WITH Intia is a very beautiful and euphonious name. Even too beautiful for the product genetic engineering- a synthetic bacterium artificially bred to clean up oil spills. Its large-scale use in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in unpredictable consequences: bacteria stopped eating oil and switched to other organic matter. It's people's turn...

Cynthia suddenly decided to diversify her diet with more acceptable products than oil: shellfish and corals, fish and seals. Poor animals, once in water contaminated with synthia, do not survive: the bacteria destroy the entire skin in a couple of days, which turns into terrible bleeding ulcers. And only when the problem seriously affected humans, the bacteria were given a more fair and accurate name - “blue plague”.

BIOFRANKENSTEIN

In May 2010 scientific world A sensational message has spread: the company "Synthetic Genomics Incorporated" underUnder the leadership of geneticist Jay Craig Venter, she created a completely artificial cell with a computer-designed genome that does not contain any natural DNA at all. And this new form life had the ability to self-reproduce and function organically in any cell. The prospects for scientific discovery look absolutely fantastic. Venter himself, testifying before the House Energy and Economics Committee on May 27, 2010, said: “One of the great advantages of synthetic genomics is that there is no longer a need to access any physical source of a specific DNA sequence. Fragments of this sequence are simplyare created from scratch through chemical synthesis and assembled into entire chromosomes and organisms. This ability to synthesize (prescribe) DNA and use it in the construction of new cells can catalyzemajor transformations in terms of what properties organisms can be endowed with...” Simply put, it became possible to create microorganisms with any given properties to achieve various goals. For example, to produce fuel. Back in 2009, Craig Venter and his company entered into an agreement with oil and gas giant ExxonMobil to develop cheap and environmentally friendly fuel. The issue price is $600 million. The source of biofuel will be algae with a modified genome, which, by absorbing carbon dioxide, synthesize new hydrocarbons, similar in composition to the organic substances of oil and useful for the fuel industry. Everything algae needs is sunlight and water, their biomass increases very quickly, and they can be grown in unlimited quantities. Even more promising are bacteria that can secretehydrogen. But Yale University researchers have developed a direct method for generating electricity using bacteria. Just two cells can convert energy chemical reactions into electricity with an efficiency of 10%.Synthetic biology will easily help fulfill the daring human dream - so that everyone on earth is well-fed and healthy. Millions of colonies of bacteria will be able to synthesize countless amounts of food, medicines and other necessary substances, purify water,destroy deposits of plastic and other waste. In this case, the costs will be minimal, andweather vagaries will no longer affect the process of growing crops.Work is already underway to create symbiont bacteria that can live in the human body and search for cancer cells and destroy them. And in the future, we should expect the emergence of a system of so-called biobricks, from which it will be possible to assemble new organisms as easily as in a children’s construction set. And therefore, Dr. Drew Andy’s call: “To hell with nature! Let's build new living systems that will be easier for us to understand, since we created them ourselves.” And here, very opportunely, a sensational oil platform disaster occurs in the Gulf of Mexico. At first glance, gigantic oil spills are unthinkable not only to destroy, but even to contain. Cynthia comes to the rescue...

DISEASE OF “INTERNAL COMBUSTION”

The use of synthetic bacteria to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico initially yielded amazing results. The number of oil spills was rapidly decreasing, and the surface of the bay was clearing. To intensify the process, chemicals were continuously sprayed from airplanes and ships, both day and night, which created conditions for the rapid proliferation of bacteria. The press spoke with delight about the victory of reason overuncontrollable element. However, this did not last long: the bacteria mutated, stopped eating oil and switched to feeding on other organic compounds. Moreover, the bacteria began to somehow structure themselves, unite, and in the depths of the bay blue-green “lenses” - colonies of artificial bacteria appeared, which devoured absolutely all organic matter in their path. The bottom landscape after passing through such a “lens” looked like something out of a disaster movie: frozen, dead corals hang over the sandy bottom of the bay, strewn with shells of eaten mollusks, shells of crabs and other arthropods. Nothing alive. « Blue Plague“Meanwhile, she made her way ashore. Birds died by the thousands in Arkansas and New Orleans. At the same time, it was reported that “the birds had signs of trauma to the chest tissue, there were blood clots and extensive internal bleeding", that is, destruction blood vessels with hemorrhage. People who swam in the Gulf of Mexico were soon covered with ulcers, and a week later they died in agony. The activity of synthia, as it turned out, causes the formation of ulcers not only on the skin, but also in the internal organs. Skin rashes, boils, tumors, pneumonia, internal hemorrhages along with many other symptoms recently acquired by Americans living in the Gulf of Mexico area are directly related to these bacteria.

In 2010, during the “Exchange of Opinions” program on Voice of America radio, a nightmarish figure was announced: more than 100 thousand people in the region were already sick with the “Gulf plague”, hundreds of millions would be affected one way or another. Meanwhile, CNN reported: “128 British Petroleum spill response workers have fallen ill; they were asked not to go to public hospitals.” But authoritative scientists warned about such a development of events. Dr Helen Wallace of Genewatch UK, a British genetics research watchdog, told reporters that the synthetic bacteria could be dangerous. “If you release new organisms into the environment, it could cause more harm than good,” she says. - By releasing them into contaminated areas for the purpose of cleaning, you, in fact, create a different kind of pollution. We don’t know how such organisms will behave in the wild.”

BIOTERRORISM WITH SUPER PROFIT?

Former oil industry executive with 25 years of experience and now human rights activist Ian Crane said that what is happening inThe Gulf of Mexico is an operation to exterminate the population. Retired American Colonel Michael Edward wrote an article in February 2011, “The Blue Plague of the Gulf of Mexico is Sanctioned Bioterrorism,” in which he emphasized that American residents living in the southern United States were subjected to “genetically engineered biological terror.” He believes that “purposefully engineered biological warfare will soon become global as horizontally transferred synthetic genes spread silently through water and air. It has already begun to suddenly appear in fish, birds, mammals and humans.” According to Edward, there are now four artificially created genetically modified bacteria present in the Gulf of Mexico. All forms of life - from plankton to whales and humans - faced the same problems here. Artificial bacteria multiply very quickly and cannot be destroyed by any of the known antibiotics. The person whose body is infected with this infection is doomed. This means that the regional catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is becoming a global problem. Meanwhile, the creation of a new company (with the participation of the capital of BP, the culprit of the oil nightmare) was announced - Synthetic Genomics Vaxins Inc. (SGVI). She will focus on developing vaccines latest generation on genomic technologies. This promises super-profits: first make artificial microbes, infect almost the entire population of the globe with them, and then offer a “saving” vaccine...

The culprits of the most massive deaths in history are not the politicians who started the wars. Pandemics of terrible diseases were the causes of the most widespread death and suffering of people. How did it happen and where is plague, smallpox, typhus, leprosy, cholera now?

Historical facts about the plague

The plague pandemic brought the most massive mortality in the middle of the 14th century, sweeping across Eurasia and, according to the most conservative estimates of historians, killing 60 million people. If we consider that at that time the world's population was only 450 million, then one can imagine the catastrophic scale of the “Black Death,” as this disease was called. In Europe, the population decreased by about a third, and the labor shortage was felt here for at least another 100 years, farms were abandoned, the economy was in a terrible state. In all subsequent centuries there were also observed major outbreaks plague, the last of which was noted in 1910-1911 in the northeastern part of China.

Origin of the name of the plague

The names come from Arabic. The Arabs called the plague “jummah,” which translated means “ball” or “bean.” The reason for this was appearance inflamed lymph node of a plague patient - bubo.

Methods of spread and symptoms of plague

There are three forms of plague: bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic. All of them are caused by one bacterium, Yersinia pestis, or, more simply, the plague bacillus. Its carriers are rodents with anti-plague immunity. And the fleas that have bitten these rats, also through a bite, transmit it to humans. The bacterium infects the flea's esophagus, as a result of which it becomes blocked, and the insect becomes eternally hungry, bites everyone and immediately infects it through the resulting wound.

Methods of combating plague

In medieval times the plague swollen lymph nodes(buboes) were cut out or cauterized by opening them. The plague was considered a type of poisoning in which some poisonous miasma entered the human body, so treatment consisted of taking antidotes known at that time, for example, crushed jewelry. Nowadays, the plague is successfully overcome with the help of common antibiotics.

The plague is now

Every year, about 2.5 thousand people become infected with the plague, but this is no longer in the form of a mass epidemic, but cases all over the world. But the plague bacillus is constantly evolving, and old medicines are not effective. Therefore, although everything, one might say, is under the control of doctors, the threat of catastrophe still exists today. An example of this is the death of a person registered in Madagascar in 2007 from a strain of the plague bacillus, in which 8 types of antibiotics did not help.

SMALLPOX

Historical facts about smallpox

During the Middle Ages, there were not many women who did not have signs of smallpox lesions on their faces (pockmarks), and the rest had to hide the scars under a thick layer of makeup. This influenced the fashion of excessive interest in cosmetics, which has survived to this day. According to philologists, all women today with letter combinations in their surnames “ryab” (Ryabko, Ryabinina, etc.), shadar and often generous (Shchedrins, Shadrins), Koryav (Koryavko, Koryaeva, Koryachko) had ancestors sporting pockmarks (rowans, generous, etc., depending on the dialect). Approximate statistics exist for the 17th-18th centuries and indicate that in Europe alone, 10 million new smallpox patients appeared, and for 1.5 million of them it was fatal. Thanks to this infection white man colonized both Americas. For example, the Spaniards brought smallpox to Mexico in the 16th century, because of which about 3 million of the local population died - the invaders had no one left to fight with.

Origin of the name smallpox

“Smallpox” and “rash” have the same root. On English smallpox is called smallpox. And they call it syphilis large rash(great pox).

Methods of spread and symptoms of smallpox

After entering the human body, smallpox varionas (Variola major and Variola) lead to the appearance of blisters-pustules on the skin, the places of formation of which then scar, if the person survives, of course. The disease is spreading by airborne droplets, the virus also remains active in scales from the skin of a sick person.

Methods to combat smallpox

The Hindus brought rich gifts to the smallpox goddess Mariatela to appease her. Residents of Japan, Europe and Africa believed in the smallpox demon's fear of the color red: patients had to wear red clothes and be in a room with red walls. In the twentieth century, smallpox began to be treated with antiviral drugs.

Smallpox in modern times

In 1979, WHO officially announced that smallpox completely eradicated thanks to vaccination of the population. But in countries such as the USA and Russia, pathogens are still stored. This is done “for scientific research,” and the question of the complete destruction of these reserves is constantly being postponed. It is possible that North Korea and Iran are secretly storing smallpox virions. Any international conflict could give rise to the use of these viruses as weapons. So it's better to get vaccinated against smallpox.

CHOLERA

Historical facts about cholera

Until the end of the 18th century, this intestinal infection largely bypassed Europe and raged in the Ganges delta. But then there were changes in climate, invasions of European colonialists in Asia, transportation of goods and people improved, and this all changed the situation: in 1817-1961, six cholera pandemics occurred in Europe. The most massive one (the third) took the lives of 2.5 million people.

Origin of the name cholera

The words “cholera” come from the Greek “bile” and “flow” (in reality, all the fluid from the inside flowed out of the patient). The second name for cholera due to the characteristic blue color of the skin of patients is “blue death”.

Methods of spread and symptoms of cholera

Vibrio cholera is a bacterium called Vibrio choleare that lives in water bodies. When it enters the small intestine of a person, it releases enterotoxin, which leads to profuse diarrhea and then vomiting. In severe cases of the disease, the body becomes dehydrated so quickly that the patient dies a few hours after the first symptoms appear.

Methods to combat cholera

They applied samovars or irons to the feet of the sick to warm them, gave them infusions of chicory and malt to drink, and rubbed their bodies. camphor oil. During the epidemic, they believed that it was possible to scare away the disease with a belt made of red flannel or wool. Nowadays, people with cholera are effectively treated with antibiotics, and for dehydration they are given orally or administered intravenously. special solutions salts

Cholera now

WHO says the world is now in its seventh cholera pandemic, dating back to 1961. So far, it is mainly residents of poor countries who get sick, primarily in South Asia and Africa, where 3-5 million people get sick every year and 100-120 thousand of them do not survive. Also, according to experts, due to global negative changes in environment serious problems will soon arise with clean water and in developed countries. In addition, global warming will influence the fact that in nature, foci of cholera will appear in more northern regions planets. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine against cholera.

TIF

Historical facts about typhus

Until the second half of the 19th century, this was the name given to all diseases in which severe fever and confusion were observed. Among them, the most dangerous were typhus, typhoid and relapsing fever. Sypnoy, for example, in 1812 almost halved Napoleon’s 600,000-strong army, which invaded Russian territory, which was one of the reasons for his defeat. And a century later, in 1917-1921, 3 million citizens died of typhus Russian Empire. Relapsing fever mainly caused grief to the inhabitants of Africa and Asia; in 1917-1918, about half a million people in India alone died from it.

Origin of the name typhus

The name of the disease comes from the Greek “typhos”, which means “fog”, “confused consciousness”.

Methods of spread and symptoms of typhus

Typhus causes small pink rashes on the skin. When the attack returns after the first attack, the patient seems to feel better for 4-8 days, but then the disease knocks him down again. Typhoid fever is an intestinal infection that is accompanied by diarrhea.

Bacteria that cause rash and relapsing fever are carried by lice, and for this reason outbreaks of these infections break out in crowded places during humanitarian disasters. When bitten by one of these creatures, it is important not to scratch – it is through scratched wounds that the infection enters the blood. Typhoid fever is caused by the Salmonella typhi bacillus, which, when ingested through food and water, leads to damage to the intestines, liver and spleen.

Methods to combat typhus

During the Middle Ages, it was believed that the source of infection was the stench that emanated from the patient. Judges in Britain who had to deal with criminals with typhus wore boutonnieres of strong-smelling flowers as a means of protection, and also distributed them to those who came to court. The benefit from this was only aesthetic. Since the 17th century, attempts have been made to combat typhus with the help of cinchona bark, imported from South America. This is how they treated all diseases that caused fever. Nowadays, antibiotics are quite successful in treating typhus.

Typhoid in now

The WHO list of particularly dangerous diseases is returnable and typhus left in 1970. This happened thanks to the active fight against pediculosis (lice), which was carried out throughout the planet. But typhoid fever continues to cause troubles for people. The most suitable conditions for the development of an epidemic are heat, insufficient quantity drinking water and hygiene problems. Therefore, the main candidates for the outbreak of typhoid epidemics are Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Reviewed by Ministry of Health specialists every year typhoid fever 20 million people become infected and for 800 thousand of them it is fatal.

LEPROSY

Historical facts about leprosy

Also called leprosy, it is a “slow disease.” Unlike the plague, for example, it did not spread in the form of pandemics, but quietly and gradually conquered space. At the beginning of the 13th century, there were 19 thousand leper colonies in Europe (an institution for isolating lepers and fighting the disease) and the victims were millions. By the beginning of the 14th century, the mortality rate from leprosy had dropped sharply, but hardly because they had learned to treat patients. It’s just that the incubation period for this disease is 2-20 years. Infections like plague and cholera that raged in Europe killed many people even before he was classified as a leper. Thanks to the development of medicine and hygiene, there are now no more than 200 thousand lepers in the world. They mainly live in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Origin of the name leprosy

The name comes from the Greek word “leprosy,” which translates to “a disease that makes the skin scaly.” Leprosy was called in Rus' - from the word “kazit”, i.e. lead to distortion and disfigurement. This disease also has a number of other names, such as Phoenician disease, “lazy death”, Hansen’s disease, etc.

Methods of spread and symptoms of leprosy

It is possible to become infected with leprosy only by long-term contact with the skin of a carrier of the infection, as well as by ingestion of liquid secretions (saliva or from the nose). Then quite a long time passes (the recorded record is 40 years), after which the Hansen bacillus (Mucobacterium leprae) first disfigures the person, covering him with spots and growths on the skin, and then makes him an invalid rotting alive. Also, the peripheral nervous system is damaged and the patient loses the ability to feel pain. You can take and cut off a part of your body without understanding where it went.

Methods to combat leprosy

During the Middle Ages, lepers were declared dead while they were still alive and placed in leprosariums - a kind of concentration camps, where the sick were doomed to a slow death. They tried to treat the infected with solutions that included gold, bloodletting and baths with the blood of giant turtles. Nowadays, this disease can be completely eliminated with the help of antibiotics.

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The plague has deep historical roots. Humanity first encountered the disease in the 14th century. The epidemic, which was dubbed the “Black Death,” killed more than 50 million people. human lives, which was equal to a quarter of the population of medieval Europe. The mortality rate was about 99%.

Facts about the disease:

• The plague affects the lymph nodes, lungs, and other internal organs. As a result of infection, sepsis develops. The general condition of the body is extremely difficult. The body is subjected to constant attacks of fever.
• The period of development of plague after infection is on average about three days, depending on the general condition of the body.
• Currently, mortality from of this disease constitutes no more than 10% of all identified cases.
• There are about 2 thousand cases of the disease per year. According to WHO, in 2013, 783 cases of infection were officially registered, of which 126 cases resulted in death.
• Outbreaks of the disease mainly affect African countries and a number of countries in South America. Endemic countries are the Democratic Republic of Congo, the island of Madagascar and Peru.

In the Russian Federation, the last known case of plague was documented in 1979. Every year, more than 20 thousand people are at risk, being in the zone of natural foci of infection with a total area of ​​more than 250 thousand km2.

REASONS

The main cause of plague is flea bites. This factor is due to the specific structure digestive system these insects. After a flea bites an infected rodent, the plague bacterium settles in its crop and blocks the passage of blood to the stomach. As a result, the insect experiences constant feeling hunger and before its death manages to bite, thereby infecting up to 10 hosts, regurgitating the blood it drinks along with the plague bacteria into the bite.

After a bite, the bacteria enters the nearest lymph node, where it actively multiplies and, without antibacterial treatment, affects the entire body.

Causes of infection:

• bites of small rodents;
• contact with infected domestic animals, stray dogs;
• direct contact with an infected person;
• cutting up carcasses of animals affected by disease;
• treatment of the skin of killed animals that carry the disease;
• contact of bacteria with the human mucosa during autopsy of corpses of those who died from the plague;
• eating meat from infected animals;
• the entry of particles of saliva of an infected person into oral cavity healthy person by airborne droplets;
• military conflicts and terrorist attacks using bacteriological weapons.

The plague bacterium is highly resistant to low temperatures, multiplies vigorously in a humid environment, but does not tolerate high temperatures (above 60 degrees), and dies almost instantly in boiling water.

CLASSIFICATION

Varieties of plague are divided into two main types.

• Localized type- the disease develops after plague microbes get under the skin:
  • Skin plague. Primary missing defensive reaction, only in 3% of cases there is redness of the affected areas of the skin with compactions. Without visible external signs, the disease progresses, eventually forming a carbuncle, then an ulcer, which scars as it heals.
  • Bubonic plague. The most common form of the disease. Amazes lymph nodes, forming “buboes”. Characterized by painful inflammatory processes in them. Affects the groin area and armpits. Accompanied by severe fever and general intoxication of the body.
  • Bubonic skin plague. Plague bacteria travel with the lymph, end up in the lymph nodes, causing inflammatory process affecting neighboring tissues. The “buboes” mature, and the rate of development of the pathology decreases.
• Generalized type- the pathogen enters the body by airborne droplets, as well as through the membranes of the mucous surfaces of the body:
  • Septicemic plague. The pathogen penetrates through the mucous membranes. High virulence of the microbe and a weakened body - causes of lung entering the patient’s bloodstream, bypassing all his defense mechanisms. A fatal outcome with this form of the disease can occur in less than 24 hours, the so-called. "lightning plague"
  • Pneumonic plague. Entry into the body occurs through airborne droplets, infection through dirty hands and objects, as well as through the conjunctiva of the eyes. This form is a primary pneumonia, and also has a high epidemic threshold due to copious discharge of sputum containing pathogenic bacteria during coughing.

SYMPTOMS

The incubation period of the plague ranges from 72 to 150 hours. Most often it appears on the third day. The disease is characterized sudden manifestation without primary symptoms.

Clinical history of plague:

• a sharp jump in body temperature up to 40 degrees;
• acute headaches;
• nausea;
• reddish tint to the face and eyeballs;
• muscle discomfort;
• white coating on the tongue;
• enlarged nostrils;
• dry skin of lips;
• manifestations of a rash on the body;
• feeling of thirst;
• insomnia;
• causeless excitement;
• difficulties in coordinating movements;
• delusions (often of an erotic nature);
• impaired digestion;
• difficulty urinating;
• high fever;
• cough with sputum containing blood clots;
• bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract;
• tachycardia;
• low blood pressure.

Hidden primary symptoms lead to outbreaks of disease epidemics. Thus, a potential carrier of plague can travel long distances, feeling absolutely healthy, while infecting everyone who comes into contact with the plague bacteria.

DIAGNOSTICS

Returning from travel to areas endemic for the spread of plague, with the slightest signs of the disease - urgent reason to isolate the patient. Based on the medical history, all persons who have had any contact with the potentially affected person are identified.

Diagnostics is carried out in the following ways:

• bacterial culture from blood, sputum and lymph node tissue samples;
• immunological diagnostics;
• polymerase chain reaction;
• passage on laboratory animals;
• serological technique;
• isolation of pure culture followed by identification;
• laboratory diagnostics based on fluorescent antiserum.

In today's medical environment, direct transmission from the patient to the attending physician and hospital staff is virtually impossible. However, everything laboratory tests are carried out in specialized premises for working with particularly dangerous infectious diseases.

TREATMENT

Since 1947 plague treatable with antibiotics group of aminoglycosides with a broad spectrum of action.

Applicable inpatient treatment in isolated wards of infectious diseases departments in compliance with all safety rules when working with plague patients.

Course of therapy:

• Application antibacterial drugs based on sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim.
• Intravenous administration of chloramphenicol simultaneously with streptomycin.
• Detoxification procedures.
• Improving microcirculation and repair. Achieved by entering .
• Taking cardiac glycosides.
• Use of respiratory analeptics.
• Use of antipyretics.

Treatment is most effective and does not cause any consequences in the initial stages of plague.

COMPLICATIONS

Because the disease is included in the group of fatal, the main complications in the event of an incorrect diagnosis or lack of proper treatment may be the transformation of the plague from a mild form to a more severe one. Thus, cutaneous plague can develop into septicemic plague, and bubonic plague into pneumonic plague.

Complications from plague also affect:

• Cardiovascular system (pericarditis develops).
• Central nervous system(purulent meningoencephalitis).

Although a patient who has recovered from the plague receives immunity, he is not completely immune from new cases of infection, especially if preventive measures are taken carelessly.

PREVENTION

At the state level, a whole range of directive preventive measures for the plague has been developed.

The following decrees and rules are in effect on the territory of the Russian Federation:

• “Instructional and methodological guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of plague”, approved by the USSR Ministry of Health on September 14, 1976.
• Sanitary and epidemiological rules SP 3.1.7.1380-03 dated 06.06.2003, approved by the Resolution of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor in the part “Prevention of plague”.

Set of measures:

• epidemiological surveillance of natural foci of disease;
• disinsection, reducing the number of potential disease carriers;
• a set of quarantine measures;
• training and preparing the population to respond to outbreaks of plague;
• careful handling of animal corpses;
• vaccination of medical staff;
• use of anti-plague suits.

PROGNOSIS FOR RECOVERY

Death rate from plague modern stage therapy use is about 10%. If treatment is started at a later stage or is absent altogether, the risks increase to 30-40%.

With the right choice of treatment methods the body recovers in a short time, functionality is fully restored.

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– highly contagious bacterial infection with multiple routes of transmission and epidemic spread, occurring with feverish intoxication syndrome, damage to the lymph nodes, lungs and skin. The clinical course of various forms of plague is characterized by high fever, severe intoxication, agitation, excruciating thirst, vomiting, regional lymphadenitis, hemorrhagic rash, disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome, as well as its own specific symptoms (necrotizing ulcers, plague buboes, ITS, hemoptysis). Diagnosis of plague is carried out using laboratory methods (bacterial culture, ELISA, RNGA, PCR). Treatment is carried out under conditions of strict isolation: tetracycline antibiotics, detoxification, pathogenetic and symptomatic therapy are indicated.

ICD-10

A20

General information

Plague is an acute infectious disease, transmitted predominantly by a transmissible mechanism, manifested by inflammation of the lymph nodes, lungs, and other organs, which is serous-hemorrhagic in nature, or occurs in a septic form. Plague belongs to the group of especially dangerous infections.

Plague belongs to the group of especially dangerous infections. In the past, pandemics of the “Black Death,” as the plague was called, claimed millions of lives. History describes three global outbreaks of plague: in the 6th century. in the Eastern Roman Empire (“Justinian Plague”); in the 14th century in Crimea, the Mediterranean and Western Europe; in the late 19th century in Hong Kong. Currently, thanks to the development of effective anti-epidemic measures and an anti-plague vaccine, only sporadic cases of infection are recorded in natural foci. In Russia, plague-endemic areas include the Caspian lowland, Stavropol region, Eastern Urals, Altai and Transbaikalia.

Characteristics of the pathogen

Yersinia pestis is a nonmotile, facultative anaerobic, gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium of the genus Enterobacteriaceae. The plague bacillus can remain viable for a long time in the secretions of sick people and corpses (in bubonic pus Yersinia live up to 20-30 days, in the corpses of people and dead animals - up to 60 days), and can withstand freezing. To factors external environment (sun rays, atmospheric oxygen, heating, changing the acidity of the environment, disinfection) this bacterium is quite sensitive.

The reservoir and source of plague are wild rodents (marmots, voles, gerbils, pikas). In various natural foci, they can serve as a reservoir. different types rodents, in urban conditions - mainly rats. Dogs resistant to human plague can serve as a source of pathogen for fleas. In rare cases (with the pneumonic form of plague, or in direct contact with bubonic pus), a person can become the source of infection; fleas can also receive the pathogen from patients with the septic form of plague. Often infection occurs directly from plague-infected corpses.

Plague is transmitted through a variety of mechanisms, the leading place among which is transmissible. The carriers of the plague pathogen are fleas and ticks of some species. Fleas infect animals that carry the pathogen through migration, also spreading fleas. People become infected by rubbing flea excrement into their skin while scratching. Insects remain infective for about 7 weeks (there is evidence of fleas being contagious throughout the year).

Plague infection can also occur by contact(through damaged skin when interacting with dead animals, cutting up carcasses, harvesting skins, etc.), nutritionally (when eating meat from sick animals).

People have an absolute natural susceptibility to infection; the disease develops when infected by any route and at any age. Post-infectious immunity is relative and does not protect against re-infection, but repeated cases of plague usually occur in more severe cases. mild form.

Plague classification

Plague is classified into clinical forms depending on the predominant symptoms. There are local, generalized and externally disseminated forms. Local plague is divided into cutaneous, bubonic and cutaneous bubonic, generalized plague is primary and secondary septic, the externally disseminated form is divided into primary and secondary pulmonary, as well as intestinal.

Plague symptoms

The incubation period of the plague on average takes about 3-6 days (maximum up to 9 days). In mass epidemics or in the case of generalized forms, the incubation period can be shortened to one to two days. The onset of the disease is acute, characterized by the rapid development of fever, accompanied by stunning chills and severe intoxication syndrome.

Patients may complain of pain in the muscles, joints, and sacral region. Vomiting appears (often with blood), thirst (painful). From the very first hours, patients are in an excited state, and perception disorders (delusions, hallucinations) may be noted. Coordination is impaired and speech intelligibility is lost. Lethargy and apathy occur noticeably less often, patients weaken to the point of being unable to get out of bed.

The patient's face is puffy, hyperemic, the sclera is injected. At severe course hemorrhagic rashes are observed. A characteristic feature plague is a “chalky tongue” - dry, thickened, densely covered with a bright white coating. Physical examination shows severe tachycardia, progressive hypotension, shortness of breath and oliguria (up to anuria). In the initial period of plague, this symptomatic picture is observed in all clinical forms of plague.

Cutaneous form manifests itself in the form of a carbuncle in the area of ​​introduction of the pathogen. The carbuncle progresses, passing through the following stages in succession: first, a pustule forms on the hyperemic, edematous skin (pronouncedly painful, filled with hemorrhagic contents), which, after opening, leaves an ulcer with raised edges and a yellowish bottom. The ulcer tends to get bigger. Soon a necrotic black scab forms in its center, quickly filling the entire bottom of the ulcer. After the scab is sloughed off, the carbuncle heals, leaving a rough scar.

Bubonic form is the most common form of plague. Buboes are specifically modified lymph nodes. Thus, with this form of infection, the predominant clinical manifestation purulent lymphadenitis is regional in relation to the area of ​​penetration of the pathogen. Buboes, as a rule, are single, in some cases they can be multiple. Initially, there is soreness in the area of ​​the lymph node; after 1-2 days, palpation reveals enlarged, painful lymph nodes, initially dense, which, as the process progresses, soften to a pasty consistency, merging into a single conglomerate welded to the surrounding tissues. The further course of the bubo can lead either to its independent resorption or to the formation of an ulcer, an area of ​​sclerosis or necrosis. The height of the disease continues for a week, then a period of convalescence begins, and clinical symptoms gradually subsides.

Cutaneous bubonic form characterized by a combination of skin manifestations with lymphadenopathy. Local forms of plague can progress to secondary septic and secondary pneumonic forms. The clinical course of these forms does not differ from their primary counterparts.

Primary septic form develops at lightning speed, after a shortened incubation (1-2 days), is characterized by a rapid increase in severe intoxication, severe hemorrhagic syndrome (numerous hemorrhages in skin, mucous membranes, conjunctiva, intestinal and renal bleeding), rapid development infectious-toxic shock. The septic form of plague without proper timely medical care ends in death.

Primary pulmonary form occurs in the case of an aerogenic route of infection, the incubation period is also reduced and can be several hours or last about two days. The onset is acute, characteristic of all forms of plague - increasing intoxication, fever. Pulmonary symptoms appear on the second or third day of the disease: there is a strong debilitating cough, first with transparent glassy sputum, later with foamy, bloody sputum, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. Progressive intoxication contributes to the development of acute cardiovascular failure. The outcome of this condition can be stupor and subsequent coma.

Intestinal form characterized by intense sharp pain in the abdomen with severe general intoxication and fever, soon followed by frequent vomiting and diarrhea. The stool is profuse, mixed with mucus and blood. Often - tenesmus (painful urge to defecate). Considering the widespread prevalence of other intestinal infections, the question has not yet been resolved: is intestinal plague an independent form of the disease that develops as a result of microorganisms entering the intestines, or is it associated with the activation of intestinal flora.

Diagnosis of plague

Due to the special danger of infection and extremely high susceptibility to the microorganism, the pathogen is isolated in specially equipped laboratories. Material is collected from buboes, carbuncles, ulcers, sputum and mucus from the oropharynx. It is possible to isolate the pathogen from the blood. Specific bacteriological diagnostics produced to confirm the clinical diagnosis, or, in case of prolonged intense fever in patients, in an epidemiological focus.

Serological diagnosis of plague can be made using RNGA, ELISA, RNAT, RNAG and RTPGA. It is possible to isolate the DNA of the plague bacillus using PCR. Nonspecific diagnostic methods - blood test, urine test (a picture of acute bacterial infection is noted), in the pulmonary form - chest x-ray (signs of pneumonia are noted).

Treatment of plague

Treatment is carried out in specialized infectious diseases departments of the hospital, under conditions of strict isolation. Etiotropic therapy is carried out with antibacterial agents in accordance with the clinical form of the disease. The duration of the course takes 7-10 days.

At cutaneous form Co-trimoxazole is prescribed; for bubonic, intravenous chloramphenicol with streptomycin is prescribed. Tetracycline antibiotics can also be used. Tetracycline or doxycycline is supplemented with a complex of chloramphenicol and streptomycin for plague pneumonia and sepsis.

Nonspecific therapy includes a complex of detoxification measures (intravenous infusion of saline solutions, dextran, albumin, plasma) in combination with forced diuresis, agents that help improve microcirculation (pentoxifylline). If necessary, cardiovascular, bronchodilator, and antipyretic drugs are prescribed.

Prognosis for plague

Currently, in modern hospitals when using antibacterial agents The mortality rate from the plague is quite low - no more than 5-10%. Early medical care, prevention of generalization contributes to recovery without significant consequences. In rare cases, transient plague sepsis (fulminant form of plague) develops, difficult to diagnose and treat, often ending in death. fatal.

Prevention of plague

Currently, in developed countries there is practically no infection, so the main preventive measures are aimed at eliminating the import of the pathogen from epidemiologically dangerous regions and sanitizing natural foci. Specific prevention consists of vaccination with a live plague vaccine, carried out to the population in areas with an unfavorable epidemiological situation (prevalence of plague among rodents, cases of infection of domestic animals) and to persons traveling to regions with an increased risk of infection.

Identification of a plague patient is an indication for taking urgent measures by isolating it. In case of forced contact with sick people, personal preventative means are used - anti-plague suits. Contact persons are observed for 6 days; in case of contact with a patient with pneumonic plague, prophylactic antibiotic therapy is administered. Patients are discharged from the hospital no earlier than 4 weeks after clinical recovery and negative tests for bacterial excretion (for pulmonary form - after 6 weeks).

All of us [living in the] Gulf of Mexico region are being force-fed one new signature recipe, and it's already becoming available all over the world. And although this recipe was carefully guarded for 8 months, after studying the abundant “supplies” received by the residents of the coast, we were able to “figure out” it. We have these ingredients in abundance, but the recipe itself and the method of preparation are no longer any special secret.

SPECIAL DISH ON A PLATE WITH BLUE BORDER FROM VR

Fill a large bowl with salty ocean water. Add a generous dose of crude oil, followed by a cup of liquid correction. T-ita (from the Nalco company - under the brand name "Corexit"; just be careful not to spill a drop on yourself!). Then stir gently and let sit for a day or two. When the new liquefied oil mixture begins to settle to the bottom of the bowl, be sure to let the resulting gases bubble happily to the surface in an orange foam. This will mean that you can move on to the next - and most important - stage.

Quickly add syn-bio (from JCVI, SGI and other private companies), as well as a colloidal mixture containing iron, copper and other natural chemical elements to initiate an interactive maturation process. Let all this calmly stand for at least 6-9 months and nothing interferes with it. When the gas stops coming to the surface and the mixture at the bottom takes on the appearance of a black gelatinous liquid, consider that the first stage of preparation is complete.

The cool thing about this new cutting-edge recipe is... what exactly formed after completion of this first stage. [It turns out] no one knows! And it’s not surprising that some people started calling it I don’t know what “BP’s special dish on a silver platter.” But have no doubt: as soon as this “decoction” at the second stage begins to release mutant biologically active ingredients (which it seems to have already begun to do), the rest of the world will immediately “suddenly” pay attention to it...

OIL SPILL OR OIL FLOW?

There was no oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. If you fill a glass with water and, while holding it in your hand, bump into something, causing some of the water to spill out, then yes, this is a spill. But if you open the tap and let the water fill the glass, and then continuously overflow, this is no longer a spill. Closer to April 22, 2010, as a result of numerous drilling operations that began in [section] Mississippi Canyon-252 back in 2009, the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico became covered with faults, and continuous flow of crude oil, and most importantly - gases accompanying oil, such as methane. And this is called “oil and gas flow”.

If there is a continuous flow of toxic crude oil and gases into the Gulf, how can it be stopped? No way. The only solution to such a problem is to find a way to interrupt [such a flow] before it can reach the surface in large quantities. This is exactly the kind of outflow that has occurred, is occurring, and will continue to occur in the Gulf of Mexico.

BIOLOGICAL PURIFICATION USING SYNTHETIC GENOME

Microbes can transform, process and destroy toxic oil and gas. Natural microorganisms in all oceans (for example, bacteria) are known to do this, and it usually takes tens of years or more. It's a slow leak natural process. So yes, natural biology can do this job, but in the case of a continuous flow, even all the “hydrocarbon-hungry” microbes of the world combined will not be able to eliminate such an amount of oil and gas in short term. The decisive factor here is time.

Over the past decade, synthetic biology has emerged as an emerging scientific field. Today there is already genetic biology that artificially forms RNA and DNA chains - both viruses and bacteria.

In the 1980s, designer jeans were considered fashionable. Today we have genes"from the designer."

Shortly after Deepwater Horizon's hell broke loose, US government scientists - with grants paid for by BP - began giving us "deep hints" about what exactly they were doing with all that crude oil and gas. In May 2010 [magazine] National Geographic quoted Dr. Terry Hazen from the US State Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory :

“...we can introduce genetic material into natural microbes through a bacteriophage—a virus that infects a bacterium—to give the native microbes DNA that will give them the ability to break down oil.” “Or,” he said, “in some laboratory you can create a completely new organism that will rapidly multiply in the ocean, eat oil, and which will need certain stimulants to live”...

According to Dr. Hazen, considered the world's foremost expert on the biological remediation of oil pollution, there were two possible solutions. Either use artificially constructed viruses, which are called bacteriophages (or “phages” for short) to infect and change the genetics of natural bacteria [living in] the Gulf, or artificially create a completely new organism, that is new look bacteria that will eat oil and/or gas and introduce it into the [waters of] the Gulf of Mexico.

“This discovery provides a rare glimpse into the remarkable capabilities of an unknown family of microbes in the deep Gulf.”

Agree. It is scientifically inconceivable that any other naturally occurring microorganism could do this, and engineered microbes are certainly "obscure" compared to natural ones.

Georgia State University microbiologist Samantha Joey, who conducted an independent analysis of methane in the Gulf of Mexico, also agrees with me. Her words:

“It would take some supernatural microbes to do [what they claim].”

That's how it is, Samantha. They were designed “to order” and their “supernatural” genetics were created artificially.

On September 9, 2010, in a radio interview entitled Bridging The Gap(Fill in the blanks) taken from Dr. John Waterman was as follows:

“Microbes can transform; they may change. Viruses can turn into bacteria, and bacteria can turn into mold. In the Gulf we have a bacterium that has the ability to transform. She can transform [mutate] because she is attacked by a virus. This virus can change the genetics of a bacterium in such a way that it turns [mutates] into something very dangerous.

Some of these changed bacteria can become deadly, as bad as ebola. If the transformed bacterium becomes “volatile”, it will begin to be transmitted from person to person.

We are now on the brink of what could become a deadly pandemic. They must have known that this was the case. Everything she needs What [the bacteria] need to do is invade a human host... and once it starts, it becomes impossible to stop.”

In October 2010, I was contacted by Dr. Ricky Ott, author of a book about the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Her degree focus is in marine biology with a focus on the effects of oil on zooplankton. In those days, she had just read my article “It’s Foolish to Try to Fool Mother Nature,” and wanted to talk to me. To this day, she is the only American scientist who agrees with me that genetically engineered bacteria are eating into the oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

In an article she published while working in Ocean Springs, Pc. Mississippi, called " Biological recovery or biological threat? Dispersants, bacteria and disease incidence in the Gulf» Ricky recalls how the words of one local grandmother [nurse] made her reconsider her entire understanding of crude oil bioremediation. This grandmother said that she had a feeling that oil-eating bacteria were “throwing themselves at everyone and causing skin diseases.” Here's some of what Dr. Ott wrote:

"To make things even scarier, some of the oil-eating bacteria have been genetically altered or biologically engineered to be better at eating oil - including Alcanivorax borkumensis and some Pseudomonas."

Pseudomonasalcaligenes is a Gram-negative aerobic bacterium that is used for bioremediation purposes because it can degrade aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene or methane. And Alcanivoraxborkumensis is also a gram-negative bacterium used for the same purposes, so it can decompose [various] petroleum hydrocarbons. Here you go. Another confirmation that artificial genes “by designer” are the reason that oil and gas in the Gulf is being “consumed” at an alarming rate.

But why are these gram-negative bacteria so important? The thing is, as Ricky Ott said,

“Petroleum-eating bacteria produce biofilms. Research has shown that these biofilms quickly colonize other gram-negative bacteria - including those known to infect humans."

Nurse Schmidt, with whom Ricky Ott worked in the Bay Area, explained it this way:

“This looks like a large-scale bacterial storm. And this may explain [why] different people have different sets of symptoms. In some we see respiratory complications, and in others we see cutaneous or gastrointestinal manifestations. I believe this is due to a large number colonized bacteria."

But this is not just any ordinary bacterial storm. In this case, there are artificially created bacteria for the biological cleaning of oil pollution that have caused mutations in countless species natural organisms in the waters of the Gulf and its airspace. As these various colonies begin to grow and colonize [other organisms], you will witness perfect genetic storm.

SYNTHETIC DNA GENERATED THE BLUE PLAGUE OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

Since July 2010, I have written many articles on various forums, trying my best to warn - not only my family and friends, but the whole world - about the transformations taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. I described in detail and accurately how this evolution occurred and is still happening. FYI, I did some research and posted my findings on the World Vision Portal forum, a forum channel on YouTube, on the Blue Plague blog , and on weekly radio programs on the Living Light Network . In August, I appropriately dubbed the future pandemic the “Blue Plague of the Gulf of Mexico.”

To my disappointment, only a few were even willing to listen to me. I have been ignored or shunned on most Internet sites - the same sites owned and operated by people who supposedly claim to represent the people of the Gulf Coast. Although many of them do not represent us in any way. Some exist for their own purposes, such as “finding clients for their law practice”... Others use the Bay Area victims only to make a name for themselves. Still others disappeared altogether once BP and government agencies declared the Gulf oil disaster over. Meanwhile, the truth about this is that it is by no means over. The worst is yet to come this spring and summer warm water and air will accelerate the growth of synthetic mutated viruses and bacteria.

What is happening in the Gulf of Mexico is not a regional problem only for those who live there. This is a problem on a global scale. Subtle viral and bacterial signs are already starting to appear everywhere. Mysterious, inexplicable diseases that affect fish, marine mammals, animals, poultry, trees, and plants arise due to artificial genomes that transform natural organisms and cause their mutation - both in the ocean and in the air.

I talk constantly with both my family and friends, including doctors, scientists, registered nurses, boat captains, shrimpers, and fishermen. They all agree that "scientifically engineered" mutated organisms - resulting directly from the introduction of artificially engineered genomes into the Gulf - can and will certainly become a pandemic or even multiple pandemics. As a friend of mine with 30 years of experience in traumatology and clinics in Louisiana said,

“It's like an opera in which the main characters are Frankenstein and Neptune. And when the crayfish finally whistles in the final scene, it may be that only a few of the audience will get to hear it.”

In conclusion, I’ll just say what I haven’t stopped saying all these months...

Wherever the Gulf blows,

Where will the water flow from the Gulf...

NOTES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

VIRUSES

Bacteriophages are viruses that modify the DNA of bacteria. There are many types of bacteriophages. Some simply infect the host bacterium, others make their own “insertions” and change the bacterial chromosomes.

Some of these viruses transfer their DNA material to the host cell and cause changes in its genetic code. Certain bacteriophages can enter a host cell, but rather than immediately producing new viral material, the bacteriophage's DNA is simply integrated into the bacteria's chromosomes.

BACTERIA

Bacteria are large groups of single-celled microorganisms that grow to a certain size and then reproduce themselves through asexual reproduction. Under optimal conditions, bacteria can grow and divide at rapid rates; Some bacterial populations can double every 9.8 minutes. In general, bacteria have a single ring chromosome and inherit identical copies of their parents' genes (that is, they clone themselves).