Identification of Anthrax Infections

Anthrax is a fatal infection of the skin, respiratory system, or gastroineutinal systems. Affects most animals that are herbivores. The life cycle of anthrax starts with the animal and when the animal dies, the diseases sits on the soil while the other mammals eat the grass from that spot. Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine for his sheep to prevent them from getting anthrax which led other doctors and scientist to acknowledge

“Bioterrorism remains a major threat for the United States despite more than $65 billion spent on protecting the country from myriad dangers, the Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center said in its latest report Wednesday. The center's Bio-Response Report Card evaluated U.S. preparedness for countering threats from bioterrorism and found the country remains vulnerable to multiple threats and "largely unprepared for a large-scale bioterrorist attack."”(UPI.com, 2011). There have been over a dozen leading U.S. bio-defense experts that have taken part in figuring out where we are exactly as a county and what the effects of a terroristic attack

It is important to understand the references to history that the author uses, in order to properly read and understand this articles intentions. First the author references the anthrax attack carried out by terrorists in 2001. These attacks consisted of letters with anthrax spores inside of them, which were then mailed different news offices and the offices of two U.S. Senators. The attacks killed five people and infected nearly 20 others. Guinan 's

Chapter 9 of the literature shows the spread of bacteria called E. Coli 0157:H7 as well as its negative effects. E. Coli 0157:H7 was found in the beef and 25 million pounds had already been eaten. The food poisoning was spreading rapidly and 200,000 people got sick. Schlosser claimed that since there is bad in the meat that is why people are getting an ill eating hamburger. Americans were getting afraid and constantly people were getting infected, especially children, elderly, and people with impaired immune systems. According to the literature,“...progressed to diarrhea that filled a hospital toilet with blood… drilling holes in his skull to relieve pressure, inserting tubes in his chest to keep him breathing, as Shia toxins destroyed his

Bruce Ivins, other than his suicide when things homing on to him with the FBI, is the anthrax killer, exposing and estimated thirty thousand people to the deadly spores, killing five, leaving its illness with seventeen others. (Shactman) The problem with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear terrorism, also know as CBRN, is that, in threats where conventional explosives are not used, chemical, biological, and radiological threats are hard to detect and prevent, and after-the-fact, are, usually, impossible, expensive, or extensive in labor and use of high-tech, cutting-edge equipment, which is complicated and needs technical expertise, to make the clean-up take very long in chemical and radiological threats, and is nearly impossible to collect evidence for examination in a laboratory in chemical and biological threats if aerosolized or in a vapor form, which dissipates into the atmosphere, environment, and plants around it (Center For Excellence in Emergency

Anthrax is a very dangerous bacteria. In these crimes, anthrax was mailed to people and when they opened the letter, anthrax would spill out from the envelope and contaminate the environment, making people very sick.

The mortality rates from anthrax vary, depending on exposure, and are approximately 20% for cutaneous anthrax without antibiotics and 25 - 75% for gastrointestinal anthrax; inhalation anthrax has a fatality rate that is 80% or higher and currently around 30% for injection anthrax. As evident in the table all age groups have to possibility of infection, there is a slightly higher infection rate for children under the age of one, possibly because their immune system is less developed and more

Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax can occur in three different forms; skin, inhalation and intestinal. It is spread by contact with the bacteria spores, which are from infectious animal products. Usually contact occurs through breathing, eating or cut and does not spread between people.

After the biological attack, 5,000 people are infected with anthrax. Since there is no data on such a large scale anthrax attack, the developers of the anthrax predictive model developed four major assumptions for the model. The first major assumption is that the average incubation period is assumed to be three days, with severe symptoms beginning one day later. The next major assumption is that the fatality rate will be 95%. The last major assumption is that the worried-well cases will range from 3:1 to 10:1. The last major assumption was that it would take two days to identify the outbreak and diagnose the initial victims of the attack and an additional two day to deliver the prophylaxis to the affected area. A community wide prophylaxis would have no effect on the outcome of the original victims of the attack (Ayala, Church, Gavin, & Mothershead, 2006, p. 12). After looking at the model for smallpox and the model for anthrax, it is easy to see that there are many more variables for the smallpox. This is due to the fact that smallpox is highly contagious and difficult to contain whereas anthrax is

Also, the anthrax spores can take between 1 - 60 days to begin to germinate in the body.

There has been an outbreak of E-coli in about 16 states early this year, which was related to the romaine lettuce which was acquired from Yuma, Arizona. “The C.D.C. learned that the others infected by that particular strain, E. coli O157:H7, had also eaten chopped romaine lettuce at restaurants before getting sick. It turned over the information to the Food and Drug Administration, which helped trace the outbreak to Yuma, Ariz.”, (Chokshi,2018). The e-coli would have been transmitted through feces which may have come from either a human or an animal. States like Pennsylvania and Idaho have been affected the most.

Clostridium botulinum produces botulinum toxin which is the strongest human known toxin. This makes it have great potential for use as a bioweapon. The concern for this has risen due to Iraq’s production, under Saddam Hussein’s rule, of 19,000 liters of botulinum toxin in 1995. This amount is enough to kill the entire population of humans on earth, three times over. The use of this neurotoxin could be in the form of aerosol or food contamination. For this reason, it is highly studied. It is also the reason I picked Clostridium botulinum as the bacterium to do my research paper on.

there are somany what if's possibilities that could've happened while shipping it. Plane could've crashed and blew up with live anthrax being every where the plane crashed and whoever is the town the plane crashed in will be affected by it.

From 1948 to 1968, scientists tested the soil, and each time found it to have unsafe levels of anthrax. In 1979, because of mounting threats from the public, the government performed an in depth examination of the land and found the spores “had lost little potency.” The cool climate kept the spores dormant, but there were fears that a warm weather period could produce a second generation of anthrax.

Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium. The most common victims of anthrax are warm-blooded animals, but it can also infect humans. Anthrax spores can be produced in a powdery form for biological warfare. When inhaled by humans, these particles cause respiratory failure and death within a week. Because anthrax is considered to be a potential agent for use in biological warfare, the Department of Defense (DOD), in 1998, announced it would begin a systematic vaccination of all U.S. military personnel. (DOD, 1998) Anthrax infection occurs in three forms: cutaneous (skin), inhalation, and gastrointestinal. B. anthracis spores can survive in the soil for many years and handling animal