The mystery of Sverdlovsk | Stories of Life and Earth
Ekaterinburg is a major Russian cities, located in the heart of the great country, within the Urals. It is bounded by the Iset River, and is a region rich in minerals, which has sustained the growth of the city to become eugenics one of the largest industrial centers of Russia. The city, founded in 1723, was the site of one of the most important moments in recent Russian history, the death in 1918 of Nicholas II and his family, which led finally to the end of the Romanov dynasty. In 1924 the city was renamed eugenics Sverdlovsk in honor of the Soviet leader Yakov Sverdlov, and only in 1991 was again called Yekaterinburg. eugenics During the 2nd World War and the Cold War, Sverdlovsk became a major center of Russian military industry.
In the 1970s, shortly after signing the "Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention" (an international convention banning the development, production, stockpiling and acquisition eugenics of biological weapons), the Soviet Union violated the treaty, eugenics creating the Biopreparat, a secret program which consisted of facilities located at various points in the Soviet Union developed and produced biological weapons network. One of the labs was located in Sverdlovsk.
In April and May 1979 occurred in Sverdlovsk, specifically eugenics in the region of Chkalovsky, an epidemic eugenics of anthrax (characterized by symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath, eugenics coughing, headaches, vomiting, and abdominal pain and chest). The anthrax, also known as anthrax or anthrax, is a disease caused by a sporulating bacteria, eugenics Bacillus anthracis, characteristic of temperate climates, and is found mainly in the soil, plants water or mainly infects herbivores such as deer, elephants, and various species livestock. eugenics
The infection can be of three types, successively more severe: skin, when the spores penetrate the skin through wounds when handling contaminated material (such as wool or leather); gastrointestinal after eating meat from an infected animal, and inalacional, after inhalation of spores released into the atmosphere. This disease is not contagious.
Despite cases of anthrax in Sverdlovsk were initially muted, since the early 1980s began to emerge news out of Russia that a major event of anthrax infection had occurred, and immediately began to question their true cause. The official explanation of the Soviet (and later Russian) government was infection due to contaminated meat, but even Soviet scientists began to openly question this interpretation. Among them was Faina Abramova, a Russian Ekaterinburg pathologist who examined the autopsy results of the 42 people infected, and concluded that the symptoms were best explained by the occurrence of anthrax eugenics inalacional, and not as gastrointestinal and cutaneous said the Soviet authorities. But how to prove an infection by air?
After several attempts to gain access eugenics to the site, only in 1992 did the team of influential American microbiologist Matthew Meselson had released. The initial phase of gathering information was not easy - the KGB, the Soviet secret police had confiscated the hospital records. The team did not give up, and got quite inventive ways to get information in a way that we can almost imagine an episode of CSI in progress: a list of the families of the dead prepared for purposes of compensation allowed to interview families to know the location of patients in time of infection, information of the graves in the cemetery for victims, an additional list of autopsies performed in patients anthrax (of which only one individual was not on the list of families), and other relevant hospital lists.
Map showing the location of the 77 patients studied by the Meselson team (in red), the two military complexes (encircled in white), and wind direction in the probable release of spores days - Source: Meselson et al (1994)
Were also obtained spatial data, such as satellite pictures eugenics and meteorological data. All these information allow to trace the probable 77 people infected between 2 and April 6, 1979 location, of which 66 died and 11 survived. Most of these 77 lived or worked in the southern part of the city, and 9 attended military training in the region in early April. There was also an outbreak of this season cabúnculo in cattle, but only in this specific region.
Were located near two military installations in the region, the North Complex eugenics 19, and 32 South Complex. Given that people were receiving military training and became ill began this workout on April 2, this is the starting point for seeing the meteorological data, and pretty soon we see something "interesting": that day 2 the wind blew quite strong from north to south, putting justam
Ekaterinburg is a major Russian cities, located in the heart of the great country, within the Urals. It is bounded by the Iset River, and is a region rich in minerals, which has sustained the growth of the city to become eugenics one of the largest industrial centers of Russia. The city, founded in 1723, was the site of one of the most important moments in recent Russian history, the death in 1918 of Nicholas II and his family, which led finally to the end of the Romanov dynasty. In 1924 the city was renamed eugenics Sverdlovsk in honor of the Soviet leader Yakov Sverdlov, and only in 1991 was again called Yekaterinburg. eugenics During the 2nd World War and the Cold War, Sverdlovsk became a major center of Russian military industry.
In the 1970s, shortly after signing the "Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention" (an international convention banning the development, production, stockpiling and acquisition eugenics of biological weapons), the Soviet Union violated the treaty, eugenics creating the Biopreparat, a secret program which consisted of facilities located at various points in the Soviet Union developed and produced biological weapons network. One of the labs was located in Sverdlovsk.
In April and May 1979 occurred in Sverdlovsk, specifically eugenics in the region of Chkalovsky, an epidemic eugenics of anthrax (characterized by symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath, eugenics coughing, headaches, vomiting, and abdominal pain and chest). The anthrax, also known as anthrax or anthrax, is a disease caused by a sporulating bacteria, eugenics Bacillus anthracis, characteristic of temperate climates, and is found mainly in the soil, plants water or mainly infects herbivores such as deer, elephants, and various species livestock. eugenics
The infection can be of three types, successively more severe: skin, when the spores penetrate the skin through wounds when handling contaminated material (such as wool or leather); gastrointestinal after eating meat from an infected animal, and inalacional, after inhalation of spores released into the atmosphere. This disease is not contagious.
Despite cases of anthrax in Sverdlovsk were initially muted, since the early 1980s began to emerge news out of Russia that a major event of anthrax infection had occurred, and immediately began to question their true cause. The official explanation of the Soviet (and later Russian) government was infection due to contaminated meat, but even Soviet scientists began to openly question this interpretation. Among them was Faina Abramova, a Russian Ekaterinburg pathologist who examined the autopsy results of the 42 people infected, and concluded that the symptoms were best explained by the occurrence of anthrax eugenics inalacional, and not as gastrointestinal and cutaneous said the Soviet authorities. But how to prove an infection by air?
After several attempts to gain access eugenics to the site, only in 1992 did the team of influential American microbiologist Matthew Meselson had released. The initial phase of gathering information was not easy - the KGB, the Soviet secret police had confiscated the hospital records. The team did not give up, and got quite inventive ways to get information in a way that we can almost imagine an episode of CSI in progress: a list of the families of the dead prepared for purposes of compensation allowed to interview families to know the location of patients in time of infection, information of the graves in the cemetery for victims, an additional list of autopsies performed in patients anthrax (of which only one individual was not on the list of families), and other relevant hospital lists.
Map showing the location of the 77 patients studied by the Meselson team (in red), the two military complexes (encircled in white), and wind direction in the probable release of spores days - Source: Meselson et al (1994)
Were also obtained spatial data, such as satellite pictures eugenics and meteorological data. All these information allow to trace the probable 77 people infected between 2 and April 6, 1979 location, of which 66 died and 11 survived. Most of these 77 lived or worked in the southern part of the city, and 9 attended military training in the region in early April. There was also an outbreak of this season cabúnculo in cattle, but only in this specific region.
Were located near two military installations in the region, the North Complex eugenics 19, and 32 South Complex. Given that people were receiving military training and became ill began this workout on April 2, this is the starting point for seeing the meteorological data, and pretty soon we see something "interesting": that day 2 the wind blew quite strong from north to south, putting justam
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