MBI 405: Bacillus || Questions and 100% Accurate Answers.
McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital Story correct answers -neck lesion was misdiagnosed as
an abscess with cellulitis (died of septic shock)
-blood culture 4 days later @ Christ Hospital= anthrax
-it was confirmed to be anthrax at a meeting with Communicable Disease Center of the US
Public Health Service in Atlanta
-the source of contamination was hair-felt insulation made with imported goat hair that Hoffman
used during a hospital remodeling job
Biological Warfare & Bioterrorism Potential (building) correct answers -building 470 @ Fort
Detrick, MD aka Pilot Plant or The Tower
-false windows made it looks like barracks or an office building
-built by the US army biological warfare laboratories
-seven stories tall to accommodate 2-3 story tall fermenters
-decommissioned in 1970, demolished in 2003
Biological Warfare & Bioterrorism Potential (aircraft) correct answers -payload: spores (50kg)
from aircraft spreads > 20km
-if released in a 2 km band upwind of a city of 5,000,000
(morbidity & mortality: 500,000 at risk, 250,000 incapacitated, 100,000 dead
Postal Distribution (2001) correct answers -4 senators, NY Post, NBC
-22 cases (pulmonary, cutaneous, 5 deaths)
-PROPHYLAXIS: 10,000 people received ciprofloxacin (the newest antibiotic at the time)
-The FBI blamed Bruce Edwards Ivins, a scientist who worked at the government's biodefense
labs at Fort Detrick (he was working on anthrax vaccines)
-he had an obsession with KKG sorority
-misspelled penicillin on the letter and said Allah is Great- which is an incorrect saying
General Characteristics of Bacillus (shape, oxygen, motility, DNA, virulence factors) correct
answers -large, encapsulated G+ rods
-aerobic spore former
-non-motile
-mesophilic
-mesopHilic
-SAME chromosomal sequence (pathovars of a single species: B. anthracis, B. cereus, B.
thuringiensis)
-PLASMIDS confer pathogenicity (there are different virulence factors in the plasmids) pXO1 &
pXO2 in B. anthracis
DISEASES: Cutaneous Anthrax (untreated, incubation period, 2 symptoms) correct answers -
Acquired by contact
-rarely fatal if treated promptly
-5-20% fatal if untreated
-2-3 days incubation
, -Symptoms
---papule (2-3 days) > pustule (7 days) > eschar (anthrakis-coal black)
---progression to septicemia (20%) shock and death
Georgics (Virgil Describing Anthrax) correct answers -anthrax is found in the soil that animals
graze
-need to bury the animals
-wear vests made of their hide= red blisters
DISEASES: Gastrointestinal Anthrax (fatality, incubation period, symptoms) correct answers -
ingesting contaminated meat
-mostly fatal (approaching 100%), even if treated bc it is often found too late
-incubation 3-5 days
-symptoms
---nausea, vomiting, diarrhea (blood may be present, lesions on intestinal wall)
---shock and death
DISEASES: Inhalation (pulmonary) anthrax
(who, fatality, incubation period, symptoms) correct answers -aka Woolsorter's Disease
-at risk: shearers, wool sorters, tanners, drum makers
-often fatal (45-80%), even if treated
-95% if treated after 48 hr infection (need treatment very early)
->99% if untreated
-1-6 days incubation
-Symptoms
---fever, malaise, myalgia, unproductive cough, no congestion
---within days, respiratory distress and cyanosis
---shock and death within 24 hours
---easy to get into blood from lungs
Sources of Infection correct answers -Soil (for animals)
-Animal Hides/Wool (cutaneous & inhalation)
-contaminated meat
Transmission correct answers -through cut/abrasions > cutaneous
-aerosols from hides, wool (not coughing): it is NOT CONTAGIOUS
-food: contaminated meat
Modus Operandi (Cutaneous Infection)
Portal of Entry, Spores correct answers -portal of entry: spores > cut
-macrophages ingest spores, spores germinate, and the bacteria multiples
-germination signal= L-alanine
-infected macrophages can spread anthrax into lymph nodes and blood
Modus Operandi (Gastrointestinal Infection)
