n aircraft equipped with a spray mechanism, small bombs or aerosol canisters released in a densely populated area (1). The route of infection for specific biological agents vary greatly, as does the feasibility of such an attack.
The spores of the anthrax bacteria are found in the soil and infect humans via infected animals. Infection occurs by three different methods: cutaneous, inhalation, and gastrointestinal. It is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the three most fatal biological agents (2). Cutaneous anthrax is the most common form of anthrax, accounting for up to 95% of cases worldwide (1). The spores enter the body through previous cuts or other open wounds. Upon germination in the infected skin tissues, a toxin is produced which consequently results in local edema and painless eschars that fall off within one to two weeks (3). Without treatment the fatality rate is as high as 20% (1,3). Inhalation anthrax is the most fatal form of infection, with fatality rates approaching 50% even with treatment, which includes antibiotics, antianthrax globulin and coritico steroids (3). Upon inhalation some of the spores are ingested and destroyed by macrophages. Germination into vegetative cells occurs in the mediastinal lymph nodes after an incubation that ranges from 2 to 43 days (3). Fatality is caused by multiple factors including hemorrhagic meningitis, arteritis and arterial rupture (3). Gastrointestinal anthrax is very rare and is believed to be caused by the ingestion of undercooked infected meat, or untreated water (1,3). Because of the commonality of the symptoms, which include nausea, vomiting, a
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