Anthrax Attack Essay

In October of 2001, the United States was attacked with a form of biological terrorism in which anthrax was hidden in certain letters sent through the postal services. Anthrax, caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis, is a common disease received by livestock but is usually very rare among humans in the United States. However, anthrax is a very dangerous disease when contracted by a person and can result in severe breathing problems and death. In the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, the population of the U.S. was jolted into mass fear and panic, and the anthrax attacks exacerbated this trepidation. Our response teams, government, and pharmacies collectively struggled to control the situation, which proved that our country was woefully unprepared

The experience highlighted the fact that the United States was vulnerable to biological terrorism and very unprepared for such an event. Since our population was gripped by underlying fear caused by the 9/11 attack a month earlier, the anthrax attack truly created a mass hysteria of fear and paranoia. When it became known to all that anthrax was within the mail service, many became overly fearful and thus created multiple false alarms where people claimed they were infected when they were not. Because of this, hospitals were being flooded with swarms of people and pharmacies began to run out of the antibiotics needed to treat those who were positively tested of the disease. The attack wreaked havoc on the people of the United States and even caused other countries to be on high alert for a possible attack on their own people. Furthermore, as an effect of the event, President Bush announced a new federal budget plan to spend more money on biological counterterrorist measures. This new budget acknowledged the danger that biological terrorism could bestow on our population. Also, the situation provided the evidence that our country needed new extensive measures to be taken to protect our population. Overall, the anthrax attack generated horror and mass hysteria among the population and disrupted our social and political processes at the