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Viruses, Pathogens, and Other Contaminants
Published in James N. Seiber, Thomas M. Cahill, Pesticides, Organic Contaminants, and Pathogens in Air, 2022
James N. Seiber, Thomas M. Cahill
Inhalation of anthrax spores (Bacillus anthracis), the most dangerous type of exposure, causes flu-like symptoms (fevers, chills, stomach pains, body aches, etc.) and is accompanied by a drenching sweat (U.S. CDC). Without treatment mortality is close to 90%, but drops to 55% when aggressively treated. People can be exposed when working with infected animals or by products obtained from infected animals.
Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes
Published in Frank R. Spellman, Kathern Welsh, Safe Work Practices for Wastewater Treatment Plants, 2018
Frank R. Spellman, Kathern Welsh
Anthrax—An acute infectious disease caused by a spore-forming bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax is generally acquired following contact with anthrax-infected animals or anthrax-contaminated animal products. It can also be acquired following a deliberate terrorist act.
Production of recombinant lethal factor of Bacillus anthracis in Bacillus subtilis
Published in Preparative Biochemistry & Biotechnology, 2021
Mahboobeh Gholami, Majid Moghbeli, Farshid Kafilzadeh, Mohammad Kargar, Mariam Bikhof Torbati, Ashkan Tavizi, Sally Bellevile, Javad Hatami, Zahra Eslami
Among these toxins, Bacillus anthracis toxin has been a magnificent candidate to be investigated.[10]Bacillus anthracis is an aerobic-anaerobic spore-forming bacterium that is the cause of an infectious disease called anthrax. The toxin secreted by this bacterium (anthrax toxin) consists of three polypeptides: PA or protective factor, LF or lethal factor, and EF or edema factor. The PA, LF, and EF are encoded by the pag, lef, and cya genes, respectively.[11–13] Protective factor (83 kDa) is composed of four domains. It binds to cell surface receptors via its carboxyl terminus and it enters the lethal factor and edema factor subunits of toxin by creating pores in the cell membrane. These three proteins are individually nontoxic; however, protective factor in combination with lethal factorare lethal toxin whereas PA accompanied by EF representedema toxin.[14,15] Lef gene bound to pag genecauses increased permeability of macrophage to Na+and K+, hydrolysis of ATP, and leakage of cytoplasmic lactate dehydrogenase which hasresulted into death in animal models and lysis of mouse macrophages.[16,17] For decades, anthrax toxin has been under development to only target and lysis cancer tumor. Several research groups have used a different approach to achieve tumor cell specificity for anthrax toxin including various manipulations of B. anthracis toxin. In this regard different mutants of PA were constructed.[18] The resulting recombinant PA mutants (rPAm) were only able to bind to cancer cells with high expression of Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA). The uPA and its cell surface receptors (uPAR) are highly expressed on the surface of cancer cells and are rarely present on normal cells. Overexpression of uPA as an extracellular protease system increases cancer tissue invasiveness and metastatic potential. Due to high expression of uPA on tumors, the urokinase system can be used to target cancer cells.[16,19,20]
On the interpretation of bioaerosol exposure measurements and impacts on health
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2019
Hamza Mbareche, Lidia Morawska, Caroline Duchaine
Infectious diseases are caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses. When any of these become airborne, they can be transmitted to humans via the air. Among bacteria, legionellosis, tuberculosis, and anthrax are infectious diseases that constitute significant public health concerns due to their infectivity even at low doses. Legionella pneumophila, the etiological agent of legionellosis, can be aerosolized from contaminated water (Rowbotham 1980). Tuberculosis patients can transmit Mycobacterium tuberculosis in droplet nuclei by coughing, sneezing, and talking (Pearson et al. 1992). Anthrax, which is often linked to bioterrorism, is caused by the inhalation of Bacillus anthracis spores (Jernigan et al. 2001). Other examples of bacterial infection through aerosols include Chlamydia psittaci and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Lyczak, Cannon, and Pier 2000; Morawska 2006). The most common invasive fungal infections are aspergillosis (Aspergillus fumigatus), candidiasis (Candida albicans), cryptococcosis (Cryptococcus neoformans), mucormycosis (Rhizopus oryzae), pneumocystis (Pneumocystis jirovecii), coccidioidomycosis (Coccodioides immitis), histoplasmosis (Histoplasma capsulatum), paracoccodioidomycosis (Paracoccidioides brasilliensis), and penicilliosis (Penicillium marneffei), all of which can be transmitted through aerosol spore exposure (Brown et al. 2012). Finally, viruses that are readily transmitted by bioaerosols include severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus, enteric viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hantavirus, varicella–zoster virus, mumps virus, rubella virus, and influenza A and B viruses (Bonifait et al. 2015; Gershon 2008; Hjelle and Glass 2000; Lindsley et al. 2010; Matricardi et al. 2000; Tellier 2009; Teltsch and Katzenelson 1978; Uyeki, Bresee 2007; Booth et al. 2005). It was suggested that other viruses, such as norovirus, could reach human’s digestive system through inhalation and swallowing (Bonifait et al. 2015). Although obvious evidence of viral airborne transmission is available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are still skeptical about the subject of airborne transmission from one patient to the other (CDC 2018).