There are three most important bacterial causative agents of serious infections that could be misused for warfare purposes: Bacillus anthracis (the causative agent of anthrax) is the most frequently mentioned one; however, Fracisella tularensis (causing tularemia) and Yersinia pestis (the causative agent of plague) are further bacterial agents enlisted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into the category A of potential biological weapons. This review intends to summarize basic information about these bacterial agents. Military aspects of their pathogenesis and the detection techniques suitable for field use are discussed.

• MeSH
• Anthrax microbiology   MeSH
• Bacillus anthracis * isolation & purification   pathogenicity   MeSH
• Biological Warfare MeSH
• Biological Warfare Agents * MeSH
• Francisella tularensis * isolation & purification   pathogenicity   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Plague microbiology   MeSH
• Tularemia microbiology   MeSH
• Yersinia pestis * isolation & purification   pathogenicity   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Review MeSH
• Geographicals
• United States MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Biological Warfare Agents * MeSH

The antimicrobial susceptibility of 30 clinical and 30 food Bacillus cereus isolates was determined. All isolates were susceptible to streptomycin, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin, 90 % of them to clindamycin and vancomycin, and 67 % to erythromycin. All isolates were resistant to amoxicillin with clavulanic acid, ampicillin, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, cloxacillin, cefotaxime with clavulanic acid and penicillin. The MIC values (determined by E-tests) were 48-256 mg/L for ampicillin, 0.19-1.5 mg/L for gentamicin, 0.125-1.0 mg/L for clindamycin, 0.047-4.0 mg/L for erythromycin and 1.5-16 mg/L for vancomycin. The MICs 4.6-18.75 g/L were observed for penicillin using the microdilution method. The presence of metallo-beta-lactamases was detected by E-test for 100 % of strains. Nonhemolytic diarrheal enterotoxin (NHE) was produced by 98.3 % of strains, while 31.7 % of them produced hemolytic diarrheal enterotoxin (HBL). Clinical isolates produced 10 % more HBL than food isolates. The psychrotrophic strains isolated from food samples produced NHE at 6.5 degrees C in 73 % of cases.

• MeSH
• Anti-Bacterial Agents pharmacology   MeSH
• Bacillus cereus genetics   isolation & purification   metabolism   MeSH
• beta-Lactamases metabolism   MeSH
• Enterotoxins metabolism   MeSH
• Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections microbiology   MeSH
• Food Contamination * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Microbial Sensitivity Tests MeSH
• Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial * MeSH
• Temperature MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Comparative Study MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Anti-Bacterial Agents MeSH
• beta-Lactamases MeSH
• Enterotoxins MeSH