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By Region: North America

NIH scientists show how anthrax bacteria impair immune response

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Researchers from NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, have determined a key mechanism by which Bacillus anthracis bacteria initiate anthrax infection despite being greatly outnumbered by immune system scavenger cells. The finding, made by studying genetically modified mice, adds new detail to the picture of early-stage Read More »

November 17, 2010
| Filed under North America and Research
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US warns of bioterrorism threat in East Africa

Business Daily AfricaUS warns of bioterrorism threat in East AfricaBusiness Daily Africa… in the region – that's why they are being studied, points out Gigi Kwik Gronvall, senior associate at the UPMC Centre for Biosecurity in Pittsburgh. …Sen. Lugar highlights potential bioterrorism threat posed by unsecured medical …News-Medical.netUS Sees Vulnerabilities at Kenyan BiolabsGlobal Security Newswireall Read More »

November 16, 2010
| Filed under Africa, North America, and Biosafety
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U.S. Sees Vulnerabilities at Kenyan Biolabs

U.S. officials are concerned that a Kenyan laboratory in Nairobi housing dangerous biological agents employs insufficient security in a country plagued by terrorism and occasional instability, the Associated Press reported on Friday (see GSN, Nov. 11). “Unfortunately in this world there are a great number of terrorists who, whether individuals or organizations, have given a Read More »

November 15, 2010
| Filed under Africa, North America, and Biosafety
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Egyptian Leader Asserted Iraq had Bioweapons, Bush Memoir Says

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak privately asserted prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that the regime of then-dictator Saddam Hussein held biological weapons, former President Bush said in his memoir published this week (see GSN, Nov. 4). (Nov. 12) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, shown in September, asserted before the Hussein regime was toppled Read More »

November 12, 2010
| Filed under Middle East, North America, and Biological Weapons
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U.S. Delegation Sees Security Risks at Ugandan Biolabs

U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Defense Department officials yesterday toured infectious disease laboratories at Entebbe, Uganda, where they worry security vulnerabilities could allow extremists access to dangerous pathogens for an act of bioterrorism, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Nov. 10). (Nov. 11) – U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) looks through a microscope Read More »