|
Glanders
Glanders is a contagious, zoonotic infectious disease caused by the bacterium '' Burkholderia mallei'', which primarily occurs in horses, mules, and donkeys, but can also be contracted by dogs and cats, pigs, goats, and humans. The term ''glanders'' derives from the Middle English word ' and from the Old French word ', which both denote ''glands''. Other terms for the glanders disease are the , the , the , and the . Glanders is endemic in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. Elsewhere, glanders has been eradicated in North America, Australia, and most of Europe, by way of the zoological observation and destruction of infected and sick animals and quarantine restrictions upon the importation of said animals. Occurrences of glanders had not been reported in the U.S. since 1945, until a laboratory accident in 2000, wherein a laboratory researcher was accidentally exposed the '' Burkholderia mallei'' bacterium. In the U.K., glanders is a notifiable disease ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burkholderia Mallei
''Burkholderia mallei'' is a Gram-negative, bipolar, aerobic bacterium, a human and animal pathogen of genus '' Burkholderia'' causing glanders; the Latin name of this disease (''malleus'') gave its name to the species causing it. It is closely related to '' B. pseudomallei,'' and by multilocus sequence typing it is a subspecies of ''B. pseudomallei.'' ''B. mallei'' evolved from ''B. pseudomallei'' by selective reduction and deletions from the ''B. pseudomallei'' genome. Unlike ''B. pseudomallei'' and other genus members, ''B. mallei'' is nonmotile; its shape is coccobacillary measuring some 1.5–3.0 μm in length and 0.5–1.0 μm in diameter with rounded ends. Discovery and early history Wilhelm Schütz and Friedrich Löffler first isolated ''B. mallei'' in 1882. It was isolated from an infected liver and spleen of a horse. This bacterium is also one of the first to be identified containing a type VI secretion system which is important for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents include bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or their toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same way as in biological warfare. Further, modern agribusiness is vulnerable to anti-agricultural attacks by terrorists, and such attacks can seriously damage economy as well as consumer confidence. The latter destructive activity is called agrobioterrorism and is a subtype of agro-terrorism. Definition Bioterrorism agents are typically found in nature, but could be mutated or altered to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment. Biological agents can be spread through the air, water, or in food. Biological agents are attractive to terrorists because they are extremely difficult to detect and do not cause illness for severa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melioidosis
Melioidosis is an infectious disease caused by a gram-negative bacterium called ''Burkholderia pseudomallei''. Most people exposed to ''B. pseudomallei'' experience no symptoms, but complications can range from fever and skin changes to pneumonia, abscesses, and septic shock, which can be fatal. Approximately 10% of people with melioidosis develop symptoms that last longer than two months, termed "chronic melioidosis". Prior to the Vietnam war less than a handful of patients had diagnosed in the United States in the twentieth century. In 1966, Spotnitz et al discovered that a number of servicemen with delayed onset of pulmonary infections had previously been deployed in Vietnam. Spotnitz coined the term “Vietnam Time Bomb” highlighting the fact that Burkholderia pseudomallei could remain dormant for years.The term gained traction as subsequent studies revealed latent infections in Vietnam veterans with estimates suggesting up to 250,000 U.S. soldiers were exposed. Spotnitz w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoonosis
A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When humans infect non-humans, it is called reverse zoonosis or anthroponosis. Major modern diseases such as Ebola and salmonellosis are zoonoses. HIV was a zoonotic disease transmitted to humans in the early part of the 20th century, though it has now evolved into a separate human-only disease. Human infection with animal influenza viruses is rare, as they do not transmit easily to or among humans. However, avian and swine influenza viruses in particular possess high zoonotic potential, and these occasionally recombine with human strains of the flu and can cause pandemics such as the 2009 swine flu. Zoonoses can be caused by a range of disease pathogens such as emergent viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites; of 1,415 pathogens known t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two possible first-generation hybrids between them, the mule is easier to obtain and more common than the hinny, which is the offspring of a male horse (a stallion) and a female donkey (a jenny). Mules vary widely in size, and may be of any color seen in horses or donkeys. They are more patient, hardier and longer-lived than horses, and are perceived as less obstinate and more intelligent than donkeys. Terminology A female mule is often called a "molly" or "Molly mule," though the correct term is "mare mule." A male mule is called a "john" or "John mule," though the correct term is "horse mule." A young male mule is called a "mule colt," and a young female is called a "mule filly." The donkey used to produce mules is called a "mule ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Front (World War I)
The Eastern Front or Eastern Theater, of World War I, was a theater (warfare), theater of operations that encompassed at its greatest extent the entire frontier between Russian Empire, Russia and Kingdom of Romania, Romania on one side and Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and German Empire, Germany on the other. It ranged from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, involved most of Eastern Europe, and stretched deep into Central Europe. The term contrasts with the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, which was being fought in Belgium and French Third Republic, France. Unlike the static warfare on the Western Front, the fighting on the geographically larger Eastern Front was maneuver warfare, more dynamic, often involving the flanking and encirclement of entire formations, and resulted in over 100,000 square miles of territory becoming occupied by a foreign power. At the start of the war Russia launched offensives agai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the list of largest empires, third-largest empire in history, behind only the British Empire, British and Mongol Empire, Mongol empires. It also Russian colonization of North America, colonized Alaska between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census, the only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as the boyars, above whom was the tsar, an absolute monarch. The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III (), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state, and secured inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperial Germany, the Second Reich or simply Germany, was the period of the German Reich; . from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the German revolution of 1918–1919, November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a Weimar Republic, republic. The German Empire consisted of States of the German Empire, 25 states, each with its own nobility: four constituent Monarchy, kingdoms, six Grand duchy, grand duchies, five Duchy, duchies (six before 1876), seven Principality, principalities, three Free imperial city, free Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City-state, cities, and Alsace–Lorraine, one imperial territory. While Prussia was one of four kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two-thirds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in European theatre of World War I, Europe and the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, Middle East, as well as in parts of African theatre of World War I, Africa and the Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I, Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare; the widespread use of Artillery of World War I, artillery, machine guns, and Chemical weapons in World War I, chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of Tanks in World War I, tanks and Aviation in World War I, aircraft. World War I was one of the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated World War I casualties, 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded, plus some 10 million civilian de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit the air, soil, water, Hot spring, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria play a vital role in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients and the nitrogen fixation, fixation of nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of cadaver, dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
