Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, Delhi, India.
Expert Rev Vaccines. 2013 Aug;12(8):955-70. doi: 10.1586/14760584.2013.814860.
The management of anthrax remains a top priority among the biowarfare/bioterror agents. It was the Bacillus anthracis spore attack through the US mail system after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the USA that highlighted the potential of B. anthracis as a bioterrorism agent and the threat posed by its deliberate dissemination. These attacks invigorated the efforts toward understanding the anthrax pathogenesis and development of more comprehensive medical intervention strategies for its containment in case of both natural disease and manmade, accidental or deliberate infection of a non-suspecting population. Currently, efforts are directed toward the development of safe and efficacious vaccines as well as intervention tools for controlling the disease in the advanced fulminant stage when toxemia has already developed. This work presents an overview of the current understanding of anthrax pathogenesis and recent advances made, particularly after 2001, for the successful management of anthrax and outlines future perspectives.
炭疽的管理仍然是生物战/生物恐怖主义制剂的重中之重。正是在 2001 年 9 月 11 日美国发生恐怖袭击后，炭疽杆菌孢子通过美国邮政系统袭击，突显了炭疽杆菌作为生物恐怖主义制剂的潜力，以及其蓄意传播带来的威胁。这些袭击促使人们努力了解炭疽病的发病机制，并制定更全面的医疗干预策略，以控制自然疾病和人为、意外或故意感染无防备人群的疾病。目前，人们正在努力开发安全有效的疫苗以及干预工具，以控制已经发生毒血症的暴发性晚期疾病。本文概述了目前对炭疽病发病机制的理解，以及 2001 年以来取得的最新进展，特别是为成功管理炭疽病而取得的进展，并概述了未来的展望。
