ldt059: Anthrax: The Follow Up
#059 - [ Anthrax: The Follow Up ] [ xod ]
After all the Anthrax talk/action on the news over the past few weeks I decided to do a little research into Anthrax as a biological weapon. One of my conclusions regarding the news coverage of the whole Anthrax scare thing is that, in a sense, they are providing nothing but disinformation regarding Anthrax.
Well, that may seem a little harsh but after browsing through some medical reports written in 1999 I feel I learnt more in 10 minutes than I would sat on my ass 24/7 watching CNN. *shock*.
I decided to type this up after reading the jvaldez article - ldt055.txt.
-- Scenario
The below paragraph is an excert from a report I give the full URL of a bit later..
"In 1970, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee estimated that casualties following the theoretical aircraft release of 50 kg of anthrax over a developed urban population of 5 million would be 250,000, 100,000 of whom would be expected to die without treatment.9 A 1993 report by the US Congressional Office of Technology Assessment estimated that between 130,000 and 3 million deaths could follow the aerosolized release of 100 kg of anthrax spores upwind of the Washington, DC, arealethality matching or exceeding that of a hydrogen bomb.12 An economic model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested a cost of $26.2 billion per 100,000 persons exposed.13"
So...
The WHO (not the rock band) and the CDC (not the cDc) have both done research into the theoretical release of Anthrax spores by terrorist threats. They even have a suggested idea of cost (quite precise to the .2).
So...
The news seemed to inform us that the terrorists responsible for all these terrorist actions were using the Internet to communicate and to research. Surely, they have the intelligence to go to google.com type in 'Anthrax' and read the document I just quoted from where, and if they wanted to cause harm to people, would find a much more effective way of doing so. I obviously hope it doesn't ever go that far, I am merely talking about a possible publicly-acknowledged government-researched scenario that would cause more 'terror', which is an obvious aim of terrorism.
-- Vaccines
Could the people of American (and the World) be vaccinated if the use of Anthrax was to become more widespread. Hrm, Possibly not.
The following is an excert from the same report.
"Current vaccine supplies are limited and the US production capacity is modest. It will be years before increased production efforts can make available sufficient quantities of vaccine for civilian use. However, even if vaccine were available, populationwide vaccination would not be recommended at this time, given the costs and logistics of a large-scale vaccination program and the unlikely occurrence of a bioterrorist attack in any given community. Vaccination of some essential service personnel should be considered if vaccine becomes available. Postexposure vaccination following a biological attack with anthrax would be recommended with antibiotic administration to protect against residual retained spores, if vaccine were available."
The important thing to remember is that this report was written in 1999, only TWO years ago. The above essentially suggests that at the current time there aren't enough vaccines for us all, and only 'essential' personnel would recieve the vaccination, Hrm.
The statement - "given the costs and logistics of a large-scaled vaccination program" is quite an interesting one. I did a little more research into the vaccination process for Anthrax, and I found the following in a Pakistani Defence Journal report into Anthrax and Terrorism written in December 1998.
The following was presented as a table, and showed the dose schedule for the Anthrax vaccine.
-
Initial dose
2 weeks
4 weeks
6 months
12 months
18 months
-
and following that, an annual booster must be given to maintain immunity.
*phew*, I can see how that could be a major logistical problem.
So, I leave you with the links to the reports. Like I said, I learnt more realistic information in 10 minutes here than I ever did sat in front of CNN.
Anthrax as a Biological Weapon: Medical and Public Health Management http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v281n18/ffull/jst80027.html
Anthrax as a Weapon of Terrorism and Difficulties Presented in Response to its Use.
http://www.defencejournal.com/dec98/anthrax.htm
/-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\
Long Dark Tunnel 2001. - http://ldt.aguk.co.uk - ldt@hushmail.com
\-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/
