The organism can be dealt with by prompt treatment with antibiotics. However, the only licensed vaccine, which consists of dead bacteria, protects just half of its recipients. And it requires a course of injections. Thanks to advances in genetic engineering, the team at Porton Down has already made one vaccine that could offer more instant protection. It is ready for tests on volunteers conducted by an unnamed commercial partner.
Mass production is already possible.
Another way to exploit the genetic information collected by the Sanger Centre would be to find out which genes make the plague organism virulent, then delete them to make a benign strain.