There are many things about anthrax that you probably don’t know. Most people think of it as a deadly powder or chemical produced before the Gulf War, which also has been known to have been used in terrorist attacks. What you may not know is, anthrax is an infectious virus caused by bacterium called Bacillus Anthracis. This name is derived from the ancient Greek word ‘anthrakis’, which means coal, and is so named due to the black lesions produced by the infection. This infectious disease has been around for over a thousand years and possibly much more. Some researchers believe that the fifth and sixth plague of ancient Egypt that is described in the Old Testament was probably caused by anthrax. Also, the ‘Black Bane’ plague that broke out in central Europe in the 1600’s, which killed an estimated 60,000 domestic cattle, is also believed to be due to anthrax.

Another factor that makes anthrax such a good weapon for terrorists is that the knowledge on how to produce it can be easily obtained either in the library or the World Wide Web. The cost to produce anthrax is extremely low because anthrax molecules can be found in nature. The bacteria is so small, another substance must be used as a combining agent to hold the molecules together. Once produced, the bacteria are extremely stable and can be stored for extensive periods of time as a dry powder. Once in this state, the powder can be freeze dried and loaded into weapons and even dispersed as an aerosol spray with crude sprayers. Even if an area where an anthrax bomb went off and infected the area, the disease can remain dormant for several decades under appropriate environmental conditions. This makes it even more unsafe because even though you may not have a reported outbreak in that area, the area may still be contaminated, thus, the absence of cases does not mean that there is no risk of anthrax infection in that area.

The third type of anthrax disease is called Gastrointestinal anthrax. It is given its name because it is contracted by eating foods (usually raw or under-cooked meat) that is infected with anthrax, and results in gastrointestinal infection. Gastrointestinal infection is associated with severe abdominal pain/discomfort and is followed by a high fever, nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, and/or diarrhea.

In terrorism, anthrax is one of the best biological weapons available. Anthrax is close to 100,000 times more deadly than any other biological agent, and contains 100 million lethal doses per gram of anthrax substance. Anthrax is silent, and scentless, which adds to the lethality of it. People can not smell it, or even see it, the only way that they know that they have it is to get tested, or, until symptoms appear. You might be alarmed by flu like symptoms and should go to the doctor and get tested. Out of the three types of anthrax, terrorists use inhalational anthrax, which is

Some topics in this essay:
Bacillus Anthracis, Wide Web, , Gulf War, bacillus anthracis, anthracis found, anthrax disease, death rate, untreated death rate, infected animal carcasses, type anthrax, times deadly, untreated death, inhaling spores, lymph nodes, anthrax caught,