ANTHRAX SPREAD BY TERRORISTS

Anthrax Spread by Terrorists

Bob's Note: 10-8-2001 There is too much coincidence to this outbreak of Anthrax to just dismiss it. Both cases occurred in the same building within a couple days of each other. Another person in the office had Anthrax spores cultured out of their nose. Anthrax spores were also found on a typewriter keyboard. The entire staff has been started on appropriate antibiotics and the building has been quarantined by the CDC. The man who got the fatal case it turns out lived just one mile from the airport where the terrorists trained for their suicide missions and also was just a short distance from where the terrorists lived.

The appearance here is of an attack by amatures to spread this disease. Anthrax will not cause disease unless about 40,000 of the spores are inhaled deep into the lungs. Otherwise the body's immune system will kill it off. The particle size is very important for the spores to remain airborn. If they are too large two things happen. First they fall from the air too quickly to be inhaled. Second, the spore particles will lodge in the upper airway and again be neutralized by the body's immune system. A professional hit would have used an ideal sized, or "weaponized" particle dispersing system and spread it over a much wider area than just a single building. An ideal spot would be a subway for instance because it would contain the infectant in a crowded area. Another would be in a large business building's air conditioning system. There is precedent for this: hundreds of cases of Legionnair's Disease, an often fatal pneumonia, were caused by water vapor being sucked up from puddles near the intakes. Or it could be dispersed as a dust simply by driving a truck down a freeway. Another aspect is that Anthrax is killed by sunlight if it were to be released during daytime. UV Light is also effective. Wind also would dilute the dust aerosol to make it less lethal. Another point of interest here: Anthrax vaccine can be given up to three days after exposure and still be effective. On the other hand, the symptoms don't occur for a week. So....

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