceVaccines fiercevaccines/story/us-gathers-vaccine-researchers-talk-bioterrorism-threat-q-fever/2013-11-20#ixzz2lLPyx5K6 Subscribe at FierceVaccines
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 04:13:52 +0000
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