Woudstra Cédric, Tevell Åberg Annica, Skarin Hanna, Anniballi Fabrizio, De Medici Dario, Bano Luca, Koene Miriam, Löfström Charlotta, Hansen Trine, Hedeland Mikael, Fach Patrick
Biosecur Bioterror. 2013 Sep;11 Suppl 1:S177-82. doi: 10.1089/bsp.2012.0074.
Botulism disease in both humans and animals is a worldwide concern. Botulinum neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum and other Clostridium species are the most potent biological substances known and are responsible for flaccid paralysis leading to a high mortality rate. Clostridium botulinum and botulinum neurotoxins are considered potential weapons for bioterrorism and have been included in the Australia Group List of Biological Agents. In 2010 the European Commission (DG Justice, Freedom and Security) funded a 3-year project named AniBioThreat to improve the EU's capacity to counter animal bioterrorism threats. A detection portfolio with screening methods for botulism agents and incidents was needed to improve tracking and tracing of accidental and deliberate contamination of the feed and food chain with botulinum neurotoxins and other Clostridia. The complexity of this threat required acquiring new genetic information to better understand the diversity of these Clostridia and develop detection methods targeting both highly specific genetic markers of these Clostridia and the neurotoxins they are able to produce. Several European institutes participating in the AniBioThreat project collaborated on this program to achieve these objectives. Their scientific developments are discussed here.
肉毒中毒在人类和动物中都是一个全球性问题。肉毒杆菌及其他梭菌属产生的肉毒杆菌神经毒素是已知毒性最强的生物物质，可导致弛缓性麻痹，死亡率很高。肉毒杆菌和肉毒杆菌神经毒素被视为生物恐怖主义的潜在武器，并已被列入澳大利亚集团生物制剂清单。2010年，欧盟委员会（司法、自由与安全总司）资助了一个名为“AniBioThreat”的为期三年的项目，以提高欧盟应对动物生物恐怖主义威胁的能力。需要一个包含肉毒中毒病原体和事件筛查方法的检测组合，以改进对肉毒杆菌神经毒素和其他梭菌对饲料及食物链的意外和蓄意污染的追踪和溯源。这种威胁的复杂性要求获取新的基因信息，以便更好地了解这些梭菌的多样性，并开发针对这些梭菌高度特异性基因标记及其能够产生的神经毒素的检测方法。参与“AniBioThreat”项目的几家欧洲机构在该计划上进行了合作，以实现这些目标。在此讨论他们的科学进展。
