Make Your Way 6, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

Of all the biochemical threats, anthrax has caught the public imagination more than most. Read a set of FAQ about the disease and complete it with the missing questions. 13 incubation period: Inkubationszeit (Zeit zwischen Ansteckung und Auftreten der ersten Krankheitssymptome) formalin: Formalin (chemische Substanz zur Abtötung von Keimen) FAQ – Anthrax Q 1 : What is anthrax? A 1 : Anthrax is mainly a disease of grazing animals. The bacteria, called Bacillus anthracis, spend most of their time as spores in the soil, inside a hard shell and practically lifeless. But when an animal swallows or breathes in these spores, they come to life and make their way into the white blood cells. Once inside the blood cells, anthrax bacilli come out of their shells, multiply quickly and swarm out into the bloodstream, where they keep dividing, producing toxins which cause the victim to go into toxic shock and die. Q 2: _________________________________________________________________________ ? A 2: Skin contact can cause an infection, nasty but treatable with antibiotics. Swallowing anthrax, in infected meat for example, produces a more serious intestinal disease which is often fatal. Inhaling the spores is extremely rare, but nearly always fatal unless you take the right antibiotics before symptoms start. The incubation period is anywhere from two days to two months. For respiratory anthrax, the earliest symptoms are flu-like fever, headache and muscle pains. Q 3: _________________________________________________________________________ ? A 3: Anthrax spores are tough, quite easy to produce and last for a long time. They also survive delivery via bombs or sprays better than many other pathogens. Finally, anthrax is easy to handle and obtain. Animal anthrax occurs almost worldwide. Q 4: _________________________________________________________________________ ? A 4: Anthrax has been a part of every known bio-arsenal of the last century, including those of Britain, the US, Japan, the Soviet Union and Iraq. But no one ever used them in battle, although Japan did tests on humans. Britain infected a Scottish island while testing anthrax weapons, and only managed to clean it up with formalin treatments many decades later. Q 5: _________________________________________________________________________ ? A 5: Anthrax researchers, and many members of the US, Canadian and British military, have an anthrax vaccine based on the first toxin the bacteria produce during infection. However, this is decades old, might cause side-effects, and is untested on inhaled anthrax. Our best hope might be a stronger enforcement of the 1972 international treaty banning biological weapons. Unfortunately, an agreement on how inspections would be carried out was blocked by the US. 187 5 Compact unit 5: From the medical world Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv