Anthrax and Biowar

The Bioweapon in Envelope

The Anthrax bacteria can persist for long periods of time as a spore and can be prepared in a powdered formulation, hence B. anthracis is considered as a serious biological threat, with potential use as a military or terrorist weapon.

The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax from its FBI case name, occurred within the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters were mailed containing anthrax spores and anthrax spores were widely disseminated, into homes, the Senate, and newsrooms.

It killed 5 people and infected 17 people, according to the FBI, terror attack investigation was "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement" in USA.

 Inhalational and cutaneous disease occurred after exposure to B. anthracis spores; five people died. The investigation of these cases reveals important findings for detecting and preventing infections from bioterrorist attacks.

 B. anthracis isolates were identified from patients, powder-containing envelopes, and environmental samples from news media, government, and postal processing worksites and Sites with positive contamination or suspicion of contamination were vacated and fumigated by chlorine dioxide.

Further reading if you are interested in history of it. Knowing a story is good way to memorize…. Hope you had fun reading it. 😍

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/amerithrax-or-anthrax-investigation

https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/1033261/anthrax-attacks-10-years-later