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Posts Tagged ‘rats’
Biodefense Scientists Fight Lassa Fever
February 16, 2011
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Scientists are at work in Sierra Leone studying the rat-carried Lassa fever with the aim of developing a speedy and uncomplicated process for diagnosing the virus in the event of a bioterrorism attack, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 23, 2010).
A laboratory in Sierra Leone’s southeast is conducting U.S.-funded research on Lassa fever, which is classified as a “category A” pathogen, a designation given to biological agents such as botulism and anthrax that can produce significant health threats.
The disease is found in a particular species of rat that is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and regularly consumed for Read more…
Categories: Africa, disease and pestilence, Sierra Leone
Africa, anthrax, Biodefense, Bioterrorism, biothreats, botulism, disease, Lassa fever, mice, pathogen, rat, rats, Sierra Leone, terrorist, virus