Anthrax :: essays research papers

anthrax is the preferred biological warfare ingredient because It is highly lethal. 100 million lethal doses per gram of anthrax real (100,000 times deadlier than the deadliest chemical warfare agent). Silent, invisible killer. Inhalational anthrax is virtually incessantly fatal. There are low barriers to production. Low cost of producing the anthrax material. non high-technology. Knowledge is widely available. Easy to produce in large quantities. It is clean to weaponize. It is extremely stable. It can be stored almost indefinitely as a dry powder. It can be loaded, in a freeze-dried condition, in munitions or disseminated as an aerosol with crude sprayers. Currently, we have a particular detection capability. What is Anthrax? Anthrax is a naturally occurring unhealthiness of shew eating animals (goats, sheep, cattle, wine, etc.) caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. It is an illness which has been recognized since antiquity. Anthrax was common in essentially all ar eas where livestock are raised. intensifier livestock immunization programs have greatly reduced the occurrence of the disease among both animals and humans in much of the world, an most outbreaks occur in areas where immunization programs have not been implemented or have constitute compromised (primarily Africa and Asia however, outbreaks occurred during the mid- I 990s in Haiti and the former Soviet Union). Anthrax spores can tolerate viable for several decades under suitable environmental conditions thus, absence of cases does not equate to absence of risk. Humans can contract anthrax in three ways Through cuts or breaks in the skin resulting from pass with an infected animal (epidermic anthrax), resulting in local and possibly systemic (bloodstream) infection. From eupneic anthrax spores (termed "woolsorters" disease) resulting in an infection of the lungs (inhalational anthrax). From eating infected meat, resulting in GI infection (gastrointestinal anthrax). Gast rointestinal anthrax is generally not considered a menace to U.S. forces. What are the symptoms? Symptoms of anthrax begin after a 1 to 6 day incubation period following exposure. For contact or cutaneous anthrax, itching will occur at the site of exposure followed by the formation of a lesion. Untreated contact anthrax has a extremity rate of 5-20 percent, but with effective antibiotic treatment, few deaths occur. Initial symptoms for inhalational anthrax are generally non-specific low grade fever, a dry hacking cough, and weakness. The person may briefly improve after 2 to 4 eld however within 24 hours after this brief improvement, respiratory scathe occurs with shock and death following shortly thereafter.