Bioterrorism

The real risk posed by biological weapons was demonstrated with the distribution of anthrax spores via the USA postal service in 2001. This review outlines the central roles of physicians in optimizing biopreparedness in Australia, including maintaining awareness of the risk, promptly recognizing an event, notifying appropriate authorities upon suspicion of an event, and instituting appropriate management. Management aspects covered include appropriate diagnostic tests, infection control procedures, and empirical therapy of agents considered possible biological weapons. The critical role of physicians as public health advocates working to prevent the use of biological weapons is also outlined. (Intern Med J 2003; 33: 242-253)

Health has long been intertwined with the foreign policies of states. In recent years, however, global health issues have risen to the highest levels of international politics and have become accepted as legitimate issues in foreign policy. This elevated political priority is in many ways a welcome development for proponents of global health, and it has resulted in increased funding for and attention to select global health issues. However, there has been less examination of the tensions that characterize the relationship between global health and foreign policy and of the potential effects of linking global health efforts with the foreign-policy interests of states. In this paper, the authors review the relationship between global health and foreign policy by examining the roles of health across 4 major components of foreign policy: aid, trade, diplomacy, and national security. For each of these aspects of foreign policy, the authors review current and historical issues and discuss how foreign-policy interests have aided or impeded global health efforts. The increasing relevance of global health to foreign policy holds both opportunities and dangers for global efforts to improve health.

In this paper we follow our earlier work on the mathematical and computational modeling of biological warfare and its potential extensions to nuclear terrorism. In particular
we review Dr. Parnell’s earlier critique of the proper and improper use of probabilities, scenarios and the emergent properties of terrorism undertaken in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineers and the National Institute of Health. As indicated in the earlier report published by the National Academies Press
(http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12206&page=3) we extend the argument that:
―The DHS (2006) report and DHS presentations of its content use inconsistent, imprecise technical language and do not define many key terms.

More than four years after September 11, 2001, bioterrorism preparedness remains a high priority for federal, state, and local governments. With reasonably flexible federal funding, communities have strengthened their ability to respond to public health emergencies, according to assessments by stakeholders and market observers. Collaborative relationships developed for bioterrorism preparedness have proved useful in addressing other threats, such as natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. Major ongoing challenges include funding constraints, inadequate surge capacity, public health workforce shortages, competing priorities, and jurisdictional issues. [Health Affairs 25, no. 4 (2006): 946-957; 10.1377/hlthaff.25.4.946] 9 4 6

Background and Aim: In the course of our Indian Council of Medical Research project on coxiellosis in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, 5.64% goat, 1.85% sheep, 1.06% buffaloes, and 0.97% cattle were positive for Coxiella burnetii antibodies by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kit (IDEXX, Liebefeld, Switzerland). In this preliminary study, we have proceeded to look for C. burnetii DNA in those antibody positive specimens employing an imported commercial C. burnetii polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit.

The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic (Spanish flu) had catastrophic effects upon urban populations in the United States. Large numbers of frightened, critically ill people overwhelmed health care providers. Mortuaries and cemeteries were severely strained by rapid accumulation of corpses of flu victims. Understanding of the outbreak's extent and effectiveness of containment measures was obscured by the swiftness of the disease and an inadequate health reporting system. Epidemic controls such as closing public gathering places elicited both community support and resistance, and fear of contagion incited social and ethnic tensions.

Health has long been intertwined with the foreign policies of states. In recent years, however, global health issues have risen to the highest levels of international politics and have become accepted as legitimate issues in foreign policy. This elevated political priority is in many ways a welcome development for proponents of global health, and it has resulted in increased funding for and attention to select global health issues. However, there has been less examination of the tensions that characterize the relationship between global health and foreign policy and of the potential effects of linking global health efforts with the foreign-policy interests of states. In this paper, the authors review the relationship between global health and foreign policy by examining the roles of health across 4 major components of foreign policy: aid, trade, diplomacy, and national security. For each of these aspects of foreign policy, the authors review current and historical issues and discuss how foreign-policy interests have aided or impeded global health efforts. The increasing relevance of global health to foreign policy holds both opportunities and dangers for global efforts to improve health.

The article discusses the threat of bioterrorism and the importance of biodefense in the wake of COVID-19. In other words, it questions if the U.S. biodefense system is ready for a potential bioterror attack by bringing up some of the catastrophic impacts of the pandemic on individuals, economies, and institutions.

According to most contemporary histories of Bioterrorism, the first successful bioterror attack to occur on US soil was perpetrated by members of a religious cult in 1984. These cultists - followers of the charismatic guru Bhagwan Rajneesh - perpetrated a mass food poisoning that designed to alter the outcome of a local election. While numerous contemporary accounts of the event describe as a bioterror attack, no such description of the event was applied to it until the turn of the 20th century. The perpetrators were tried, plead guilty, and served time as criminals - not terrorists. In this essay, I reconstruct a pre-bioterror account of this event in order to demonstrate some of the tensions inherent in the contemporary notion of bioterror. It required work to make the event into a bioterror attack, and, by considering it in its original frame, I attempt to make visible the ways in which bioterror fails to speak for itself within its own history.

Во академските кругови се повеќе се говори за “постомдерен тероризам” или “супер тероризам”, зад кој псевдоним се крие стравот од употребата на оружја за масовно уништување, како што се биолошкото, хемиското и нуклеарното. Покрај нивната најчеста употреба во воени цели, веќе подолго време во стручната јавност се зборува за можностите за злоупотреба на конвенционалните познати средства за напад на терористите, како експлозивот или огненото оружје, во таа смисла што постојат многу начини на кои може да се пренесе биолошко или хемиско оружје, што би значело и зголемена можност за напад, поради зголемената можност за нивен слободен прекуграничен премин. Она што во голема мера допринесува за постоење недостатоци во теоретските истражувања, се бројните проблеми при соочувањето со биотероризмот на различни нивоа (истражување на технологијата која се применува, превенција и заштита од биотерористички напади, но несомнено и различните и неускладени национални политики во поглед на биотероризмот). Терористите станаа свесни дека масовното ширење страв, како нивна основна цел е непосредно поврзано со една од највисоките човекови премиси – животот и здравјето на луѓето, кое може да биде постигнато со масовно ширење заразни болести и вируси, кои би довеле до депресии и можни вонредни состојби, кои и те како ја загрозуваат националната и меѓународната безбедност. Исто така, развојот на биолошко – хемиското оружје е тежок, скоро и невозможен за следење, поради тоа што многу малку се разликува (технички и инструментално гледано) од лабораториското производство на вакцини за медицинска употреба. Од друга страна, производството на патоген е доста едноставно, бидејќи се потребни ситни инструменти, кои е лесно да се скријат и прошверцуваат, а исто така, и мало количество на патоген е доволно за да предизвика сериозни разорни ефекти и последици кај населението.

This all hazards project  will explore “The Threat of Argoterrorism.” The project will define argoterrorism as an operational term for all levels of government services and the practical term relevant to the general population. The project will explore how real the threat of argoterrorism may be and the likelihood of such an attack taking place. The project will breakdown the nexus of argoterrorism and in what capacity it will affect its intended targets, directly, secondarily, and indirectly.
The project will discuss the roles of the government and private sectors and their perspective emergency management cycles of preparation, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, in terms of how they each will execute their plan of action through strategic partnerships, interoperability, and incident management. The project will analyze a command structure for an  incident involving argoterrorism and discuss lessons learned from previous successful or failed attempts, or practical exercises of argoterrorism.
The project will examine the actual threat of argoterrorism, the likely or expected perpetrators of this threat, and their methods and resources to execute this threat successfully, and what would need to be implemented to thwart an argoterrorism critical incident from materializing, and if the  United States is ultimately prepared to endure an argoterrorism attack.

This paper reviews recent progress in the development of syndromic surveillance systems for veterinary medicine. Peer-reviewed and grey literature were searched in order to identify surveillance systems that explicitly address outbreak detection based on systematic monitoring of animal population data, in any phase of implementation. The review found that developments in veterinary syndromic surveillance are focused not only on animal health, but also on the use of animals as sentinels for public health, representing a further step towards One Medicine. The main sources of information are clinical data from practitioners and laboratory data, but a number of other sources are being explored. Due to limitations inherent in the way data on animal health is collected, the development of veterinary syndromic surveillance initially focused on animal health data collection strategies, analyzing historical data for their potential to support systematic monitoring, or solving problems of data classification and integration. Systems based on passive notification or data transfers are now dealing with sustainability issues. Given the ongoing barriers in availability of data, diagnostic laboratories appear to provide the most readily available data sources for syndromic surveillance in animal health. As the bottlenecks around data source availability are overcome, the next challenge is consolidating data standards for data classification, promoting the integration of different animal health surveillance systems, and also the integration to public health surveillance. Moreover, the outputs of systems for systematic monitoring of animal health data must be directly connected to real-time decision support systems which are increasingly being used for disease management and control.

We live in an era of emerging infectious diseases and the threat of bioterrorism. Most of the infectious agents of modern concern, from plague to avian influenza H5N1, are zoonotic diseases: infectious agents that reside in quiet animal reservoir cycles that are transmitted occasionally to humans. The public health, health care, and veterinary communities have an enormous challenge in the early recognition, reporting, treatment, and prevention of zoonotic diseases. An intimate understanding of the natural ecology, geographic distribution, clinical signs, lesions, and diagnosis of these diseases is essential for the early recognition and control of these diseases.

Abstract

Although the civilized world finds it difficult to accept, the terrorism phenomenon has become a reality
with global implications, which is hard to prevent and manage. Many historical events were
characterized by the use, or threat to use, of toxic substances and pathogens, presenting evidence which
clearly demonstrates that certain individuals and terrorist groups have recently conducted research on
biological agents or toxins, or tried to obtain these substances. Biological agents (such as bacteria,
viruses and fungi) are easier to manipulate and transport than nuclear or conventional weapons and
harder to detect as the symptoms of exposure can last from several hours to several days before
occurring. A terrorist possessing chemical or radiological weapons could kill hundreds or even
thousands of people. With a biological arsenal, he could kill hundreds of thousands of people.
In recent years, the European Union public debates and press agencies started raising questions on the
implications of migration crisis, political extremism, terrorism and other forms of hybrid threats on the
global supply chains. These debates demand from the European authorities countermeasures to prevent
the tragedies and the loss of human life. The police, the military, border services and other security
agencies of European Union countries seek to strengthen cooperation in order to address the present
challenges and to deter immediate risks. At the same time, the terrorist phenomenon affects not only
the internal order of a state, but also its relations with other states and, in order to be prepared, we must
have a clearer understanding of the challenges facing the European Union and its security architecture.

Education Excellence and Innovation Management: A 2025 Vision to Sustain Economic Development during Global Challenges - pg 15200
ISBN - 978-0-9998551-4-1

While CRISPR-Cas genome editing technology has been heralded as a great ad- vancement for science, human health, bioengineering and medicine, there is a potential dark side of CRISPR genome editing that may be a greater danger to humanity than nuclear weapons. We present some of the more obvious poten- tial military and bioterrorism applications of CRISPR and related genome editing technology. CRISPR weapons have significant advantages over conventional nu- clear weapons. The balance of power based on mutual assured destruction cannot be maintained once CRISPR weapons enter the international arena. Disturbingly, because of the easy entrance to the technology, it opens the door for small organi- zations and countries to enter the international arms arena. The simplicity and ease of development of such weapons makes it essential that CRISPR genome editing technology be carefully applied and regulated.

For centuries, poisons and other biological material have been considered as weapons. However, it has been merely 100 years that the use of biological toxins as weapons has been explored scientifically. Trichothecenes, ricin and botulinum neurotoxins are natural organic toxins with diverse potencies. Their molecular structure, mechanisms of action, detection, clinical diagnosis and therapy are reviewed and their potential as biological weapon is discussed. It is not only the median lethal dose of each toxin that decides on its usability as a biological weapon, but also the availability, scale of production, purity of the isolated material and route of distribution. In general, without a state infrastructure, the use of biological weapons is restricted to assassinations or strictly localised terrorist attacks.

The interdependence of humans, animals, and their environment has never been more important than now. The most prominent issues putting pressure on global health today include the dramatic emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases, contamination of food, water and soil, bioterrorist events, and degradation of resources and habitats. Current global health challenges have prompted a call for more holistic, collaborative, action-oriented approaches toward the goal of logical and practical solutions. Veterinarians have pivotal obligations, opportunities, and contributions to make in enhancing public health, recognising and responding to zoonotic disease transmission, maintaining food and water quality, and promoting wildlife and ecosystem health.

Introducere in problematica bioterorismului; Origini, manifestari, cauze, substrat economic si financiar.

Daniela Georgiana GOLEA, doctorand in domeniul politicilor de securitate nationala si specialist in Managementul dezvoltarii, si-a desfasurat activitatea profesionala din ultimii ani, in cadrul Camerei Bilaterale de Comert si Industrie Romania-Luxembourg, in calitate de Vice-presedinte. Activitatea stiintifica a inglobat, pe de o parte, publicarea a 5 carti in domeniul apararii si securitatii nationale si alte 2 in curs de publicare, in domeniul Apararii si Biosecuritatii, iar pe de alta parte, a peste 40 de studii/articole stiintifice publicate in reviste nationale si internationale, dar si in volume care au aparut sub egida editurii Academiei Oamenilor de Stiinta din Romania si a editurii Academiei Romane. In ultimii ani, preocuparile sale s-au indreptat cu precaderecatre managementul securitatii nationale si tranzitia catre societatea digitala, abordand inclusiv domeniul securitatii digitale. Din aceasta perspectiva, atentia i-a fost atrasa de tehnologiile hibride si tendintele actuale de amplificare a riscurilor si amenintarilor la adresa securitatii nationale, prin aparitia si proliferarea unor armamente si metode atipice, hibride. In lucrarea de fata, s-a aplecat catre studierea substratului economic al fenomenului bioterorist.


Catalin HIDEG este economist si antreprenor in domeniul medico-farmaceutic, dezvoltator al unui ambitios proiect la nivel national si international privind obtinerea de noi produse farmaceutice - medii de cultura, colagen si alte produse noi si inovative-,in baza unor tehnologii de ultima ora si permitand realizarea de tratamente destinate unei palete largi de patologii. Produsele si tratamentele puse la punct si dezvoltate de acesta sunt cat mai putin invazive sau fara efecte secundare asupra organismului uman, fiind totodata fabricate pe baze ecologice, cu limitarea drastica a oricaror componente chimice nocive. In sensul celor aratate mai sus, C. R. Hideg a reusit sa atraga importante fonduri europene si sa realizeze astfel, in colaborare cu cercetatori de prestigiu din lumea stiintifica a biologiei celulare si moleculare, microbiologiei, biochimiei, fizicii si tehnologiei materialelor, chimiei aplicate, a medicinei umane si veterinare, primul veritabil institut privat de cercetare-dezvoltare in biotehnologii avansate cu aplicatii in domeniul biomedical din Romania. Totodata, abordarea unui management de inalta competenta a rezultat in constructia si dezvoltarea unei baze stiintifice de cercetare si productie de exceptie. Adiacent, C. R. Hideg a reusit sa acumuleze o bogata experienta in domeniu, la nivel international, cautand astfel sa preconizeze evolutia viitoare a situatiei in domeniul sanatatii publice si a securitatii nationale, din aceasta perspectiva.
* * *

Din imbinarea activitatii a doi economisti ale caror preocupari au tangente cu domeniul securitatii nationale a rezultat o lucrare cel putin interesanta. Cei doi autori, punand cap la cap experienta lor, au decis sa intocmeasca un set de lucrari stiintifice dedicate bioterorismului, cautand sa surprinda situatia actuala a acestui fenomen, dar si sa intuiasca posibilele tendinte de evolutie in viitorul apropiat si pe termen mediu. Astfel, lucrarea de fata coroboreaza experienta unui intreprinzator in domeniul cercetarii si productiei din domeniul bio-farmaceutic cu activitatea de cercetare a unei economiste ce a vizat cu precadere managementul securitatii nationale. Ca o consecinta iminenta, a rezultat o lucrare stiintifica interesanta, bazata pe o abordare cel putin inedita: din perspectiva economica, incluzand impactul fenomenului coruptiei asupra pietei medico-farmaceutice globale.

Referent Stiintific, Medic Cercetator Christian COZMA
(Centre de Consultation Pluridisciplinaire, Hopital de Chateauroux)


Bioterorismul, flagelul mileniului III, comporta consecinte semnificative la adresa securitatii nationale si globale. Asa cum s-a demonstrat, fara echivoc, in contextul pandemiei SARS-Cov-2, o criza in domeniul sanatatii publice, fie ea de sorginte naturala sau provocata de interventia factorului uman,  poate avea un impact incalculabil -variabil ca extindere spatio-temporala- pe mai multe paliere, respectiv cel societal, financiar, economic, politic, inclusiv de securitate nationala. In acest context, lucrarea de fata reprezinta efortul conjugat al unui antreprenor cu experienta in domeniul cercetarii si productiei din domeniul bio-farmaceutic si al unei economiste, doctorand in domeniul politicilor de securitate nationala cu o vasta activitate de cercetare, ce a vizat cu precadere managementul securitatii nationale si globale. Rezultatele cercetarii s-au consacrat intr-o lucrare stiintifica captivanta, atat pentru critica de specialitate cat si pentru publicul larg, prin prisma unei abordari multidisciplinare: din perspectiva economica-financiara, incluzand impactul fenomenului coruptiei asupra pietei medico-farmaceutice globale.

Referent Stiintific, Dr. Ec. Andreea Florina RADU
(Consilier Afaceri Europene, Sistemul National de Aparare, Ordine Publica si Securitate Nationala)

The method of fighting a war has changed over time. Especially, the rapid development of biological science, particularly biotechnology and synthetic biology, as well as the fast accessibility to networks, resources, and expertise in these last 25 years led to an increase in the proliferation and the use of more deadly weapons for massive civil disruptionby both a number of states and nonstates actors.

Synthetic biology, which is a new emerging technology aiming at re-writing existing biological systems and designing completely new parts and devices, brings several potential benefits, but at the same time it constitutes a new threat to biosecurity: for such "double Janus face", it can be considered as a "dual use research". Indeed, the risk that its theoretical discoveries and applications are handled by bioterrorists and used for malevolent purposes is not a mere hypothesis. Therefore, it is necessary to look for possible solutions for the governance of this type of risk. In order to try to achieve such purpose, the analysis focuses, first of all, on the overview of the existing regulations against bioterrorism. Then, these regulations are evaluated in the light of the constitutional frame of fundamental rights at stake (in the belief that any policy/regulation should take into account and be based on the respect of fundamental rights). Thirdly, the applicability of the existing regulatory framework to synthetic biology is checked. Fourthly, the different positions that have been proposed so far for addressing biosecurity risks in the area of synthetic biology are shown and put into comparison. Finally, the proposal of a model of governance, called of "prudent vigilance", is described.

The government is engaged in a homeland security project to safeguard the population's health from potential terrorist attacks. This project is politically charged because it affords the state enhanced powers to restrict personal and economic liberties.

Since the collapse of negotiations around a protocol to the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in 2001, states parties have begun to discuss several novel issues linked to the broader implementation of the BWC as part of a series of intersessional meetings. While initially fruitful, this approach has generated diminishing returns in the last five years. Moreover, in addressing these broader issues of implementation, biological disarmament diplomacy has largely neglected the thorny issue of compliance.

Compliance with the BWC is more than a simple binary choice to sign a commitment not to develop or produce biological weapons. It requires the adherence to all the obligations, both negative and positive, undertaken by BWC states parties in signing and ratifying the convention. In the BWC context, this is complicated by the ambiguity surrounding certain obligations, changes in science and security, and the limited resource capacity of some states to fulfill their obligations. Under such circumstances, without episodically revisiting compliance, there remains the risk that BWC will become ever more fragmented, outmoded and poorly implemented.

Although many states insist strengthening the convention can only be achieved through a multilaterally negotiated, legally binding verification protocol, this is not politically feasible for the foreseeable future. Nor is this necessarily true; an incremental approach to strengthening the convention could be pursued, dealing with mutually reinforcing components of the regime in a balanced manner and laying the foundations for future work, if and when it becomes politically expedient to proceed.

This Occasional Paper proposes a number of activities that could be pursued as part of an incremental approach to revisiting compliance with the BWC.

The Occasional Papers series was established by the Center for Strategy and Technology as a forum for research on topics that reflect long-term strategic thinking about technology and its implications for US national security. Copies of no. 70 in this series are available from the Center for Strategy and Technology, Air War College, 325 Chennault Circle, Maxwell AFB, Alabama 36112, or on the CSAT website at http://csat.au.af.mil/. The fax number is (334) 953-6158; phone (334) 953-6150.

The frequency of moderate to severe adverse reactions associated with smallpox vaccines currently stockpiled in the US, and the continued threat of bioterrorism have prompted the development of effective vaccines with improved safety profiles. LC16m8, an attenuated, replicating smallpox vaccine derived from the Lister strain of vaccinia, is currently licensed in Japan where it was safely used in over 50,000 children in the 1970s. It has been shown to have markedly less neurotoxicity than unattenuated vaccines in nonclinical studies. LC16m8 is immunogenic after a single dose, and recent studies in two different animal models have demonstrated protective efficacy equivalent to that of the only FDAlicensed smallpox vaccine. This article reviews the history and available scientific literature regarding LC16m8 and provides comparisons to other smallpox vaccines.

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a viral infection which causes acute disease in domestic pigs and wild boar. Although the virus does not cause disease in humans, the impact it has on the economy, especially through trade and farming, is substantial causing more than one billion EUR yearly losses in Eastern Europe and dozens of billions globally. Thus, ASF is a possible biological weapon, due to: ease of infectious material collection; its extremely high virulence; multiple transmission route mechanisms; no treatment and no vaccine; its high resistance to inactivation and devastating impact on pork production.
In our theoretical model, a single person without any special training in microbiology or financing support could release and disseminate ASF virus to disease free territory.  In contrast to other biological weapons as Bacillus anthracis or Variola virus (the respective causative agents of anthrax and smallpox), terrorist could access virus easily, e.g. by collecting infectious materials from wild boar carcasses. Sample preparation is simple and does not require any sophisticated laboratory equipment. Recent development of portable ASF virus detection kits in middle of 2019 in China increased feasibility of attack, because until now material diagnosis was the weakest point in possible intentional introduction protocols. Such a contaminated material could easily be used for infection of swine or wild boars in new disease-free territory and seed a new outbreak.
We conclude that rising awareness about the ease of an intentional ASF introduction to a disease-free region (via bioterrorism) is an important element of security strengthening and recommend the use of modeling approach for risk assessment as well its experimental validation of the international ASF dissemination.
This analysis does not include external confidential attachment that contains a secret information (possible infection introduction protocols with demonstrated case studies), when unauthorized disclosure of the information could cause damage to the national and international security.

This essay reviews major areas of ethical debate with regard to biodefense, focusing on cases in which biodefense presents ethical problems that diverge from those presented by naturally-occurring outbreaks of infectious disease. It concludes with a call for ethicists to study not only the ethical issues raised in biodefense programs, but also the ethics of biodefense more generally.

Melioidosis, an infectious disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei is an emerging disease with high impact on animals and man. In different animal species, the clinical course varies and delayed diagnosis poses risks for the dissemination of the agent in non-endemic areas. Not only migration and transport of animals around the world but also tourism increases the risk that melioidosis can leave its endemic boundaries and establish itself elsewhere. Detection of the agent is a major challenge, as the agent has to be handled in laboratories of biosafety level 3 and test kits are not yet commercially available. Veterinarians and doctors should be aware of melioidosis not only as an agent of public interest but also in terms of a bioterrorist attack. The aim of this review is to describe the agent, its aetiology, the manifestation in a variety of animal species as well as to describe diagnostic procedures, typing techniques and countermeasures.

A big challenge for veterinary educators is to stimulate interest in public health medicine and make the curriculum interesting, and relevant, to veterinary students. Veterinary public health encompasses many areas, including zoonosis control, food safety, animal health and biosecurity, animals as sentinels of environmental hazards and the contribution of animal waste to pollution of food and water, so there is no shortage of ammunition for the veterinary educator in the competition for students' attention. Veterinary educators, not the students, will have failed if graduates complete their studies without being convinced of the importance and relevance of veterinary public health.

Vaccination is highly effective in preventing various infectious diseases, whereas the constant threat of new emerging pathogens necessitates the development of innovative vaccination principles that also confer rapid protection in a case of emergency. Although increasing evidence points to T cell immunity playing a critical role in vaccination against viral diseases, vaccine efficacy is mostly associated with the induction of antibody responses. Here we analyze the immunological mechanism(s) of rapidly protective vaccinia virus immunization using mousepox as surrogate model for human smallpox. We found that fast protection against lethal systemic poxvirus disease solely depended on CD4 and CD8 T cell responses induced by vaccination with highly attenuated modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) or conventional vaccinia virus. Of note, CD4 T cells were critically required to allow for MVA induced CD8 T cell expansion and perforin-mediated cytotoxicity was a key mechanism of MVA induced protection. In contrast, selected components of the innate immune system and B cellmediated responses were fully dispensable for prevention of fatal disease by immunization given two days before challenge. In conclusion, our data clearly demonstrate that perforin-dependent CD8 T cell immunity plays a key role in MVA conferred short term protection against lethal mousepox. Rapid induction of T cell immunity might serve as a new paradigm for treatments that need to fit into a scenario of protective emergency vaccination.

Afrykański pomór świń (ASF) jest zakaźną chorobą wirusową trzody chlewnej oraz dzików, która nie zagraża ludziom, jednak występowanie pomoru wiąże się z ogromnymi kosztami dla rynku trzody chlewne o znacznej wartości rynku (ok 20 mld PLN) w Polsce. Wirus ASF 14.11.2019 został potwierdzony u dzika w powiecie wschowskim w odległości mniejszej niż 50km of hubu produkcji trzody chlewnej w Wielkopolsce (tzw. „świński róg”) a pojawienie się tam ASF-u  może spowodować niepokoje społeczne na niespotykaną w III RP skalę.
Ze względu na brak zagrożenia zdrowia ludzi, zainteresowanie tematem jest niewielkie mimo spowodowanych już głębokich zmian w aspekcie ekonomicznym (np. spadek pogłowia świń – na Ukrainie prawie 3-krotny, ogólnoświatowe braki w zaopatrzeniu leków do produkcji których wykorzystuje się świnie), społecznym (np. masowe protesty w Europie Wschodniej) czy kulturowym (np. wieprzowina od kwietnia 2019 nie jest już najczęściej spożywanym mięsem globalnie). Celowe wprowadzenie może nastąpić na skalę: jednego powiatu (np. ze wschodniej Polski do zachodniej Polski); wewnątrzkontynentalny (np. ze wschodniej do zachodniej Europy); międzykontynentalny (np. z Chin do USA).