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Nature 418, 825-826 (22 August 2002) | doi:10.1038/418825a

Open Innovation Challenges

Medicine: Virus deals anthrax a killer blow

M. J. Rosovitz & Stephen H. Leppla

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The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is driving researchers to think up ever more clever ways to tackle infections. An enzyme from a bacterium-killing virus may prove effective against anthrax infections.

Following the deliberate dissemination of spores of Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, through the US mail last autumn, public-health officials were faced with two major problems: detecting spores in buildings and on exposed individuals, and treating those people thought to be exposed and the few who actually became infected. Testing for spores required samples to be sent to specialized labs to be cultured, and took several days — a painfully long time when the public was insisting on immediate information and action.

  1. M. J. Rosovitz and Stephen H. Leppla are at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and will shortly be moving to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Convent Drive MSC 4350, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4350, USA.

Correspondence to: e-mail: Email: sleppla@mail.nih.gov