Anthrax

:Alternate meanings in Anthrax (disambiguation)

Biological warfare

Spores of this bacteria can be used in biological warfare. US Army personnel are now routinely vaccinated prior to active service in places where biological attacks are considered a threat. The anthrax vaccine, produced by BioPort Corporation, contains no live bacteria, and is approximately 93% effective in preventing infection. Anthrax vaccination is one of many factors suspected of causing Gulf War syndrome.

Related Topics:
Biological warfare - US Army - Anthrax vaccine - BioPort Corporation - Gulf War syndrome

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Vollum B1 was the strain used in the US and UK biological warfare programs. The weaponized stocks in the US were destroyed in 1969 after Nixon dismantled the US program.

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British tests in 1942 contaminated Gruinard Island in Scotland with anthrax spores of the Vollum/14578 strain, and rendered it unusable for the following 48 years. The trial was a test of effectivity of a submunition of an "N-bomb", a retaliatory biological weapon. In addition, five million "cattle cakes" impregnated with anthrax were prepared and stored in Porton for being dropped over Germany by the Royal Air Force as an anti-livestock weapon; however both the cakes and the bomb were never used.

Related Topics:
1942 - Gruinard Island - Submunition

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An accidental release of anthrax in a research lab at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland in the United States led to the permanent sealing of a building with plastics and glues.

Related Topics:
Fort Detrick - Frederick, Maryland - United States

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The simplest method of obtaining an anthrax sample would be to get it from an animal killed by anthrax; this source is rare in developed countries but common in underdeveloped countries.

Related Topics:
Developed countries - Underdeveloped countries

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Cultivating anthrax spores can take minimal equipment and about a first-year collegiate microbiological education. However, to make an aerosol form of anthrax suitable for biological warfare (a process called "weaponizing") requires extensive training and highly developed equipment. It is important to note, however, that simply knowing how to cultivate anthrax spores is useless, unless one actually has the anthrax species to cultivate in the first place.

Related Topics:
Microbiological - Aerosol

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High quality weaponized anthrax spores were used in bioterrorism, in the 2001 anthrax attacks, performed by mailing letters containing the spores. These events also spawned numerous anthrax hoaxes.

Related Topics:
Bioterrorism - 2001 anthrax attacks - Anthrax hoaxes

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