Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada
ABSTRACT Soil samples were collected from around fresh and year-old bison carcasses and areas not associated with known carcasses in Wood Buffalo National Park during an active anthrax outbreak in the summer of 2001. Sample selection with a grid provided the most complete coverage of a site. Soil sa...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.71.3.1610-1615.2005 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.71.3.1610-1615.2005 |
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crasmicro:10.1128/aem.71.3.1610-1615.2005 2024-09-15T18:40:46+00:00 Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada Dragon, D. C. Bader, D. E. Mitchell, J. Woollen, N. 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.71.3.1610-1615.2005 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.71.3.1610-1615.2005 en eng American Society for Microbiology https://journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license Applied and Environmental Microbiology volume 71, issue 3, page 1610-1615 ISSN 0099-2240 1098-5336 journal-article 2005 crasmicro https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.71.3.1610-1615.2005 2024-08-05T04:10:14Z ABSTRACT Soil samples were collected from around fresh and year-old bison carcasses and areas not associated with known carcasses in Wood Buffalo National Park during an active anthrax outbreak in the summer of 2001. Sample selection with a grid provided the most complete coverage of a site. Soil samples were screened for viable Bacillus anthracis spores via selective culture, phenotypic analysis, and PCR. Bacillus anthracis spores were isolated from 28.4% of the samples. The highest concentrations of B. anthracis spores were found directly adjacent to fresh carcasses and invariably corresponded to locations where the soil had been saturated with body fluids escaping the carcass through either natural body orifices or holes torn by scavengers. The majority of positive samples were found within 2 m of both year-old and fresh carcasses and probably originated from scavengers churning up and spreading the body fluid-saturated soil as they fed. Trails of lesser contamination radiating from the carcasses probably resulted from spore dissemination through adhesion to scavengers and through larger scavengers dragging away disarticulated limbs. Comparison of samples from minimally scavenged and fully necropsied carcass sites revealed no statistically significant difference in the level of B. anthracis spore contamination. Therefore, the immediate area around a suspected anthrax carcass should be considered substantially contaminated regardless of the condition of the carcass. Article in Journal/Newspaper Wood Buffalo Wood Buffalo National Park ASM Journals (American Society for Microbiology) Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71 3 1610 1615 |
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ASM Journals (American Society for Microbiology) |
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crasmicro |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Soil samples were collected from around fresh and year-old bison carcasses and areas not associated with known carcasses in Wood Buffalo National Park during an active anthrax outbreak in the summer of 2001. Sample selection with a grid provided the most complete coverage of a site. Soil samples were screened for viable Bacillus anthracis spores via selective culture, phenotypic analysis, and PCR. Bacillus anthracis spores were isolated from 28.4% of the samples. The highest concentrations of B. anthracis spores were found directly adjacent to fresh carcasses and invariably corresponded to locations where the soil had been saturated with body fluids escaping the carcass through either natural body orifices or holes torn by scavengers. The majority of positive samples were found within 2 m of both year-old and fresh carcasses and probably originated from scavengers churning up and spreading the body fluid-saturated soil as they fed. Trails of lesser contamination radiating from the carcasses probably resulted from spore dissemination through adhesion to scavengers and through larger scavengers dragging away disarticulated limbs. Comparison of samples from minimally scavenged and fully necropsied carcass sites revealed no statistically significant difference in the level of B. anthracis spore contamination. Therefore, the immediate area around a suspected anthrax carcass should be considered substantially contaminated regardless of the condition of the carcass. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dragon, D. C. Bader, D. E. Mitchell, J. Woollen, N. |
spellingShingle |
Dragon, D. C. Bader, D. E. Mitchell, J. Woollen, N. Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada |
author_facet |
Dragon, D. C. Bader, D. E. Mitchell, J. Woollen, N. |
author_sort |
Dragon, D. C. |
title |
Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada |
title_short |
Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada |
title_full |
Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada |
title_fullStr |
Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada |
title_sort |
natural dissemination of bacillus anthracis spores in northern canada |
publisher |
American Society for Microbiology |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.71.3.1610-1615.2005 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.71.3.1610-1615.2005 |
genre |
Wood Buffalo Wood Buffalo National Park |
genre_facet |
Wood Buffalo Wood Buffalo National Park |
op_source |
Applied and Environmental Microbiology volume 71, issue 3, page 1610-1615 ISSN 0099-2240 1098-5336 |
op_rights |
https://journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.71.3.1610-1615.2005 |
container_title |
Applied and Environmental Microbiology |
container_volume |
71 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1610 |
op_container_end_page |
1615 |
_version_ |
1810485167430565888 |