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Biosecurity in the Life Sciences
Published in Kezia Barker, Robert A. Francis, Routledge Handbook of Biosecurity and Invasive Species, 2021
Limor Samimian-Darash, Ori Lev
The end of the Cold War era thus saw the emergence of bioterrorism threats as a political and technical problem for US national security. During the 1990s, the uncovering of Soviet and Iraqi bioweapon programmes led to growing concerns over possible linkages among rogue states, global terrorism and WMD proliferation. These concerns increased following the 2001 anthrax letters incident (and the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo gas attack on the Tokyo subway). Moreover, concerns related to biodefence against bioterrorism were joined by increasing worries over new developments in the life sciences that could make it easier than ever to create or synthesise lethal viruses. Together with the domains of ‘emerging infectious disease’ and ‘food safety’, these worries and concerns catalysed the formation of a biosecurity assemblage composed of scientists, experts, policymakers, activists and officials from state institutions, NGOs and fields such as the life sciences, public health and security (Lakoff and Collier, 2008, 7–12).
Beyond Biosecurity
Published in Kevin Bardosh, One Health, 2016
The differing attitudes towards uncertainty between biodefence and public health helps to explain the dominance of biodefence-funded projects for Lassa fever up until now. The public health resistance to act in contexts of uncertainty contrasts with the knowledge processes propelling biodefence interventions. Biodefence is, as argued by Vogel (2008), built on preparing in the face of ambiguous, potential threats – as a policy framework, it deals in the unknown and thrives on uncertainty.
Immunization in state of siege: the importance of thermostable vaccines for Ukraine and other war-torn countries and territories
Published in Expert Review of Vaccines, 2022
Christos Tsagkaris, Lily Laubscher, Marios Papadakis, Valeriia Vladychuk, Lolita Matiashova
Delving deeper in history suggests that apart from conventional warfare, biological weapons and bioterrorism preparedness constitute a lofty opponent to vaccine delivery and immunization efforts. A historical review of Cohen et al. (2004) highlighted the negative impact of biodefense efforts on public health in the United States. For instance, accelerated mass vaccination against smallpox in 2002–2003 increased vaccine wastage. This happened because of incidental mismanagement in large-scale supply chains and because of vaccine hesitancy generated due to the provision of vaccination in individuals at high risk of active small-pox infection. At a broader scale, the allocation of funding to biodefense programs has also been associated with downgrading research and efforts related to all aspects of vaccines delivery and administration [12].
Cross-testing of direct-action antivirals, universal vaccines, or search for host-level antivirals: what will sooner lead to a generic capability to combat the emerging viral pandemics?
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2022
Viral pandemics emerged as a major threat to social stability. In this editorial we address generic antiviral capability: host-level and direct-action antivirals (DAA) as well as universal vaccines. AA meta-analysis of the published literature in the field of cross-applicability of DAA was summarized. Weproposed systematic testing of the approved and parent DAA against all species causing ‘common colds.’ The viruses of 2019–2021 and 1918–2020 pandemics both belong to this outdated category. Variants of the ‘common cold’ viruses are the most likely candidates for pandemic emergence. We proposed co-formulation of the best DAA agents in taxon-specific combinations and pre-positioning of these cocktails for early population blanketing while the specific vaccineCampus is under development. The editorial addresses the ownership of the civilian biodefense and the urgent need to fill the existing gap in the times of uncontrolled gain-of-function research (Figure 1).
Influence of aerodynamic particle size on botulinum neurotoxin potency in mice
Published in Inhalation Toxicology, 2021
Jeremy A. Boydston, John J. Yeager, Jill R. Taylor, Paul A. Dabisch
Previous studies examining the toxicity of inhaled BoNT have utilized small particle aerosols, with MMADs of 1–3 µm. This study assessed the toxicity of inhaled BoNT-containing aerosols with differing MMADs, specifically 1.1 µm, 4.9 µm, and 7.6 µm, in a murine model. The results demonstrate that the lethality of aerosolized BoNT is inversely related to aerodynamic particle size, with larger particle sizes requiring greater amounts of toxin to produce similar proportional lethality in mice. The estimated LD50 for mice exposed to an aerosol with an MMAD of 4.9 µm in a whole-body exposure system was 7,324 MIPLD50, which was 53-fold higher than the inhalation LD50 determined for mice exposed to an aerosol with an MMAD of 1.1 µm in the same exposure system. Exposure of mice to an aerosol with an MMAD of 7.6 µm at a dose almost five-fold greater than the upper 95% confidence interval for the small particle LD50 did not result in lethal intoxication in any of the exposed animals, again demonstrating that a significantly greater quantity of toxin is required to result in lethal intoxication relative to small particle aerosols. Additional groups utilizing higher doses of toxin were not possible at the 7.6 µm size, as this would have required significantly more toxin to be acquired. The observation that the median lethal doses increases as a function of aerodynamic diameter is in agreement with previous studies with the toxin ricin, as well as various other microorganisms (Druett 1953; Day and Berendt 1972; Roy 2003). The large particle exposure model developed in this study may also be useful for screening the efficacy of potential medical countermeasures against a range of relevant particle sizes. In addition, these data will be useful to inform modeling of the inhalational hazard of aerosolized BoNT in biodefense planning scenarios where large particle aerosols are potentially relevant. Modeling scenarios with larger aerosol particle sizes would result in lower rates of infection or intoxication and a protracted disease course as has been observed in models of tularemia, plague, anthrax, and melioidosis. Generally, modeling these scenarios would indicate that lesser amounts of medical countermeasures would be required, but caution must be applied as the disease may present greater upper respiratory tract pathogenicity (Thomas 2013). As this study utilized a murine model, it is first necessary to determine the most appropriate methodology for extrapolation of these data to humans prior to its utilization in modeling.