Things to know when life gets going again

[Frances Morey]

Interestingly, on the ranch my father would stack tires around the carcas of
any bovine that died and would burn it until it was totally incinerated. I
believe the reason was to destroy any microorganisms or spores that might
have caused the animal's death, and perhaps live on in the soil for years
and years to come and possibly infect others.
Frances
On Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:17:52 -1000, Bill Irwin wrote:

>  this interesting information from the link that Roger posted -
http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/bioterrorism/bioterrorism.jsp?id=ns99991418
>  
>  Home grown? 
>  
>  On Wednesday the FBI said in Florida that the anthrax did not exactly
match any of the reference strains from around the world to which it was
compared. But it closely resembles the "Ames" strain of laboratory cultures,
which was originally isolated from a cow in Iowa in 1932. It is also close
to an Ames strain found circulating in the wild, which killed a goat in
Texas in 1997. 
>  
>  "The Ames strain has never been found in the wild outside North America,"
says Martin Hugh-Jones, an anthrax expert at the University of Louisiana at
Baton Rouge who helped pioneer the geographic analysis of genetic variation
in anthrax.
>  
>  Earlier reports that the anthrax was "manmade", and that it resembled a
family of strains that includes samples from Haiti, were wrong. But the Ames
strain is a laboratory workhorse, and has been widely distributed to
researchers and diagnostic labs all over the world. 
>  
>  This means the Florida bacteria could have come from a number of sources.
"They could have got it off a dead cow this summer, or from a diagnostic or
college lab," says Hugh-Jones. Anthrax spores are so hardy, that even
stained specimens can be scraped off a slide used for teaching veterinary
students, and cultured. Such specimens are poorly guarded.
>  
>  Texan outbreak 
>  The anthrax might also have come from a company that sells live bacteria
to researchers. US companies have sold disease organisms only to licensed
purchasers since 1997, but the Florida anthrax could have been bought before
that. And other countries have few restrictions.
>  
>  Anthrax collected in the wild varies in its ability to sicken humans. The
Florida strain has killed only one of the three people it seems to have
infected. 
>  
>  Last summer there were outbreaks of anthrax in bison, deer and cattle in
western Canada and in South Dakota, Minnesota and Texas in the US. Animals
that die of anthrax have vast numbers of bacteria in their blood, which
could be easily collected.
>  
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: Monty/Judith Herr <herr@home.com>
>  To: <rcbaker@eden.infohwy.com>; <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
>  Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 7:22 AM
>  Subject: RE: Things to read when life gets too boring
>  
>  
>  > But, anthrax cannot be effectively distributed by air.
>  > 
>  > Judith M. Herr
>  > Well Chosen Words
>  > herrj@home.com
>  > 925-443-4514
>  > 925-989-3723 (cellular)
>  > 
>  > 
>  > -----Original Message-----
>  > From: austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net
>  > [mailto:austin-ghetto-list-admin@pairlist.net]On Behalf Of Roger Baker
>  > Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 10:41 PM
>  > To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>  > Subject: Things to read when life gets too boring
>  > 
>  > 
>  > 
>  > One of many things you can learn from this collection of links
>  > 
>  > http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/bioterrorism/
>  > 
>  > "...The prospect of an anthrax attack was investigated in the 1990s by
the
>  > US Office of Technological Assessment. They concluded that 100
kilograms of
>  > virulent anthrax effectively dispersed at night over Washington DC
could
>  > cause between one and three million deaths. Crop-dusters can carry up
to
>  > twice that capacity..."
>  > 
>  > 
>  > 
>  > 
>  > 
>  > Bottom line: The best protection from determined terrorists over the
long
>  > run
>  > is prevention; is to reduce the motivation to conduct terrorism. It is
in
>  > the
>  > nature of complex and advanced societies to create so many points of
>  > potential
>  > vulnerability by well-organized terrorist groups that they cannot all
be
>  > guarded
>  > effectively, no matter how many security precautions are taken. --
Roger
>  > 
>  > 


"The Skinny on Weight Loss: One Woman's 
True Journey to Fat and Back" by Frances Morey
Order online <www.xlibris.com/bookstore>
or by phone at 1-888-795-4274 Extension #276





_______________________________________________________
Send a cool gift with your E-Card
http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/