|
1971 Aral Smallpox Incident
The Aral smallpox incident was a 30 July 1971 outbreak of the viral disease which occurred as a result of a field test at a Soviet biological weapons (BW) facility on an island in the Aral Sea. The incident sickened ten people, of whom three died, and came to widespread public notice only in 2002. Background In 1954, an existing biological weapons test site originally constructed on Vozrozhdeniya Island in the Aral Sea in 1948 was greatly expanded by the Soviet Ministry of Defence, including to the neighboring Komsomolskiy Island, and named Aralsk-7. A field scientific research laboratory to conduct biological experiments was expanded, and the town of Kantubek was constructed to house employees and scientists. Bio-agents tested there included ''Bacillus anthracis'', ''Coxiella burnetii'', ''Francisella tularensis'', ''Brucella suis'', ''Rickettsia prowazekii'', '' Variola major'' (smallpox), ''Yersinia pestis'', botulinum toxin, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. (By 1960 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980, making smallpox the only human disease to have been eradicated to date. The initial symptoms of the disease included fever and vomiting. This was followed by formation of ulcers in the mouth and a skin rash. Over a number of days, the skin rash turned into the characteristic fluid-filled blisters with a dent in the center. The bumps then scabbed over and fell off, leaving scars. The disease was transmitted from one person to another primarily through prolonged face-to-face contact with an infected person or rarely via contaminated objects. Prevention was achieved mainly through the smallpox vaccine. Once the disease had developed, certain antiviral medications could poten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rickettsia Prowazekii
''Rickettsia prowazekii'' is a species of gram-negative, obligate intracellular parasitic, aerobic bacilliform bacteria of class Alphaproteobacteria that is the etiologic agent of epidemic typhus, transmitted in the feces of lice. In North America, the main reservoir for ''R. prowazekii'' is the flying squirrel. ''R. prowazekii'' is often surrounded by a protein microcapsular layer and slime layer; the natural life cycle of the bacterium generally involves a vertebrate and an invertebrate host, usually an arthropod, typically the human body louse. A form of ''R. prowazekii'' that exists in the feces of arthropods remains stably infective for months. ''R. prowazekii'' also appears to be the closest semi-free-living relative of mitochondria, based on genome sequencing. History Discovery Henrique da Rocha Lima, a Brazilian doctor, discovered this bacterium in 1916. He named it after his colleague Stanislaus von Prowazek, who had died from typhus in 1915. Both Prowazek and Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Secretary Of The Communist Party Of The Soviet Union
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. was the Party leader, leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, country's dissolution in 1991, the officeholder was the recognized List of leaders of the Soviet Union, leader of the Soviet Union. Prior to Joseph Stalin's accession, the position was not viewed as an important role in Lenin's First and Second Government, Vladimir Lenin's government and previous occupants had been responsible for technical rather than political decisions. Officially, the General Secretary solely controlled the Communist Party directly. However, since the party had a One-party state, monopoly on political power, the General Secretary ''de facto'' had executive control of the Government of the Soviet Union, Soviet government. Because of the office's ability to direct both the foreign and domestic policies of the state and preeminence over the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents within the city limits, over 19.1 million residents in the urban area, and over 21.5 million residents in Moscow metropolitan area, its metropolitan area. The city covers an area of , while the urban area covers , and the metropolitan area covers over . Moscow is among the world's List of largest cities, largest cities, being the List of European cities by population within city limits, most populous city entirely in Europe, the largest List of urban areas in Europe, urban and List of metropolitan areas in Europe, metropolitan area in Europe, and the largest city by land area on the European continent. First documented in 1147, Moscow became the capital of the Grand Principality of Moscow, which led the unification of the Russian lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alma-Ata
Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains in southern Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, Almaty stands as a pivotal center of culture, commerce, finance and innovation. The city is nestled at an elevation of 700–900 metres (2,300–3,000 feet), with the Big Almaty and Small Almaty rivers running through it, originating from the surrounding mountains and flowing into the plains. Almaty is the second-largest city in Central Asia and the fourth-largest in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Almaty served as the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1997 during the Soviet era and after independence from 1991 until the capital was relocated to Akmola (now Astana) in 1997. Despite no longer being the capital, Almaty remains the most cosmopolitan and influential city in Kazakhstan, often regarded as the nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aral, Kazakhstan
Aral, also known as Aralsk or Aral'sk, ( Kazakh: Арал, ''Aral'', ارال; Russian: Аральск, ''Araljsk'') is a small city in south-western Kazakhstan, located in the ''oblast'' (region) of Kyzylorda. It serves as the administrative center of Aral District. Aral was formerly a fishing port and harbour city on the banks of the Aral Sea, and was a major supplier of fish to the neighboring region. Population: History Early settlement In 1817, there was a village Alty-Kuduk (Six Wells) near the present city of Aralsk. This is currently a railway passing-track in the southern part of the city. Since the 1870s, this was recorded as the Aralsky settlement. The development of Aralsk began when the Orenburg-Tashkent railway was being constructed (1899-1905). In 1905, the railway station was constructed and continues to operate. The official history of Aralsk began that same year. In 1905, Russian merchants organized large fishing companies and formed a joint-stock fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Army
The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under the command of the Commonwealth of Independent States until it was formally abolished on 14 February 1992. The Soviet Ground Forces were principally succeeded by the Russian Ground Forces in Russian territory. Outside of Russia, many units and formations were taken over by the post-Soviet states; some were withdrawn to Russia, and some dissolved amid conflict, notably in the Caucasus. While the Ground Forces are commonly referred to in English language sources as the Soviet Army, in Soviet military parlance the term '' armiya'' (army) referred to the combined land and air components of the Soviet Armed Forces, encompassing the Ground Forces as well as the Strategic Rocket Forces, the Air Defence Forces, and the Air Forces. After World W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saiga Antelope
The saiga antelope (, ''Saiga tatarica''), or saiga, is a species of antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe, spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in the southwest into Mongolia in the northeast and Dzungaria in the southeast. During the Pleistocene, it ranged across the mammoth steppe from the British Isles to Beringia. Today, the dominant subspecies (''S. t. tatarica'') only occurs in Kalmykia and Astrakhan Oblast of Russia and in the Ural, Ustyurt and Betpak-Dala regions of Kazakhstan. A portion of the Ustyurt population migrates south to Uzbekistan and occasionally to Turkmenistan in winter. It is regionally extinct in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, China and southwestern Mongolia. The Mongolian subspecies (''S. t. mongolica'') occurs only in western Mongolia. Taxonomy and phylogeny The scientific name ''Capra tatarica'' was coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the 12th edition of ''Systema Natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fish Kill
The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized mass mortality event, mass die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005)"Fish kill." ''Plant Management in Florida's Waters.'' The most common cause is reduced oxygen in the water, which in turn may be due to factors such as drought, harmful algal bloom, overpopulation (biology), overpopulation, or a sustained increase in water temperature. Fish diseases and parasites, Infectious diseases and parasites can also lead to fish kill. Toxicity is a real but far less common cause of fish kill, and is often associated with man-made water pollution. Fish kills are often the first visible signs of environmental stress and are usually investigated as a matter of urgency by environmental agencies to determine the cause of the kill. Many fish species have a relatively low tolerance of variations in environmental conditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Biological Weapons Program
The Soviet Union covertly operated the world's largest, longest, and most sophisticated biological weapons program, thereby violating its obligations as a party to the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972.Leitenberg, M., Zilinskas, R., & Kuhn, J. (2012). Conclusion. In ''The Soviet Biological Weapons Program'' (pp. 698-712). Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard University Press. Retrieved February 7, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jbscf.30 The Soviet program began in the 1920s and lasted until at least September 1992 but has possibly been continued by Russian Federation after that. By 1960, numerous military-purposed biological research facilities existed throughout the Soviet Union. Although the former USSR also signed the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the Soviet authorities subsequently augmented their biowarfare programs. Over the course of its history, the Soviet program is known to have weaponized and stockpiled the following bio-ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus is a mosquito-borne viral pathogen that causes Venezuelan equine encephalitis or encephalomyelitis (VEE). VEE can affect all equine species, such as horses, donkeys, and zebras. After infection, equines may suddenly die or show progressive central nervous system disorders. Humans also can contract this disease. Healthy adults who become infected by the virus may experience flu-like symptoms, such as high fevers and headaches. People with weakened immune systems and the young and the elderly can become severely ill or die from this disease. The virus that causes VEE is transmitted primarily by mosquitoes that bite an infected animal and then bite and feed on another animal or human. The speed with which the disease spreads depends on the subtype of the VEE virus and the density of mosquito populations. Enzootic subtypes of VEE are diseases endemic to certain areas. Generally these serotypes do not spread to other localities. Enzootic subtype ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
