Anthrax study
Ualbany teacher gets grant to study spread of bacteria in South Africa.
The snowy white salt flats of Namibia’s Etosha National Park are so huge they can be seen from outer space, and the nearby savannas are covered with golden grass, ideal camouflage for tawny lions who live there alongside elephants, ostriches and zebras. Etosha and Kruger National Park in South Africa will soon be the classroom and lab for University at Albany assistant biological sciences professor Wendy Turner thanks to a $2.5 million National Science Foundation grant she won this month.
She and two Ualbany student researchers will leave for South Africa later this fall.
Turner will study anthrax, a soil bacteria (B. anthracis) that can be refined into a deadly bio-
terrorism weapon, that lethal white powder used in 2001 attacks in America when anthrax spores were mailed. That refined form of anthrax killed five and sickened 17. Naturally occurring anthrax spores, which Turner studies, can survive in dirt for decades where they can first sicken animals and then the humans who use infected meat or animal hides.
“Anthrax is a naturally occurring pathogen that’s existed all over the world, including in the U.S.,” said Turner, who earned her doctorate from University of California, Berkeley. “But ecosystems react to anthrax differently. In Africa, zebras and kudus (a species of antelope) seem the most vulnerable to anthrax.”
Turner grew up on a Montana ranch, so naturally her parents ask her why she doesn’t research how cattle contract anthrax. The answer is simple. She fell in love with Africa on an undergraduate research trip.
“The technology has improved so much since then,” Turner said, recalling how the animals were tagged with collars that emitted signals for a short distance over land. “We had to traipse through the brush to find the animals and observe them.”
Back then, the Namibian researchers’ camp was mostly tents. Now, she and her two student researchers will bed down in little campers similar to Airstream trailers and prefab sheds. The bathrooms, showers and lab are in a sturdy separate building.
They will fit wild zebras and kudus with GPS collars so a satellite can track where the animals roam.
On her 2014 research trip, she and her student assistants noticed that the carcasses of zebras and other animals that they knew died of anthrax fertilized the soil so the vegetation grew green and lush — and attracted more grazing animals. They mounted cameras near those carcasses to see whether anthrax was being transmitted from the vegetation.
A student researcher from Taiwan blogged about the research: “Before getting out of a car, it is required to check whether predators are around,” wrote researcher Yen-hua Huang. “If there are predators around, you should estimate how far they are from the carcass site and how long it would take for them to reach the site. Once safety is confirmed, you can get out of the car and place the cameras ... leave doors open in case quickly retreating is needed. Last but not least, when getting close to fresh carcasses, you should hold your breath if you are not familiar with working with carcasses. Otherwise, it will be like enjoying a famous food in Taiwan — stinky tofu.”
Turner plans to bring her two daughters — one just started kindergarten and the other is 2 years old — to Africa next year for a few months. Her computer scientist husband, Yathin Krishnappa, will also join her. The project should take about four years, during which Turner will make multiple trips between Albany and Africa.
One of the mysteries she hopes her team can explore is whether some animal populations have genetic resistance against the anthrax pathogen — or if they are just exposed less to anthrax.
Poaching is such a severe problem in Namibia that the police are brought in to escort the scientists out into the field. The police normally come in from distant towns and cities to work in the park.
“It’s partly to keep us safe from poachers but the police officers seem to enjoy it very much; the excursions are the first time most of them have ever seen a zebra or another park animal up close,” she said.