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Vozrozhdeniya Island
Vozrozhdeniya Island (; ; ) was an island in the Aral Sea. The former island's territory is split between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In 1954, the Soviet Union constructed a biological weapons test site called Aralsk-7 there and on the neighbouring Komsomolskiy Island, which also no longer exists. Geography Vozrozhdeniya was once a small island; it was only in the nineteenth century. In the 1960s, the island began to grow in size as the Aral Sea began drying up as the Soviet Union dammed its feeder rivers for agricultural projects. The shrinkage of the Aral continued and accelerated over time, and the receding waters briefly made Vozrozhdeniya the second-largest lake island in the world, at , in the final days of its existence in mid-2001, becoming a peninsula when the South Aral Sea dried up enough that the island joined the mainland. Upon the disappearance of the Southeast Aral Sea in 2008, Vozrozhdeniya was simply a part of the surrounding land, and by 2014 it was simply a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to the China–Kazakhstan border, east, Kyrgyzstan to the Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border, southeast, Uzbekistan to the Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border, south, and Turkmenistan to the Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan border, southwest, with a coastline along the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Astana, while the largest city and leading cultural and commercial hub is Almaty. Kazakhstan is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country. Steppe, Hilly plateaus and plains account for nearly half its vast territory, with Upland and lowland, lowlands composing another third; its southern and eastern frontiers are composed of low mountainous regions. Kazakhstan has a population of 20 mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast. At —slightly larger than Belgium—Lake Baikal is the world's List of lakes by area, seventh-largest lake by surface area, as well as the second largest lake in Eurasia after the Caspian Sea. However, because it is also the List of lakes by depth, deepest lake, with a maximum depth of , Lake Baikal is the world's List of lakes by volume, largest freshwater lake by volume, containing of water or 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water, more than all of the North American Great Lakes combined. It is also the world's ancient lake, oldest lake at 25–30 million years, and among the clearest. It is estimated that the lake contains around 19% of the unfrozen fresh water on the planet. Lake Baikal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Alibek
Kanatzhan "Kanat" Baizakovich Alibekov (born 1950), known as Kenneth "Ken" Alibek since 1992, is a Kazakh-American microbiologist, bioweaponeer, and biological warfare administrative management expert. He was the first deputy director of Biopreparat. During his career in Soviet bioweaponry development in the late 1970s and 1980s, Alibekov managed projects that included weaponizing glanders and Marburg hemorrhagic fever, and created Russia's first tularemia bomb. Jacobsen, Annie (2015), ''The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top Secret Military Research Agency''; New York: Little, Brown and Company, pg 293. His most prominent accomplishment was the creation of a new "battle strain" of anthrax, known as "Strain 836", later described by the ''Los Angeles Times'' as "the most virulent and vicious strain of anthrax known to man". In 1992, he defected to the United States; he has since become an American citizen and made his living as a biodefense consul ... [...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] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tularemia
Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium '' Francisella tularensis''. Symptoms may include fever, skin ulcers, and enlarged lymph nodes. Occasionally, a form that results in pneumonia or a throat infection may occur. The bacterium is typically spread by ticks, deer flies, or contact with infected animals. It may also be spread by drinking contaminated water or breathing in contaminated dust. It does not spread directly between people. Diagnosis is by blood tests or cultures of the infected site. Prevention includes the use of insect repellent and long pants, rapidly removing ticks, and not disturbing dead animals. Treatment is typically with the antibiotic streptomycin. Gentamicin, doxycycline, or ciprofloxacin may also be used. Between the 1970s and 2015, around 200 cases were reported in the United States a year. Males are affected more often than females. It occurs most frequently in the young and the middle aged. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brucellosis
Brucellosis is a zoonosis spread primarily via ingestion of raw milk, unpasteurized milk from infected animals. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever, and Mediterranean fever. The bacteria causing this disease, ''Brucella'', are small, Gram-negative, nonmotile, nonspore-forming, rod-shaped (Coccobacillus, coccobacilli) bacteria. They function as Facultative parasite, facultative intracellular parasites, causing Chronic (medicine), chronic disease, which usually persists for life. Four species infect humans: ''B. abortus'', ''B. canis'', ''B. melitensis'', and ''B. suis''. ''B. abortus'' is less virulent than ''B. melitensis'' and is primarily a disease of cattle. ''B. canis'' affects dogs. ''B. melitensis'' is the most virulent and invasive species; it usually infects goats and occasionally sheep. ''B. suis'' is of intermediate virulence and chiefly infects pigs. Symptoms include Diaphoresis, profuse sweating and Arthralgia, joint and Myalgia, muscle pain. Brucellosis h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plague (disease)
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium '' Yersinia pestis''. Symptoms include fever, weakness and headache. Usually this begins one to seven days after exposure. There are three forms of plague, each affecting a different part of the body and causing associated symptoms. Pneumonic plague infects the lungs, causing shortness of breath, coughing and chest pain; bubonic plague affects the lymph nodes, making them swell; and septicemic plague infects the blood and can cause tissues to turn black and die. The bubonic and septicemic forms are generally spread by flea bites or handling an infected animal, whereas pneumonic plague is generally spread between people through the air via infectious droplets. Diagnosis is typically by finding the bacterium in fluid from a lymph node, blood or sputum. Those at high risk may be vaccinated. Those exposed to a case of pneumonic plague may be treated with preventive medication. If infected, treatment is with antibiotics a ... [...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] |
Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The skin form presents with a small blister with surrounding swelling that often turns into a painless ulcer with a black center. The inhalation form presents with fever, chest pain, and shortness of breath. The intestinal form presents with diarrhea (which may contain blood), abdominal pains, nausea, and vomiting. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first clinical descriptions of cutaneous anthrax were given by Maret in 1752 and Fournier in 1769. Before that, anthrax had been described only in historical accounts. The German scientist Robert Koch was the first to identify ''Bacillus anthracis'' as the bacterium that causes anthrax. Anthra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioweapon
Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,200 different kinds of potentially weaponizable bio-agents have been described and studied to date. Some biological agents have the ability to adversely affect human health in a variety of ways, ranging from relatively mild allergic reactions to serious medical conditions, including serious injury, as well as serious or permanent disability or death. Many of these organisms are ubiquitous in the natural environment where they are found in water, soil, plants, or animals. Bio-agents may be amenable to "weaponization" to render them easier to deploy or disseminate. Genetic modification may enhance their incapacitating or lethal properties, or render them impervious to conventional treatments or preventives. Since many bio-agents reproduce rapidly and require ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and later the Soviet Union in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century. The List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy ended with the abdication of Nicholas II, Tsar Nicholas II during the February Revolution, and Russia was in a state of political flux. A tense summer culminated in the October Revolution, where the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Provisional Government, provisional government of the new Russian Republic. Bolshevik seizure of power was not universally accepted, and the country descended into a conflict which beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
