Things you need to know about anthrax and biowarfare

The following information about anthrax is provided courtesy of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta GA.

What is anthrax?

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. It most commonly occurs in mammals such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels and antelopes, but can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals.

How Common is anthrax and who can get it?

Anthrax is a livestock pathogen. There are spores in the ground in rural areas, because they survive for about twenty years. They normally have no effect upon humans, because a few anthrax spores cannot crate an infection, and they do not come up from the ground in large quantities. Workers who are exposed to dead animals and animal products from other countries where anthrax is more common may become infected with Bacillus anthracis.

How is anthrax transmitted?

Anthrax infection can occur in three forms: cutaneous (skin), inhalation and gastrointestinal. Humans can become infected by handling products from infected animals or by inhaling anthrax sores from contaminated animal products. It is rate to find infected animals in the United States.

What are the symptoms of anthrax?

They vary depending on how the disease was contracted, but symptoms usually occur within seven days.

• Cutaneous: About 95 percent of anthrax infections occur when the bacterium enters a cut or abrasion on the skin, such as when handing contaminated animal products. It begins as a raised itchy bump that resembles an insect bite, but soon turns into a painless ulcer, usually with a black center in the middle.

• Inhalation: Initial symptoms may resemble a common cold, but lead to severe breathing problems an shock after several days. Inhalation anthrax is usually fatal.

• Intestinal: This form of anthrax may follow the consumption of contaminated meat and is characterized by an acute inflammation of the intestinal tract. Initial signs include nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting and fever, followed by abdominal pail.

Can anthrax be spread from person to person?

Direct, person-to-person spread of anthrax is extremely unlikely. It is not contagious. Anthrax sores will not diffuse uniformly through the air like a gas. They will either drop too fast or blow away. A few might be killed, but that’s not the terror that is being hyped in the media.

Is there a treatment for anthrax?

Doctors can prescribe effective antibiotics. To be effective, treatment should be initiated early.

Did Iraq weaponize anthrax?

Iraq is unsophisticated to a point of ineptness in its approach to biological weapons. It is said that Iraq uses anthrax in liquid form and puts it in missiles in liquid form. In liquid form, anthrax is almost as safe as cotton candy. Therefore, Iraq poses no anthrax threat.

Biological warfare is a flowed concept. The only route usually considered is airborne, because bombs and missiles create the delivery system. There is no disease in existence which is propagated in that manner. Even the airborne diseases require close contact with the source. Biowarfare is promoted through a combination of ignorance and propaganda.

Finally, the question is who succeeded in converting anthrax to a dry powder. Certainly bin Laden could not have. It must have been some country.

The field tests of white powders are credible. Anthrax powder is gray or brown, not white.