Question

**PLEASE answer all**

• Describe the importance of surveillance.
• Examples of bioterrorism? What prior bioterrorism examples have occurred?
• Know examples of class A and class B bacterial agents linked to bioterrorism; what are characteristics important for class A agents and why are they on the list?
• Compare and contrast passive vs. active immunity for protection from infectious pathogens…know examples of each.

Answer 1

1. Describe the importance of surveillance.

Surveillance is important in helping countries to monitor and evaluate emerging methods and disease trends. Monitoring is crucial because it helps prevent and manage non-communicable diseases. Through the data collected, countries can determine their priorities and develop interventions aimed at tackling the non-communicable disease epidemic.

Public health departments at the federal, state, and local levels use a variety of surveillance systems to promote health and prevent disease. These systems can be used to monitor disease trends and to plan public health events. There are two primary types of disease surveillance: passive and active.

Passive disease surveillance begins with health care providers or laboratories initiating the reporting to state or local officials. Reportable diseases are submitted one by one based on the list of published conditions.

Active disease surveillance is when state or local officials actively search for information by contacting healthcare providers, laboratories, schools, nursing homes, work places, etc.

2. Examples of bioterrorism? What prior bioterrorism examples have occurred?

Bioterrorism means using microorganisms or infected samples that cause terror and panic in the population. By the time World War I began, attempts to use anthrax were directed at animal populations. This generally proved to be ineffective. After the outbreak of World War I, Germany launched a biological coup campaign in the United States, Russia, Romania and France. At that time, Anton Dilger lived in Germany, but in 1915 he was sent to the United States carrying cultures of glanders, a virulent disease of horses and mules. Dilger set up a laboratory in his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He used stevedores working the docks in Baltimore to infect horses with glanders while they were waiting to be shipped to Britain. Dilger was under suspicion as being a German agent, but was never arrested. Dilger eventually fled to Madrid, Spain, where he died during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. In 1916, the Russians arrested a German agent with similar intentions. Germany and its allies infected French cavalry horses and many of Russia's mules and horses on the Eastern Front. These actions hindered artillery and troop movements, as well as supply convoys.

Examples of bioterrorism agents.

Bacteria

B. anthracis, Y. pestis, S. typhi, S. typhimurium, Shigellae species, F. tularensis

Parasites

Giardia lamblia, Schistosoma species

Toxins

Botulinum toxin, Ricin, Tetrodotoxin, Snake venom, Diphtheria toxin, Cholera endotoxin

Viruses

Yellow fever, Ebola, Smallpox, Hemorrhagic fevers

3. Know examples of class A and class B bacterial agents linked to bioterrorism; what are characteristics important for class A agents and why are they on the list?

examples of class A and class B bacterial agents linked to bioterrorism are,

class A :-

These high-priority agents pose a risk to national security, can be easily transmitted and disseminated, result in high mortality, have potential major public health impact, may cause public panic, or require special action for public health preparedness

1. Tularemia, caused by the Francisella tularensis bacterium.
2. Anthrax, caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis.
3. Botulinum is the deadliest toxin, produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.
4. Plague, caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium.

class B :-

1. Salmonella species.
2. E coli O157:H7
3. Shigella
4. Staphylococcus aureus, etc.

These high-priority agents pose a risk to national security, can be easily transmitted and disseminated, result in high mortality, have potential major public health impact, may cause public panic, or require special action for public health preparedness.

4. Compare and contrast passive vs. active immunity for protection from infectious pathogens.

Active immunization stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies against a particular infectious agent. Active immunity can arise naturally, as when someone is exposed to a pathogen. For example, an individual who recovers from a first case of the measles is immune to further infection

Passive immunization is often used in children and adults who have weakened immunity or are not good candidates for routine vaccinations for other reasons. It can be used with people who have not been vaccinated against a disease. For example, the passive rabies immunization is commonly used after a certain type of wild animal bites a child.

• The first major difference between active immunity and passive immunity is that active immunity is being produced for the contact with pathogen or the antigen, whereas passive immunity is being produced for the antibodies that are obtained from outside.
• Active immunity is not at all immediate and there is a distinctive lapse of time for the development, whereas the passive immunity is being developed immediately.
• Active immunity lasts for a long time, even for a lifetime, whereas passive immunity lasts for at least a few days.
• The antibodies are being produced by the human body as per response to the antigen or pathogen, whereas in passive immunity, these distinctive antibodies are being gained from the inside body.
• In active immunity, there are extremely fewer side effects, however, in passive immunity, the human body eventually reacts.