8
September, 2008
Past and Future Newsletters
on Tularemia
No
bioterrorism events in the USA due to Francisella
tularensis, the causative bacterial agent of the disease “tularemia”, have
occurred in the 21st century.
Fortunately, this absence of disease includes during the incubation
period of tularemia following detection of F.tularensis
by Biowatch filters in some US cities. For example, public reports (online) of
such events have occurred at least one time in the months of September or
October in or near Houston (2003), Washington, DC (2005), San Jose (2005), and
St. Louis (2006).
During
this September and October (2008) this Newsletter and website (www.BePast.org) will increase its information
and commentary on tularemia: its history, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
This focus will build on past newsletters on tularemia posted on this site.
For
example, newsletters posted here have commented on in vitro work co-culturing the protozoan parasite Acanthamoeba with
F. tularensis (14 July 2008), algorithms
to diagnose the index case(s) of tularemia after a bioterrorism event (October
1 and 3, 2005; October 4 and
Daniel
R. Lucey, MD
EROne
Institutes, Washington Hospital Center
Adjunct
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Georgetown
University Medical Center
Washington,
DC
E-mail:
DRL23@Georgetown.edu