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Review
. 2008 Jul;298(5-6):345-64.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2007.09.007. Epub 2008 Mar 28.

Bacillus anthracis: balancing innocent research with dual-use potential

Michael J Hudson  1 , Wolfgang Beyer, Reinhard Böhm, Antonio Fasanella, Giuliano Garofolo, Robert Golinski, Pierre L Goossens, Ulrike Hahn, Bassam Hallis, Annemarie King, Michèle Mock, Cesare Montecucco, Amanda Ozin, Fiorella Tonello, Stefan H E Kaufmann
Affiliations
Review

Bacillus anthracis: balancing innocent research with dual-use potential

Michael J Hudson et al. Int J Med Microbiol. 2008 Jul.

Abstract

Anthrax Euronet, a Coordination Action of the EU 6th Framework Programme, was designed to strengthen networking activities between anthrax research groups in Europe and to harmonise protocols for testing anthrax vaccines and therapeutics. Inevitably, the project also addressed aspects of the current political issues of biosecurity and dual-use research, i.e. research into agents of important diseases of man, livestock or agriculture that could be used as agents of bioterrorism. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the biology of Bacillus anthracis, of the pathogenesis, epidemiology and diagnosis of anthrax, as well as vaccine and therapeutic intervention strategies. The proposed requirement for a code of conduct for working with dual-use agents such as the anthrax bacillus is also discussed.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The discoverers of Bacillus anthracis and fathers of medical microbiology: Robert Koch (1843–1910), right, and Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), left, and inset: drawing of B. anthracis by Robert Koch together with Ferdinand Cohn (1828–1898) made in 1876.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
General scheme for the diagnosis of Bacillus anthracis from complex samples.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
General scheme for technology transfer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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