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Operation Sea-Spray was a 1950 U.S. Navy secret biological warfare experiment in which Serratia marcescens and Bacillus globigii bacteria were sprayed over the San Francisco Bay Area in California, in order to determine how vulnerable a city like San Francisco may be to a bioweapon attack, killing at least one American and sickening at least 10 more.
Serratia marcescens (/ s ə ˈ r eɪ ʃ i ə m ɑːr ˈ s ɛ s ɪ n z /) [3] [failed verification] is a species of rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria in the family Yersiniaceae. It is a facultative anaerobe and an opportunistic pathogen in humans. It was discovered in 1819 by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy. [4]
In 1950, to conduct a simulation of a biological warfare attack, the U.S. Navy sprayed large quantities of the bacterium Serratia marcescens – considered harmless at the time – over the city of San Francisco during a project called Operation Sea-Spray. Numerous citizens contracted pneumonia-like illnesses, and at least one person died as a ...
At the time, serratia marcescens and bacillus globigii bacteria were sprayed over the San Francisco Bay area to determine how vulnerable a large American city may be to a bioweapon attack.
Early results clearly showed that one aircraft flying along the coast while spraying its agent could contaminate a target over 100 miles away, over an area of 10,000 square miles. This method of biological warfare attack and the test program to study it was known as the Large Area Coverage (LAC) concept.
Serratia is a genus of ... Bizzo presented his results. S. marcescens was first documented as a red-colored ... and 70s to test the pathogenicity of S. marcescens, ...
The San Francisco test involved a U.S. Navy ship that in 1951 sprayed Serratia marcescens from the bay; it traveled more than 30 miles. [71] In 1977, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there was no association between the testing and the occurrence of pneumonia or influenza. [71]
Prodigiosin is a red dye produced by many strains of the bacterium Serratia marcescens, [1] [2] as well as other Gram-negative, gamma proteobacteria such as Vibrio psychroerythrus and Hahella chejuensis. It is responsible for the pink tint occasionally found in grime that accumulates on porcelain surfaces such as bathtubs, sinks, and toilet bowls.