Greta Van Slyke

Abstract Background: In the earliest days of COVID-19 pandemic, the collection of dried blood spots (DBS) enabled public health laboratories to undertake population-scale seroprevalence studies to estimate rates of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. With SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity levels now estimated to exceed 94% in the United States, attention has turned to using DBS to assess functional (neutralizing) antibodies within cohorts of interest.

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Abstract Inhalation of ricin toxin (RT), a Category B biothreat agent, provokes an acute respiratory distress syndrome marked by pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production, neutrophilic exudate, and pulmonary edema. The severity of RT exposure is attributed to the tropism of the toxin’s B subunit (RTB) for alveolar macrophages and airway epithelial cells, coupled with the extraordinarily potent ribosome-inactivating properties of the toxin’s enzymatic subunit (RTA).