ZKEA

Biological Terrorism : Emerging Diseases : Biological Warfare

Anthrax

In the past anthrax was only passed on to individuals who had close and continued contact with infected animals such as these, or infected animal products.

Usually such contact resulted in cutaneous anthrax, or anthrax of the skin. This is easily treated with antibiotics such as Cipro. Left untreated, the mortality rate is 10-25%. Cutaneous anthrax is by far the most common form.

Rarer - and much more deadly - is inhalation anthrax. In this case the individual inhales anthrax spores, which then proceed to infect the lungs and the rest of the body. Treatment for inhalation anthrax is more difficult. Left untreated, this form of the disease is almost always fatal.

These spores are one of the reasons why anthrax makes such a good weapon. The spores evolved to survive for long periods in dry grasslands, waiting to be ingested by a grazing animal. Thus these spores are very tough and long-lasting, making the organism quite easy to store and weaponize. Among other things, this makes anthrax easy to ship via United State's mail.

Anthrax has other military pluses. For one thing, it naturally comes in many different strains. One can literally take a shovel out to grasslands in much of the world, get some soil, and find several varieties of anthrax contained within it. For another, anthrax is easily modified genetically. Because of this variability and adaptability, engineers have been able to create anthrax weapons of extreme virulence that are also resistant to antibiotics and vaccines.

Given all these positive traits, anthrax is invariably found in bioweapon programs. The Soviets were particularly fond of it and created a number of potent varieties. Unfortunately the Soviets could also be a bit clumsy with their bioweapon. For example, in 1979 workers forget to replace a filter in an exhaust system of a bioweapon plant. A few anthrax spores escaped and floated downwind to the city of Ekaterinburg. Officially 94 people became ill and 64 died. However, given the years of Soviet cover-up of this accident and the destruction of records, it is possible that the true death toll was far higher.

There has been a great deal of controversy with regard to anthrax vaccine. The vaccine has been blamed for everything from causing impotence to Gulf War Syndrome. The fact is that, while anthrax vaccine has definite negative side-effects and a clear risk profile, no reputable study has supported these claims.

Even so, in the advent of the use of sophisticated weaponized anthrax, it is likely that current vaccines will provide little or no protection. Bioweapons labs have successfully created a number of strains with anti-vaccine capabilities. Given the genetic basis for antibiotic resistance is also increasingly well-understood, it is expected that these strains how also been altered to include immunity to all antibiotics (such as Cipro, which is usually cited as the primary defense against anthrax).

It remains to be seen how far these strains have spread to rogue nations and sub-state actors. It's likely that terrorists won't have the sophistication to develop their own strains of vaccine and antibiotic-resistant anthrax. However, it is always possible that they could procure the spores from rogue states, which likely do have that capability. A solution of anthrax spores can be very compact. A one-liter container would be sufficient for a mass attack on a city. Thus the transfer of such a weapon to a terrorist group would be extremely hard to detect.

Link: CDC Review Of Anthrax
Link: Brief Overview of Anthrax Symptoms
Link: Anthrax In Humans And Animals (Extensive Technical Article)
Link: Symptoms and History of Anthrax. Uses In Biological Warfare
Link: Cipro losing its ability to fight germs (MDR, fluoroquinolones)
Link: PBS: The 1979 Anthrax Lead in Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg)
Link: Clinical Issues In Treatment of Anthrax
Link: Treatment of inhalation Anthrax
Link: FDA: Anthrax And Cipro
Link: Australian Army Statement On Anthrax Vaccine
Link: US Army Background on Anthrax Vaccine
Link: New Drug for Anthrax Toxin [BBC, Harvard Medical School]