Anthrax
Many bacterial agents can be used as bioweapons, including Clostridium botulinum (botulism) and Yersinia pestis (plague). But anthrax stands out because its spores are particularly hardy; they are resistant to sunlight, heat and disinfectant, and can remain active in soil and water for years. Anthrax occurs naturally in both wild and domestic animals?including cattle, sheep and camels. Infection from direct contact with affected animals is fatal in 20% of cases. If inhaled, however, anthrax spores cause death in almost 90% of the time.
Yet manufacturing sufficient quantities of any bacteria in a stable form is a technical and scientific challenge; plague bugs, for example, degrade within hours when exposed to the sun, and anthrax spores tend to clump together in humid conditions. The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo sprayed anthrax and botulism eight times over parts of Tokyo without effect.
Despite all the attention being given crop dusters, using one to spread germs is not as easy as it sounds. The planes are designed to spray pesticides in heavy, concentrated streams, whereas bioweapons are ideally scattered in a fine mist over as large an area as possible. The nozzles in crop dusters are best suited to discharging relatively large particles ? 100 microns in diameter ? not tiny one-micron specks of bacteria.
posted on October 22, 2001 06:31:45 PM new
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Iraq has Anthrax in liquid form which is really good for crop duster nozzles. The US and Russia are the only countries that have the powder form.
posted on October 22, 2001 07:04:41 PM new
First no government is even 90% sure Iraq has A bio factory at this time...
If they have rebuilt one since the gulf war its already know they got the technology from Russia..
Secondly anthrax is Bacteria incased in a spour It is not a liquid but needs liquid like any other liveing thing to Thrive..
Anthrax its self will stay dorment with out moisture or a host organisum about 5 to 10 day at which time it dies and bocomes harmless dust it need a humid warm invoronment and nutrients to multiply and and thrive ..
This is what I have learned in some of the reasearch I have done on the subject myself..
One of the reasons they worry about crop duster spary large amount of anthrax in areas is that it could make large area uninhabitable for years untill you could not only treat the area but even remove all the soil and replace it..
The UK has an Island they did anthrax testing on I think in during world war 1 and the Island 50 years later was still contaminated they had to excavate and treat the Idland with cemical and still today some soil test positive enough to see cases of anthrax up to a several miles from the site..
"So why all of the hype about anthrax? Because tobacco, bad driving, and virtually all of the other things likely to kill any one of us are boring. Terrorists, on the other hand, make excellent press."
"Over time, the fear of dying from anthrax will dissipate. With a little knowledge we can take back our lives. We can win. It doesn't even require bravery. Just a small dose of reality."
posted on October 22, 2001 07:36:29 PM new
Source: http://nov55.com/athr.html
In fact, military and UN inspectors only found two Iraqi warheads with anthrax in them (in liquid form). If Iraq had anthrax in an effective form,it would have had it in hun- dreds of warheads, as they did with nerve gas.So Iraq knew its anthrax was useless.
source: http://www.stimson.org/cwc/iraqbw.htm
22,245 gallons declared but unconfirmed
Anthrax is natural in soil. As I stated in another thread, cattle get it if the weather conditions are right. People can get it from eating undercooked meat or wildlife.
posted on October 22, 2001 10:54:58 PM new
I just had to laugh, Outoftheblue, what an unfortunate article. From the time it was posted to the time I read it, the chances, according to the article, of dying from anthrax had gone up 300% (if the two postal worker deaths do turn out to be anthrax). And, it'll probably be more later, there's 3 hospitalized inhalation cases, and inhalation prognoses aren't very good, generally, I think. And every time they find one letter, a larger number of infections, exposures, and contaminations arise, like a Malthusian progression.
But, like I said before, the chances of dying are what they always were, 100%. On the whole, I'd rather die of anthrax than, say, some nasty Ebola type virus.
posted on October 22, 2001 11:44:52 PM new
Hi Donny
I'm still not worried about Anthrax. The more I read the less worried I become.
"as any of the people that have tested positive for inhalation without contracting it will tell you, it's hard to "catch."
Anthrax tends to clump together into groups of bacteria, just as powdered sugar tends to clump into groups. When you inhale it, the "clumps" stick in your nose hairs and in the mucous in your throat. Then you sneeze it and cough it out. Result? You don't die and you didn't even need antibiotics.
The only way to contract pulmonary anthrax is to get very small clumps of bacteria spores lodged deep in your lungs. The way that the anthrax is being distributed (packed into envelopes) makes this a very low probability result.
And even if you are exposed, there's these guys called doctors who give you some pills and behold! You're cured."
Unfortunatly I closed the browser window I copied that from and I don't remember where I found it. Guess I need to get some sleep...
I did find this on the anthraxvaccine.org web site.
"It ONLY affects those who breathe in the spores when first released. There is only a tiny risk from spores that are re-aerosolized later. Therefore, if you are not in the immediate area of release, or in a narrow path where spores of sufficient quantity are carried by the wind (it requires tens of thousands to millions of spores to cause infection) you will not be affected."
The above probably doesn't apply to an indoor release.
[ edited by outoftheblue on Oct 23, 2001 12:07 AM ]
posted on October 23, 2001 12:42:55 AM new
I'm not worried either. But, this isn't quite true, is it:
"And even if you are exposed, there's these guys called doctors who give you some pills and behold! You're cured."
'Cause, if you're only exposed but don't contract the illness, there's nothing to be cured of. And, if you are exposed and do contract the illness through inhalation, it's not quite as simple as getting some pills and getting cured. Remember, we haven't heard of one person in this who has contracted anthrax via inhalation and has been cured. All we know is that one person, and possibly three people, who contracted it that way died, and the other three people who contracted it through inhalation are hospitalized. And, out of those three hospitalized, one has been hospitalized for quite awhile with, as far as I can see, very little information being given on his progress.
The US and Russia are the only countries that have the powder form.
