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Biological Warfare : Biological Terrorism : Emerging Diseases

Bacteria can change into more infectious and deadly organisms after a stint in space, a new experiment suggests.

A science experiment on board space shuttle Atlantis in 2006 included Salmonella typhimurium bacteria, which is often fatal in humans.

When the bacteria - which had been safely isolated from the

space crew - returned to Earth, scientists injected them into mice.

They found the space-faring bacteria caused death quicker and more often than Earth-restricted organisms.

The findings are concerning for future astronauts who will embark on longer space missions farther away from Earth-based medical help, experts say.

Cheryl Nickerson is an associate professor of microbiology at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute and lead author of the study.

Nickerson wanted to see if space's low-gravity environment would affect Salmonella. Usually a culprit in food poisoning, the bacteria can cause vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Most types of Salmonella, which can grow on most foods, are fatal in the elderly or young if left untreated. (Related news: "Food Bacteria More Drug-Resistant in U.S., Europe, Study Suggests" [August 7, 2006].)

When the bacteria returned to Earth, genetic sequencing showed that 167 genes and 73 proteins had been altered.

One protein, called Hfq, helped control more than a third of the altered genes. Hfq regulates RNA - the code of bacterial life - during stressful events. When activated, the protein previously had been shown to strengthen several types of pathogens.

An technique called scanning electron microscopy also showed some Salmonella were starting to form biofilms, a protective slime layer.

On Earth, biofilms can grow on ship hulls and clog pipes, costing industry billions of dollars. Biofilms also worsen some diseases and reduce the effectiveness of many antibiotics....

A TEAM of local scientists has come up with a miniature laboratory which can sniff out bird flu in even the most far-flung locations.

The palm-size device can tell if a person or animal has contracted the H5N1 form of the virus in less than 30 minutes.

And it can do so even at the earliest stages of the disease, when a victim has yet to show any symptoms.

Said Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology research scientist Juergen Pipper, who led the effort: 'The answers you will get are: Am I infected? If yes, how severe is it?'

What sets it apart from others which are already available commercially is that it is a self-contained lab on a chip.

It can be used by medical or aid workers to detect the H5N1 virus directly from throat swab samples. Chicken dropping samples can also be tested for the virus.

The device uses the gold-standard of tests - polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - to make photocopies of genetic material so that even minute amounts can be detected.

Tests have shown that it is around 10 times faster than available tests, yet 40 to 100 times cheaper, the researchers said, because each sample droplet is so minuscule that the cost for reagents drops.

The research is timely, given that bird flu often strikes in rural areas such as backyard farms. Said research scientist Lisa Ng of the Genome Institute of Singapore, another team member: 'The device can be easily taken to the field, where it will be able to detect the virus the moment a person is infected, rather than having to wait for 10 days or so for symptoms to appear.'

This will allow the authorities to act faster, said Dr Ng.

Bird flu is entrenched in the region, with countries such as Indonesia struggling to curb it. At least 85 Indonesians have died from the disease, the highest in the world.

The World Health Organisation, which is coordinating the global response to human cases, has said that the next influenza pandemic would likely be of an avian variety, and it could affect some 1.5 billion people.

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology principal coordinator Masafumi Inoue, one of the co-authors and the leading inventor of the H5N1 detection kit currently being used in hospitals, said that work is ongoing to allow the device to test multiple pathogens at a time, such as Sars and other respiratory viruses.

'A potential pandemic may not come merely from H5N1, as such viruses are notorious for mutating and gene reassortment. So, it will be critical to cast the net wider,' he said....

More tests were being carried out at a farm in eastern England Sunday after Bluetongue - a virus affecting cows and other ruminant animals - was detected for the first time in Britain.

A cow was infected with the disease on a farm near Ipswich, 70 miles northeast of London, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement Saturday.

"This is not a confirmed outbreak unless further investigation demonstrates that disease is circulating," the environment agency said.

The discovery comes as Britain is trying to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Six cases of foot-and-mouth have been confirmed on farms in southern England since Aug. 3 and about 1,800 animals have been slaughtered since the outbreak began.

Bluetongue is not harmful to humans, but can be fatal for ruminant animals, especially sheep.

It is transmitted by certain species of midges once common only in Mediterranean climes. Experts say the insect has moved farther north due to global warming, and bluetongue may now be endemic in northern Europe.

Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer Fred Landeg told Sky News on Saturday that tests would be conducted to determine whether midges were spreading the virus through the animal population.

If the virus is circulating, the government will put restrictions on the movement of animals within a 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius control zone around the farm, Landeg said.

The disease has recently been found in the Netherlands after moving north from Belgium and west from Germany.

"We knew that there was the possibility that infected midges could possibly be blown across the sea," Landeg said....

Villagers don't kiss anymore in a corner of Democratic Republic of Congo hit by the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus.

People began falling ill in April in Kampungu, Western Kasai province, centre of an outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever that has no cure or treatment and kills 50-90 percent of its victims.

There have been 385 suspected cases of the disease, and 174 have died, though only a handful of cases have been confirmed.

"People no longer kiss each other when they meet. They don't even shake hands," Antoine Bushambu told Reuters by phone from the town of Mweka, around 60 km (37.5 miles) from Kampungu.

"Those are the instructions the doctors have given to the population. There's been a big change in behavior," said Bushambu, who works for a Congolese human rights organization.

In the past week, several suspect cases have been reported in Kananga, the capital of Western Kasai. The provincial health minister of neighboring Eastern Kasai said on Thursday four more cases had been discovered there, raising fears the outbreak may be spreading beyond its rural confines.

But health officials suspect many deaths may be due to other illnesses like typhoid or Shigella, a bacterial infection.

"So far we have only nine confirmed cases of Ebola, but we don't really know about the rest. We want to have the correct origins of those illnesses," said Christiana Salvi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. World Health organization (WHO).

Without reliable information -- something the WHO hopes will change with the arrival of a high-tech mobile laboratory this weekend -- health workers are struggling to staunch panic.

"There's been no public education or health education. The concept of disease in these places is so far away from the clinical one," Josep Prior, head of Doctors without Borders (MSF) mission in Congo, told Reuters.

"This is the difference between families hiding patients and people coming in for treatment ... It's extremely important."

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with blood, body fluids and tissues of infected people. Towards the latter stages, victims become highly contagious and the disease can even be transferred through contact with bodies of the dead.

When a major Ebola outbreak hit the town of Kikwit in neighboring Bandundu province in 1995, killing 250 people, many people are believed to have caught it during the traditional funeral rite of washing ...