Risks Associated with Anthrax
Anthrax is only deadly when you inhale a huge number of spores. Once the spores hit the
ground, they stay there, so the risk from re-aerosolization is minuscule. In Sverdlovsk (now)
Ekaterinburg) there was a large release of anthrax spores from a bio-weapons factory, due to
a faulty or missing filter, in 1979. Only 66 people in the town of more than 1 million died
from anthrax, although the citizens were not notified of the release, and therefore did not
receive prompt antibiotics or optimal medical therapy.
Anthrax does NOT spread from person to person. When it travels with the wind, it follows
a narrow path, and does NOT spread out widely over long distances. That is why there were
so few cases in Sverdlovsk. Workers in American factories who were grossly contaminated
with anthrax spores, who inhaled hundreds of spores a day, almost never developed
inhalation anthrax, the most deadly form of the disease. Therefore, if anthrax is used, it will
affect only a limited area, and relatively small numbers of people.