Anthrax

2001October

brokaw letter

Bioterrorism attacks through the mail

At the beginning of October 2001, a number of institutes, mostly in the United States, began receiving envelopes through the mail containing anthrax spores in the form of a white powder. Most of the people exposed to this powder remained healthy. By October 23^rd, 2001, 39 people in the US had been exposed to anthrax spores. The entire nation was caught in a web of horror, and throughout the world hundreds of thousands of packages and envelopes were being given to the authorities to be checked for the presence of anthrax.

A New York Times reporter received an envelope in the mail containing anthrax spores. The reporter said that the spores looked like talcum powder. The letter containing them did not bear any return address

The hypothesis was that the bacteria got to the New York Times office building in an envelope addressed to the newspaper’s staff office. Following a similar incident in another media office buiding in Florida, that state's Minister of Health, Dr. John Agvanoby, told the residents to remain calm, reminding them that the disease was not contagious and that no other incident had been detected outside that particular building. Florida’s head of prosecution, Gey Luise reported that the FBI had begun a criminal investigation to determine the circumstances of infection and whether there was any connection to the activities of the al-Qaeda organization, under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden. The FBI investigators began collecting testimony from the newspaper’s employees, wearing hermetically sealed suits and gas masks.

Washington told US embassies around the world to equip themselves with anti-anthrax drugs, in case they were attacked with the bacteria. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher clarified that this was only a precautionary measure, and that no substantial warning of a biological or chemical attack had been received.

u.s. mail

Postman equipped with gloves checking mail for suspicious powder.

Website containing information regarding the anthrax attack

Explain, based on the New York Times report, whether this is an epidemic.
An epidemic is generally a widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population. An epidemic may be restricted to one locale or it may be global (pandemic). An outbreak of a disease is defined as being epidemic, however, not by how many members or what proportion of the population it infects but by how fast it spreads.
Definition of epidemic

What questions must scientists ask, when investigating the powder containing the anthrax bacteria? How will these questions promote research? Use the following website and the information below it.
Conducting scientific research
Steps in the scientific method

You can expand your knowledge of anthrax using the following links.

If you want to know more about Bacillus anthracis go to:
	Meeting the culprit
	History of anthrax—anthrax as a zoonotic disease
	The way that anthrax infects humans- advanced activity
	How is anthrax used as a terrorist weapon?
	Anthrax naturally occurring in humans
	How do we deal with the dangers of anthrax terrorist attacks? The hope- Pathogenomics approach

2001October

Explain, based on the New York Times report, whether this is an epidemic.