Recently, two men were taken into custody for boasting about having a biological threat called anthrax. Anthrax is caused by a bacteria called Bacillus anthracis.
The disease you get from the anthrax bacteria depends on how you are exposed to the organism. If you rub it into a cut in your skin or on your eye, a raised itchy area develops, which then blisters and forms a black scab surrounded by swelling. If you swallow the bacteria, a fever and severe diarrhea and vomiting can follow. Inhaling the organism results in the most dangerous infection. Oftentimes, inhalation of the bacteria results in pneumonia that can lead to death in severe cases. Fortunately, this bacteria is very sensitive to antibiotics. This infection is very easy to treat once you know the person has anthrax.
As a biological weapon the anthrax bacteria is not a horrible threat. It is very difficult to get into the air in order to be inhaled. A terrorist also needs to rely on prevailing winds to carry the organisms to the enemy. This organism can be grown in large amounts and is very easy to store because it forms what is called a spore. Spores are very resistant to killing. They can live for hundreds of years in the soil.
Once properly diagnosed, anthrax is not very difficult to treat. Very inexpensive antibiotics can kill this organism. There is also a vaccine that has been used in certain occupations since the 1950's. Wool-sorters and veterinarians are the two most common people to be vaccinated in the United States. This vaccine has been shown to be very safe and effective in protecting people from anthrax.
Cattle, goats, cattle, sheep and horses can also get anthrax. These animals are routinely vaccinated in the U.S. Vaccinating our animals has also rapidly reduced the number of human cases of anthrax. There have only been two cases of human anthrax in the U.S. since 1988. Vaccination of our animals have really reduced our exposure to anthrax.
So, in other words, these two unstable boasters could not have very easily held the United States hostage with the threat of releasing anthrax on the world. It could happen, however, but it would take a lot more effort than those two fellows could ever muster up.
For more information go to:
An ABCNews article called The Anthrax Threat
New York State Department of Health Communicable Disease Fact Sheet on Anthrax
For more information on Bacillus
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