One case that is closer to home, at least for those in the States, is a news that just came in today from Queensland. A few hours ago, possibly due to a lab nearby, numerous tests were taken on a land in fear of the soil and water being contaminated. In this case it is not metals, but bacteria.
Some few months ago, two macaques at the Tulane primate center were found sick and later euthanized because of their health. A lab test was sent to CDC and the macaques’ diagnoses is from a bacteria known as Strain 1026b. This strain “was originally recovered from a rice farmer sickened in Thailand in 1993, CDC told USA TODAY. Rice farming is a common way people are infected because the bacteria live in contaminated soil and water and can enter the body through cuts or sores on the skin.” The CDC had the primate center to stop their research on Burkholderia pseudomallei and others that are “classified agents” or term for the federal government of “bacteria, viruses and toxins that pose significant threats to public health or agriculture and have the potential to be used as bioweapons.”
Burkholderia pseudomallei, is an infection that could cause a disease in humans and animals called melioidosis. From what was being told, this disease has a “wide range of non-specific symptoms, such as fever, headache, loss of appetite, muscle and joint pain, and infections are often mistaken for other diseases such as pneumonia or tuberculosis. The time between exposure to the bacteria and the development of symptoms can range from one day to many years, according to the CDC, though most human infections do not cause symptoms.”
The fatality rate of this disease in Thailand is up to 50% and Australia 20%.
It is still unknown where this bacteria is from at the moment and test samples are still being sent to the CDC.
To read more about this, go to this link.
Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/01/tulane-primate-bio-lab-bacteria-release/24137053/
Posted by: Alana Chan
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