MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'anthrax'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:51:34 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4946563&cid=t_161481_10_f&fid=35345&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.GIDEONonline.com%2F2011%2F06%2F18%2Fanthrax-in-the-yugoslav-republics%2F Recent reports from Serbia remind us that Anthrax continues to occur in the republics of former Yugoslavia. Highest rates of human disease are reported in Macedonia (see graph). 1,2 References: 1. Berger SA. Infectious Diseases of Serbia and Montenegro, 2011. 437 pp, 212 graphs, 1035 references. Gideon e-books, http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/country/infectious-diseases-of-serbia-and-montenegro/ 2. Berger SA. Anthrax: Global Status, 2011. 287 pp, 452 graphs, 1265 references. Gideon e-books, http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/disease/anthrax-global-status/ (Source: GIDEON blog) GIDEON blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4946563 Sun, 19 Jun 2011 07:43:38 +0100 4946563 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636107&cid=t_161481_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FVirologyBlog%2F%7E3%2FHO2eJzZBWaY%2F Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cliff Mintz, Jo Handelsman, and Ronald Atlas. On episode #3 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Jo, Cliff, and Ron explore the genome analysis done in support of the Amerithrax investigation, and an insecticidal enterotoxin-deficient mutant of Bacillus thurigiensis. Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiM #3 (55 MB .mp3, 60 minutes). Subscribe to TWiM (free) at iTunes, the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld App. Links for this episode: Bacillus anthracis genome analysis for Amerithrax investigation (PNAS) US Department of Justice summary of Amerithrax investigation (pdf) Anthrax expert comments on FBI Amerithrax report Genome data not sufficient for convicti... virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636107 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:36:43 +0100 4636107 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3504931&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F2ickEV3RE_w%2Fthe_zombie_anthrax_case.php It's been a couple of months since we posted on the anthrax story, the story that refuses to die despite the fact the FBI has done its best to close the case out. But here we are again, our 11th post on the subject, this time because a colleague of the conveniently deceased alleged anthrax terrorist, Dr. Bruce Ivins, has defended him publicly while testifying before a panel of the National Academies tasked with reviewing the case: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Effect Measure) Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3504931 Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:53:52 +0100 3504931 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3294609&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F-oxIGWWorTk%2Ffbis_mercy_killing_of_the_anth.php This is our 10th post on the anthrax attacks. Will it be our last? Yes, if the FBI has anything to say about it. They are closing the case. A case they messed up pretty thoroughly from the outset but now want us to believe they've solved, even though the culprit they fingered, Dr. Bruce Ivins, a bioweapons researcher at Fort Detrick, allegedly committed suicide and wasn't available to interrogate. I say "allegedly" because there are other explanations for his demise, most plausibly in our view, an accident involving interaction of alcohol and acetaminophen which caused liver failure. But the "suicide" scenario is central to the FBI narrative, a narrative that portrayed it as the last desperate act of a guilty man as authorities were closing in. Very convenient story. So "case closed": Re... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3294609 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:15:07 +0100 3294609 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2240685&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2FrsRmOq9-SaQ%2Fthe_anthrax_attacks_the_fbis_i.php When the FBI said that they had conclusive scientific evidence that biodefense scientists Bruce Ivins of the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) was the 2001 anthrax attacker, many people asked to see the evidence. Don't worry, we were told. It will be published for all to see in the peer reviewed scientific literature and then everyone will be convinced that the organisms used in the attacks came from a flask in the laboratory of Dr. Ivins. We're still waiting for the scientific papers, but some of the evidence is now being presented at scientific meetings. This week papers were presented at the American Society for Microbiology's Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting in Baltimore, and surprise: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2240685 Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:48:02 +0100 2240685 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2081019&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F503359956%2Fburying_the_anthrax_story.php Yesterday's New York Times carried a very long piece (more than 5000 words) by Scott Shanes on the anthrax attacker case. You may remember that shortly after Dr. Bruce Ivins, the Fort Detrick scientist who worked on anthrax, allegedly committed suicide (see posts here), the FBI announced he was the culprit and started to wrap up the case. Is the case truly "solved"? Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Effect Measure) Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2081019 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:36:00 +0100 2081019 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1779148&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F386591762%2Fanthrax_comes_to_congress.php With all that's going on we sometimes forget about all that went on, even all that went on recently. Like "solving" the anthrax attacks case. Fortunately the New York Times reporters on the case are still on the case. And so is Congress: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Effect Measure) Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1779148 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:06:03 +0100 1779148 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1723372&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F370845635%2Fscience_and_the_anthrax_case_n.php Not many scientists were convinced the FBI had a solid science case against accused anthrax attacker Dr. Bruce Ivins. So the FBI held a telephone conference call between journalists and their scientific back-up to answer outstanding questions. Some questions were answered by promising the science would be submitted for peer review to the scientific literature but many others remain, some scientific but mostly about how the science fits in to what would have had to have been "evidence beyond a reasonable doubt" in what the FBI says would have been a death penalty case. An Editorial and accompanying newsarticle in the world's most prestigious scientific publication, Nature (published in the UK), lays out some of the scientific questions that remain: Read the rest of this post... | Read the c... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1723372 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:08:13 +0100 1723372 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1696082&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F361871026%2Fmore_anthrax_case_questions.php Questions about the FBI's case against popping up like mushrooms after a rain. There are too many to address in just one post. Meryl Nass's site has cataloged a number of them and Glenn Greenwald's latest installment others. We've weighed in a couple of times (here and here) and now want to add some additional thoughts about the official version of how the alleged anthrax attacker, Dr. Bruce Ivins, died. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Effect Measure) Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1696082 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:23:46 +0100 1696082 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4060709&cid=t_161481_109_f&fid=34859&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.davemsw.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F08%2Fgaps_in_system_kept_ivins_at_highsecurity_lab.php More information in the anthrax case have emerged, questions about security of US weapons development, the story of his last couple years under the FBI investigation, and details about Dr. Ivins psychiatric condition in the past year and his treatment. Associated Press "Privacy concerns, bureaucratic loopholes, the demands of a criminal investigation -- all combined to let Ivins keep his job and stay out of jail for years. And in the high-security lab until last November. Or was it just that the government's evidence was too weak to act? That's what Ivins' attorney says. "If it's such earth-shattering stuff, what's been going on since 2005?" Paul F. Kemp asked Wednesday after the government made its case with a news conference and a pile of documents. "Why is he on the street if they ... Ψ Dare To Dream... blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4060709 Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:25:00 +0100 4060709 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1692106&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F359376502%2Fanthrax_case_reasonable_doubt.php I've been looking at the documents deposited online by the Department of Justice making their case against Dr.Bruce E. Ivins, the Army scientist they allege is the lone anthrax attack culprit. My perusal of their case leaves a mixed impression. If their portrayal of his mental condition is at all accurate - and it is difficult to judge on the basis of the highly selected quotes from emails and hearsay evidence of unnamed sources -- then Ivins certainly is a plausible suspect. Selected leaking of information, not all of it verified could also make him a convenient and plausible patsy. I have no way of judging that part of the case at the moment. But the scientific part of the case, supposedly their strongest argument, looks incredibly weak to me. Read the rest of this post... | Read the com... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1692106 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:51:13 +0100 1692106 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4060710&cid=t_161481_109_f&fid=34859&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.davemsw.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F08%2Fanthrax_suspect_bruce_ivins_emotional_state_is_det.php The Anthrax mailing attack on several government institutions was a chilling aftermath to the 9/11/2001 attacks. The letters, poisoned with a rare and hard to produce highly refined weapons grade anthrax, were postmarked 9/18/2001. The letters containing the spores contained references implying that the sender was Muslim. However, the nature of the refinement of the spores made it highly likely they came from a government sponsored bio-weapons program because of the scientific sophistication needed. The USDOJ makes a fairly convincing circumstantial case detailed here. My intent here is not to pass judgment on the accused man, but to comment on the information building a case that Ivins suffered an active mental illness and the implications for prevention and emotion education, as well a... Ψ Dare To Dream... blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4060710 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:53:00 +0100 4060710 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1679303&cid=t_161481_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F355269337%2Fanthrax_and_credibility.php The unfolding anthrax story may not unfold much because the government seems to be in a hurry to keep it folded. They claim -- not officially but through the news media -- to have found the nutjob who did it. He had opportunity, means and motive (he was a nutjob). Now he's dead and can't defend himself. Case closed. Maybe. But neither the news media nor the government who feeds them crapola have track records for credibility, so I'm not yet willing to lay this vicious homicide automatically on his grave. Yes, we are getting all sorts of leaked info but then we got a lot of leaked info when the attacks occurred and then later when authorities were under pressure to find the culprit. They wound up pilloring a government scientist, Stephen Hatfill. Hatfill sounds like a jerk and the current s... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1679303 Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:49:38 +0100 1679303 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1671578&cid=t_161481_107_f&fid=35026&url=http%3A%2F%2Fphylogenomics.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F08%2Fopen-anthrax-open-access-publications.html Well, I am sure there are going to be a million news stories and blogs over the next few days about the anthrax letters. That is because of the recent death of someone who appears to have been the latest suspect in the anthrax mailings (see for example CNN Report: Anthrax suspect kills self as FBI closes in). I must say, after the disastrous handling of some of the previous suspects, I think we should reserve judgement on this case until some of the evidence is made public.In the interest of helping out some of those interested in the science of studying the organism that causes anthrax I am posting here some links to fully open access articles on B. anthracis.PLoS One papersGlobal Genetic Population Structure of Bacillus anthracisthis one has some very nice figures that anyone can use suc... The Tree of Life blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1671578 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:25:00 +0100 1671578