Information Study On Medical Prevention And Therapy Technologies Against Bioterrorism Attack

Global bioterrorism has become a huge threat in recent years,especially the anthrax event after September 11th terrorist attack in U.S.,which sufficiently demonstrates the power of bioterrorism.Therefore,counter-bioterrorism has been the main research theme of preventive medicine against biological agents.Medical protection is one of the most important means to reduce hazard from bioterrorism attack.Development of prevention and therapy technologies is very important for medical protection.Related information study will provide intelligence support and decision reference for the development of medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism.In this study,prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack have been discussed.On the basis of literature investigation,expert consultations,typical analytic method,comparative analysis,as well as induction,we have managed to give a detailed description of the research plan and progress on medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism in U.S.,followed by an analysis of the future development trends of these technologies.The progress made and the existing problems were also summarized.In addition, this article examined the gap in medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism between domestic and foreign studies.In view of the situation and technical requirements in our country,this study concludes with proposals for developing prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack This study consists of five parts.The first part reviews the situation of counter-bioterrorism and the necessity for information study on medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack. The serious situation of counter-bioterrorism is described and the significance and necessity of this study is explained.Firstly,this study was conducted in response to the current bioterrorism situation.Secondly,the development of biotechnology has exacerbated the potential threat of bioterrorism.Thirdly,conventional medical prevention and therapy technologies can no longer meet the needs of counter-bioterrorism attack.Fourthly,our country is also faced with threats of bioterrorism.The medical prevention and therapy technologies of U.S.were the most advanced in the world,and its research achievements also take a leading position.All of these are worthy of our attention and provide us with useful information for our study.The second part discusses the current research and future development trends of medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack in U.S.The related research projects of bio-defense in U.S.were introduced in detail,including 2000-2010 U.S.Army National Defense Biomedical Technologies Program,Defense Technology Objectives, Department of Defense Chemical and Biological Defense Program,Militarily Critical Technologies List,Project Bioshield,and NIAID Strategic Plan for Bio-defense Research.In addition,the research progress of medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack in U.S.,and the patents on vaccines and drugs from U.S.Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases(USAMRIID)and Walter Reed Army Institute was discussed.Research status and future development trends were analyzed from the aspects of the current research work,objectives,the obstacles and challenges,and future research directions.The objective bioterrorism agents to be studied in U.S.in the future mainly include Yersinia pestis,Botulinum toxin,Filovirus,Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus,Eastern equine encephalitis virus,and Western equine encephalitis virus.The priority in prevention research was multivalence or multiantigen vaccines,DNA vaccine,and,in therapeutic field, broad-spectrum medicine and treatment policies.Besides of these,U.S.also made great effort to perform basic science research and technology development for medical protection,such as pathogenic microorganism genomics and proteomics,transgenic technology,replication platform and so on.The third part analyzes the current research situation and existing problems of medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack in our country.The study described research progress and patents on biological defense vaccines and medicines,and summarized existing problems of medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism.Quantitative analysis of related literatures revealed that Chinese scientists generally paid much more attention to the related researches.However,there are many problems with medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack,such as weak basic research of bioterrorism agents,insufficient research on effective new vaccines, deficiency of prevention and therapy technologies for bioterrorism agents of virus,and lack of the animal models for bio-defense research.The fourth part is a comparative analysis of the medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack between U.S.and our country,indicating the similarities and differences in the objectives of bioterrorism agents in bio-defense studies, research directions and related science and technology of medical prevention and therapy technologies.The similarities are:both countries pay much attention on medical protection research of category A of bioterrorism agents,especially for Bacillus anthracis,Yersinia pestis and Botulinum toxin;the vaccines now in use are traditional vaccines,such as inactivated vaccines and live attenuated vaccines;the vaccines understudied are mainly recombinant subunit vaccines,virus vector vaccines and DNA vaccines;both countries have encountered difficulties in the research and development of new antibiotics and drug resistance for bioterrorism pathogen;antiviral drug and antibodies treatment are main research theme in therapeutic field;related science and technical basis of medical prevention and therapy technologies involve pathogenic microorganism genomics,proteomics,recombinant DNA technology,replication platform technology,and antibody engineering.The differences are as follows:In our country,little research has been done about Marburg,Ebola and Equine Encephalitis Virus;the development of transgenic plant vaccine and antiviral drugs is slow; and many advanced technologies,such as transgenic technology,nanotechnology,and antisense technology have not been applied to the study of medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack.It has been demonstrated that vaccine and drug development is going to the direction of new types of vaccine,wide-adaptability vaccines and drugs for different pathogens based on improvement of the existing vaccines and drugs.The fifth part offers some countermeasures and suggestions for medical prevention and therapy technologies against bioterrorism attack in our country.Based on the above research results,the situation and technology requirements in our country,and the experience from U.S.,the author has made the following suggestions:Conventional technologies,such as cell culture technology,should continue to be developed and improved.The understudied critical technologies,such as recombinant DNA technology,replication platform technology,and antibody engineering should constitute the key development areas.Advanced and promising new technologies,such as reverse vaccinology,transgenic technology,and nanotechnology should be paid greater attention.Emphasis should be placed on basic research and technology, such as pathogenic microorganism genomics and proteomics.