scholarly journals From epidemics to terrorism: Infective agents as specific security risk in contemporary world

2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 242-255
Author(s):  
Elizabeta Ristanovic

Infectious diseases are recognized as one of the leading security risks in the changing security architecture of the contemporary world, because of the dimensions of the possible consequences that can provoke, as evidenced by the epidemics that changed the history of mankind in the past (plague, smallpox, Spanish influenza) and the consequences that have been left behind the epidemic of Ebola or AIDS as interplanetary plague of the new era. Migrations and climate changes present the risk of emergency of new or increasing the incidence of existing infectious diseases. Misuse of microorganisms and their products for terrorist purposes-bioterrorism, today also represents a major security risk and real danger, especially because of the possibility of misuse of genetic engineering and biotechnology for the improvement of biological weapons. Therefore, it is important to strengthen the resources at the national and international level for an adequate response to the possible epidemics, as well as prevention and response in the event of bioterrorist acts.

1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (312) ◽  
pp. 300-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Pustogarov

In the history of humankind, no matter how far back we look into the past, peaceful relations between people and nations have always been the ideal, and yet this history abounds in wars and bloodshed. The documentary evidence, oral tradition and the mute testimony of archaeological sites tell an incontrovertible tale of man's cruelty and violence against his fellow man. Nevertheless, manifestations of compassion, mercy and mutual aid have a no less ancient record. Peace and war, goodneighbourly attitudes and aggression, brutality and humanity exist side by side in the contemporary world as well.


2013 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Ricardo Criado ◽  
Lívia Delgado ◽  
Gustavo Alonso Pereira

Dermoscopy has being used over the past twenty years as a noninvasive aid in the diagnosis of innumerable skin conditions, including infectious diseases and infestations (Entodermoscopy).Tinea nigra is a superficial phaeohyfomycosis that affects mainly the glabrous skin of palms and soles. We describe a 14 year-old girl with a three-month history of an enlarging brown patch of her hand diagnosed as Tinea Nigra following clinical and dermoscopy examination.These images emphasize the importance of dermoscopy as a diagnostic tool in the daily routine of dermatologists.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Smith

This paper examines how the past of desert landscapes has been interpreted since European explorers and scientists first encountered them. It charts the research that created the conceptual space within which archaeologists and Quaternarists now work. Studies from the 1840s–1960s created the notion of a ‘Great Australian Arid Period'. The 1960s studies of Lake Mungo and the Willandra Lakes by Jim Bowler revealed the cyclical nature of palaeolakes, that changed with climate changes in the Pleistocene, and the complexity of desert pasts. SLEADS and other researchers in the 1980s used thermoluminescence techniques that showed further complexities in desert lands beyond the Willandra particularly through new studies in the Strzelecki and Simpson Dunefields, Lake Eyre, Lake Woods and Lake Gregory. Australian deserts are varied and have very different histories. Far from ‘timeless lands', they have carried detailed information about long-term climate changes on continental scales.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Wilkie

People have been visiting and living in the Victorian Grampians, also known as Gariwerd, for thousands of generations. They have both witnessed and caused vast environmental transformations in and around the ranges. Gariwerd: An Environmental History of the Grampians explores the geological and ecological significance of the mountains and combines research from across disciplines to tell the story of how humans and the environment have interacted, and how the ways people have thought about the environments of the ranges have changed through time. In this new account, historian Benjamin Wilkie examines how Djab wurrung and Jardwadjali people and their ancestors lived in and around the mountains, how they managed the land and natural resources, and what kinds of archaeological evidence they have left behind over the past 20 000 years. He explores the history of European colonisation in the area from the middle of the 19th century and considers the effects of this on both the first people of Gariwerd and the environments of the ranges and their surrounding plains in western Victoria. The book covers the rise of science, industry and tourism in the mountains, and traces the eventual declaration of the Grampians National Park in 1984. Finally, it examines more recent debates about the past, present and future of the park, including over its significant Indigenous history and heritage.


Author(s):  
Frank F. Schambach

I am pleased and very honored that you have invited me here today to tell you something about the past of the Caddo people as it is known to archaeologists. This is a subject that has been both my occupation and my major preoccupation for more than 25 years. The story that I and other archaeologists have been piecing together over many years is long, complex, and endlessly fascinating. It is a heritage that anyone could be proud of. Let me give you some of the highlights. The story began over 11,500 years ago--or about 9,500 B.C.--when the first people arrived in the historic Caddo territory of Northwest Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas, East Texas, and Southeast Oklahoma. There were not many of them, perhaps only a hundred or so in this whole area at first. And the world they lived in was very different from the world today. It was cold, about like northern Maine or northern Michigan today, with forests of spruce and birch, because the Ice Age was still going on. They were probably dressed like Eskimos in carefully sewn parkas, trousers, and boots. We know this because many of the stone tools they left behind are tools for preparing hides and for making the bone needles necessary to sew them into clothing. They probably lived in skin tepees like those of the historic Plains Indians, but smaller, because they did not have horses to carry their gear from place to place. They did have dogs and they probably trained them to work as pack animals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Claire Gehrig ◽  
Katrin Hartmann ◽  
Felix Günther ◽  
André Klima ◽  
Gabriele Habacher ◽  
...  

Objectives Vaccination is the most important measure for prevention of feline infectious diseases. Cat owner compliance with vaccination recommendations has been investigated in the UK but not in other European countries. The aim of the present study was to determine cat owners’ attitudes towards vaccination in cats in Germany, to identify factors that are associated with the vaccination status of their cats and to compare the results with those of the UK survey. Methods The survey was conducted using an online questionnaire and was aimed at respondents throughout Germany. Respondents under 16 years of age, cats that were less than 9 weeks old and veterinarians were excluded. A total of 920 questionnaires were evaluated, and information about cats and respondents was assessed with respect to the current vaccination status of the cats using a linear logistic regression model. Results The majority of cats (77.9%; n = 717) were vaccinated according to current guidelines; only 5.4% (n = 50; 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.00–9.00) of cats had never received a vaccine. Having visited a cattery, a cat show or travelled abroad in the past 12 months (n = 96/773; odds ratio [OR] 6.95; 95% CI 1.65–52.19) had the highest positive impact on the vaccination status of cats. In addition, detailed veterinary advice about vaccination had a positive impact (n = 275/773; OR 2.09; 95% CI 0.67–6.25) on the attitude of owners towards vaccinating their cats. Conclusions and relevance A history of travelling abroad or visiting cat shows or a cattery, and thus regulatory requirements, had the greatest positive impact on the current vaccination status of the cats. Veterinary consultation on preventive measures, including vaccination, is crucial for protecting the cat population against infectious diseases.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94
Author(s):  
A. B. Belov

The history of the study of infections attributed by the microbiologist and epidemiologist V.I. Tersky in 1958 as the class of human infectious diseases – «Sapronoses» is presented. Over the past 60 years in the world and especially in Russian science the knowledge that allows us to complete the development of an ecological and epidemiological theory of sapronoses infections was accumulated. This knowledge should be extended to the whole complex of biomedical sciences associated with the population pathology of biota. To solve the controversial and complex issues of the theory, terminology and classifications of population infectology, it is necessary to integrate the knowledge of specialists in various fields of research and practice in the medicine, veterinary medicine, parasitology, phytopathology and other disciplines. The ways and prospects of improving the general theory of infectology in the light of new approaches to understanding the essence of sapronoses are discussed. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Conis

The modern era of vaccination was heralded with the licensure of the first 2 measles vaccines in 1963. This new era was distinct from the preceding era of vaccination for 4 main reasons. First, federal leadership in support of immunization at the local level grew. Second, immunization proponents championed the required vaccination of children as the best means of ensuring a protected population. Third, immunization proponents championed the idea that mass vaccination would not only help manage infectious diseases but also eradicate them. Fourth, the focus of local and federally supported immunization initiatives began to extend to the “mild” and “moderate” diseases of childhood (eg, measles), so-called because they were seen as less severe than previous targets of mass vaccination, such as smallpox, polio, and diphtheria. This article follows the history of measles to explore immunization successes and challenges in this modern era, because measles was the first of the mild and moderate diseases to become the target of a federally supported eradication-through-vaccination campaign, one that relied heavily on the preemptive, required vaccination of children. Its story thus epitomizes the range of political, epidemiological, cultural, and communications challenges to mass immunization in the modern era of vaccination.


2019 ◽  
Vol 221 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. S289-S291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Leguia ◽  
Anton Vila-Sanjurjo ◽  
Patrick S G Chain ◽  
Irina Maljkovic Berry ◽  
Richard G Jarman ◽  
...  

Abstract This brief report serves as an introduction to a supplement of the Journal of Infectious Diseases entitled “Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Technologies to Advance Global Infectious Disease Research.” We briefly discuss the history of NGS technologies and describe how the techniques developed during the past 40 years have impacted our understanding of infectious diseases. Our focus is on the application of NGS in the context of pathogen genomics. Beyond obvious clinical and public health applications, we also discuss the challenges that still remain within this rapidly evolving field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 3465-3472
Author(s):  
Jacques Britto N ◽  
Kesavi Durairaj

In the history of humanity, great ancestors of Indian sub-continent used plants that possessed unique medicinal properties. They identified the plants from jungles and derived crude drugs out of them for treating infectious diseases. This treatment process was a tradition. In the recent century, this plant-based drug extraction, processing and refining began scientifically by pharmaceutical industries. In this new era, plants with medicinal features are being used in curing broad spectrum of diseases. Lannea Coromandelica (L.C.) is a medicinal plant that belongs to this category. Tribals extensively used it in treating various infectious diseases and common injuries. There have been very few studies on the leaves, barks, flowers, gums and mucilage of this tree. But no preliminary phytochemical composition of L.C. stem has been studied. Therefore, the current work focusses on the screening of the phytochemical profile of the stem of L.C. by the sequential ethanolic extract. Stems of L.C. were procured from Mettur, Tamil Nadu. Thirteen different components were qualitatively analyzed using standard procedures from 100g of L.C. stem extract. In this study, seven components were identified, and their percentage was estimated. Using GC-MS, 50 components were identified of which Pentadecanoic acid, 14-methyl-methyl ester (1.0%) was the major component. The presence of these components in L.C. stem extract can be used in the treatment of different ailments through their antioxidant, anti-arthritic, anti-diabetic, antiinflammatory and antimicrobial activities.


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