Anthrax: A Deadly Biological Weapon

Biological weapons are a widely used source of terror. The definition of a biological weapon is a harmful biological agent (as a pathogenic microorganism or a neurotoxin) used as a weapon to cause death or disease usually on a large scale (“Biological Weapon,” The Merriam- Webster Dictionary). There are numerous substances used as biological weapons. Some include Glanders, Botulism, and Brucellosis. Biological weapons consist of a kind of substance or disease that is used to launch an attack on a large population of people.

A commonly used biological weapon is Anthrax. Inhalation of Anthrax is the most common way of causing harm. When someone is poisoned by inhaling Anthrax, they have actually been exposed to the spores of Anthrax. Once the spores are in the body, they infect various organs, causing mass infection and eventually collapse of the immune system. This results in death. Anthrax is used as a biological weapon because it is very deadly and is difficult to detect. Anthrax is also common in nature, there fore it is an easy bacterium to find and spread.

Anthrax is a bacterium that affects both humans and animals. Cows and other livestock are very prone to being infected by Anthrax. Anthrax is caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis: a gram- negative, facultative, anaerobic, spore forming bacterium (Thavaselvam et al. 2). Gram- negative implies that the bacterium does not retain the violet dye used in a Gram test. The Gram method is used to classify bacteria. Anaerobic refers to an organism that requires the presences of oxygen to function. Facultative refers a bacterium that can produce ATP through aerobic respiration, but could use fermentation if no oxygen is present. There are three forms of Anthrax poisoning. ...

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