The germ warfare agent anthrax is a bacterium that, if inhaled, can kill a person in a matter of days. It sounds like science fiction, like something a mad scientist developed in a lab in hopes of taking over the world. In reality is an ancient disease of live stock and humans known since Biblical times. It just never made so many headlines before. Anthrax is an infectious disease known as Bacillus Anthracis. The bacterium can survive for centuries in a spore form. Their inside coating of armor allows
Anthrax is a very real and dangerous threat to all people who come in contact with it. The bacterial infection is caused by the bacteriaium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax is divided into three categories all are contracted in different ways. The first type is called Cutaneous Anthrax; this is where anthrax spores make contact with the skin. If there is a cut or a lesion then a person can be infected. Cutaneous Anthrax is the most common way to get anthrax, but is also the least lethal. The second type
Anthrax is the preferred biological warfare agent because: It is highly lethal. 100 million lethal doses per gram of anthrax material (100,000 times deadlier than the deadliest chemical warfare agent). Silent, invisible killer. Inhalational anthrax is virtually always fatal. There are low barriers to production. Low cost of producing the anthrax material. Not high-technology. Knowledge is widely available. Easy to produce in large quantities. It is easy to weaponize. It is extremely stable. It can
Anthrax Many Facilities in communities around the country have received anthrax threat letters. Most were empty envelopes. Some have contained powder substances. Anthrax has been linked back to the fifth and sixth plaques of Egypt around 1500 BC. In the early 1700s it first appeared in North America in Louisiana. In Kentucky at about 1824 cutaneous anthrax appeared among cowboys on cattle ranches. Germany, Russia, and Japan conducted extensive research toward the use of anthrax as a biological
ANTHRAX One of the most important responsibilities a Secretary of Defense has is to make sure the United States’ military members are protected as much as possible from any type of harm. Since the cease-fire of the Gulf War, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have discovered that anthrax has become the number one biological threat to our troops. With finding this information, the Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen, has decided to ensure that each military member is protected from anthrax with its vaccine
serious disease called anthrax. According to the CDC (2006), while anthrax is not known to spread between humans, humans are commonly infected by handling infected animals or animal products. The CDC goes on to explain that there are three types of anthrax: cutaneous – obtained through cuts and open sores, lungs – obtained through the inhalation of spores of the bacteria, e.g. in the wool of animals, and digestive – obtained through consuming infected meat. Unfortunately, anthrax can be isolated and
Could someone use anthrax for a larger attack on American cities? Unfortunately, yes-and they could also use any of a series of other germs, some more lethal than anthrax. But it’s not easy to get anthrax, and it’s not easy to deploy. The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo tried to spread anthrax from its Tokyo office building in 1993 and failed dismally. Experts disagree on how dangerous it would be if someone sprinkled anthrax in, say, an office ventilation system or a subway car, but any larger attack
last decade, has become a real threat to the world. Since the anthrax attacks on American soil in 2001, the world has become aware of the potential risk of an anthrax attack. Anthrax is the disease caused by the Bacillus anthracis bacteria. Ever since early history, anthrax has occurred in livestock animals and in humans. The bacteria prevent the macrophages from communicating with the rest of the body. Thus, the body cannot fend of anthrax and slowly organs begin to deteriorate. However, a series of
Anthrax is a bacterial disease instigated by the endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium Bacillus anthracis . Anthrax itself comes from the Greek word for coal, nthrax, attributable to the coal colored lesions that oftentimes develop on victims’ dermis. Though the sporadic disease most commonly affects animals in agricultural regions, it can sometimes infect humans and cause serious illness as well as both hypodermic and internal infections that can prove fatal to those infected. German microbiologist
Anthrax is one of the most preferred biological warfare agents for many highly identified reasons. First, anthrax is extremely lethal. Anthrax can contain up to 100 million lethal doses in just one gram of anthrax spores, which is 100,000 times more lethal than any other biological warfare agent. It is also known that inhalation anthrax is almost always fatal if the symptoms are allowed to progress without any treatment. Anthrax is also the silent and invisible killer. On top of the fatality rate