United States anthrax development

A GIS database of specific anthrax outbreak localities within the 48 contiguous United States was developed from a variety of data sources for the period 2000 to 2005, with the exception of a 1957 outbreak report that could be mapped at the point level for... 

Because of their stahihty under many adverse conditions, anthrax spores are ideal for use as a biological weapon. Many countries, including the United States, have developed anthrax weapons, and in spite of treaties eliminating such programs, such weapons are beheved to still exist. 

More recently, anthrax has been used as a biological weapon in the United States and a total of 22 cases were identified. Six fatalities occurred due to inhalation of the causal agent, Bacillus anthracis. Use of microorganisms for agroterrorism as well as infection of companion animals, and the potential development of genetically engineered agents have made the twenty-first century more vulnerable than past centuries. 

Right now, we have to deal with incubation time and wait for victims to develop symptoms. The incubation time for anthrax is one to six days. In this example, anthrax victims would have one to six days between exposure and the onset of symptoms. Anthrax is not transmissible from person to person. Compare this to the incubation time with that of the virus, smallpox, which is ten to seventeen days. Smallpox is highly transmissible from person to person. After exposure to smallpox, a person could travel by air around the world a number of times and contaminate many people before developing any symptoms. However, naturally occurring smallpox has been eradicated worldwide since 1977. Terrorism could rapidly change that eradication to an attack since samples of the smallpox virus have been stored in both the United States and Russia. 

The mortality rate of occupationally acquired inhalational anthrax cases in the United States had been 89%, but most of these cases occurred before the development of critical care units, and in some cases, before the advent of antibiotics. In the October 2001 attacks, five of 11 patients with inhalational anthrax died. This recent experience suggests that early diagnosis and treatment is critical to improving survival. 

A 1904 study demonstrating that extracts from edema fluid from anthrax lesions provided protection in animals led to the eventual development of a safer, cell-free vaccine for humans. Anthrax vaccine now used in the United States, BioThrax... 

In the United States a more recent biological terrorism attack occurred in 2001 when letters laced with infectious anthrax were delivered to news media offices and the US Congress. The letters killed five people . While many believed this attack to be in relation to Iraq s development of biological weapons, the anthrax strand used seemed to indicated a domestic source. 

TABLE 1. Data Sources for Anthrax-Outbreak Localities (1957-2005) Used to Develop Ecological Niche Models of Bacillus anthracis in the Contiguous United States and to Project the Distribution in Mexico... 

The fluoroquinolones are second-generation antibacterials. Ciprofloxacin (CIPRO, Bayer AG), moxifloxacin (AVELOX, developed by Bayer AG and marketed in the United States by Schering-Plough Corp.), and levofloxacin (LEVAQUIN, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) are examples of this group. All are antibiotics used to treat or prevent certain infections caused by bacteria. Ciprofloxacin is also used to treat or prevent anthrax in people who may have been exposed to anthrax germs in the air. Similarly,... 

Before the United States ended its program in 1969, it had been developed an anthrax weapon. Until recently, a dried preparation of anthrax was an important part of the Soviet Union s strategic BW arsenal, and Iraq has admitted to UNSCOM inspectors in 1995 that it too had weaponized anthrax. 

At the same time, cooperation in BW research and development was undertaken by the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. It was learned from tests conducted by the British at Gruinard Island oflf the coast of Scotland and Penclawdd on the coast of Wales (1942-3) that loading anthrax into bomblets included in cluster munitions was the most feasible method of delivering the agent. This was determined by sheep placed at various distances from a bomb loaded with anthrax. The reach of the deadly spores was such that animals placed 250 yards downwind received a lethal dose of anthrax. Despite these impressive results, effective cluster-type munitions using anthrax were never supplied to AUied forces in World War II. 

A Soviet-made, live attenuated (non-encapsulated) strain of anthrax, administered in 1943, is probably the first recorded anthrax vaccine made for humans. At about the same time, one of the first orders of business in the United States biological warfare program was also the development of anthrax vaccine. In one of the first efforts, 205 personnel were administered a vaccine made of killed Bacillus anthracis bacteria (the causative agent of anthrax) vaccine. After several months of study, however, it became clear that this vaccine showed little efficacy and was discontinued. 

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