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Loved Ones…Anthrax isn't new. Some historians believe anthrax was one of the Egyptian plagues at the time of Moses.

Anthrax disease is caused by a rod-shaped bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, which normally resides as a spore in the soil. These spores are extremely hardy. They're resistant to sunlight and have been known to survive in soil for many years.

Anthrax spores remain dormant until they find their way into a host to infect — an animal or a human.

Anthrax primarily affects wild and domestic livestock — such as sheep, cattle, horses, goats and camels — that contract intestinal anthrax by eating spores from the soil. Anthrax once was common in most areas where livestock are raised. But in modern times, animal vaccination programs have greatly reduced the natural occurrence of the disease among both animals and humans in much of the world.
Outbreaks of animal anthrax still occur in places that don't have widespread livestock immunization programs, such as Central and South America, eastern and southern Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Naturally occurring anthrax is rare in the United States.

Historically, most human cases of anthrax occurred as a result of exposure to infected animals or their meat or hides. In fact, anthrax used to be known as woolsorters' disease because people who worked with wool in the 18th century often contracted inhalation anthrax from handling spore-contaminated wool in enclosed factory spaces.

Anthrax as a biological weapon
Before 2001, numerous nations are believed to have experimented with anthrax as a biological weapon, including the United States.

The worst known documented outbreak of inhalation anthrax in humans occurred in Russia in 1979, when anthrax spores were accidentally released from a military biological weapons facility near the town of Sverdlovsk, killing at least 66 people.

But the average person wasn't aware of this weapon until the fall of 2001, when 22 cases of anthrax infection resulted from letters containing anthrax spores sent via the U.S. Postal Service. Eleven people were infected with cutaneous anthrax. Eleven others were infected with inhalation anthrax, resulting in five deaths.

These cases have heightened concern about the possibility of a large-scale anthrax attack by independent well-funded terrorist groups.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified anthrax as a Category A bioterrorism agent —

which is considered the biggest threat to national security. Anthrax raises concerns as a biological weapon because:
§ It's not difficult to obtain. Anthrax is a naturally occurring bacterium, so it's relatively easy to grow or acquire. Samples of anthrax already exist at some research laboratories worldwide. Theoretically, anthrax could also be isolated and grown from the remains of an animal that died of anthrax or from nearby soil.
§ It's highly lethal. Experts calculate that 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of anthrax aerosolized over a city on a clear, calm night could kill 130,000 to 3 million people — making such an attack as lethal as a hydrogen bomb. The small size of anthrax spores means they would be likely to infect people indoors as well as those outdoors.
§ It's hardy. Anthrax spores are resistant to environmental damage. During World War II, the British government experimented with anthrax on an island off the coast of Scotland. Nearly 40 years later, abundant numbers of spores survived on the island. Cleaning up the island required tons of formaldehyde and seawater.
People intent on creating widespread anthrax infection would most likely spread anthrax by spraying it or releasing it into a ventilation system. However, making anthrax into a form that can be aerosolized requires growing a large number of spores and converting them into a powder form. That's difficult for perpetrators to do, and they may accidentally contaminate themselves. In addition, the release of anthrax spores could be difficult to control because of the wind's variation in direction and velocity, making anthrax a less effective weapon of mass destruction.
Anthrax spores come in different sizes. The smaller the size, the more easily the spores can be inhaled and cause severe illness. Hundreds of strains of anthrax occur naturally, some which are more resistant to antibiotics than are others. Genetically altered strains could prove more difficult to treat. However, it takes advanced skill to produce anthrax of uniform size or of increased virulence.
Potentially, animals could be purposely infected with anthrax. But animals with anthrax die very quickly, and their meat turns black in color, so it's unlikely that infected animals would ever make it to a meatpacking plant. There's little information available about the risks of food or water being contaminated directly with anthrax spores.

Experts say that biological agents such as anthrax may be more of a threat to individuals, who can be infected by anthrax sent through the mail, rather than a threat against large groups.

Loved ones what goes around comes around
- posted by Samuel Bell @ 7:48 AM