Is the anthrax scare of 2001 real or constructed?

Table of Content

1. Introduction
1.1. The victims
1.2. Searching for the culprit
1.3. The aftermath

2. The Real Scare
2.1. Anthrax
2.1.1. Different disease types
2.1.2. Medical countermeasures
2.2. The preferred weapon of bioterrorism.
2.3. Terrorists can produce anthrax
2.4. Amerithrax
2.5. Suspicious mail alert

3. The truth about anthrax
3.1. Biological warfare
3.1.1. U.S. Military Propaganda
3.1.2. Dispersing anthrax
3.2. Production efforts lots of expertise
3.3. The perpetrator
3.3.1. Accusations against Al-Qaeda and Iraq
3.3.2. Anthrax from a laboratory within the United States
3.4. Ridiculous advice by the U.S. Postal Service
3.5. Interests of the economy
3.5.1. Ciproflaxin
3.5.2. Gas masks

4. Conclusion

5. Works Cited

1. Introduction

This paper will try to analyze if the fear that arose after the anthrax mailings among the American population in 2001, is justified. This will be done by help of the pro and contra method. At first, the course of the anthrax attacks is given. Then further emphasis is set upon the pro arguments for a real scare. Therefore what should be known about anthrax will be depicted. After that, the reasons because people believed in a terrorist threat are given. Furthermore the contra arguments will be given. It will be explained that disinformation especially by the government were the reason for the people’s fears. The government willingly or out of pressure let the people believe in anthrax as a threat to mankind, although anthrax is not as useful for a terrorist attack as it has been said.

2. 2001 anthrax attacks

In fall 2001, the world was shocked that five people have died in the United States, after mail has been contaminated on purpose with the lethal bacterium anthrax. Twenty-two cases of anthrax have been reported, eleven persons became infected with pulmonary anthrax and further eleven got the more harmless form cutaneous anthrax. All of the victims that have died had pulmonary anthrax.

Shortly after the planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center, letters which had anthrax inside the envelope were sent to news offices in the United States on September 18 in 2001. The recipients of the mailings were ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and the New York Post, all of them having their offices in New York City and The National Enquirer that has moved from New York to a new office at American Media Incorporated in Boca Raton, Florida. The American Media Incorporated gives out the magazine Sun (Pate). Only some weeks later, on October 9, two Democrat senators, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont likewise got such letters. They contained a sheet of paper with following sentences: "09-11-01, YOU CAN NOT STOP US. WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX. YOU DIE NOW. ARE YOU AFRAID? DEATH TO AMERICA. DEATH TO ISRAEL. ALLAH IS GREAT." (Pate). Both letters did not have a return address, but were postmarked 18 September 2001 in Trenton, New Jersey. Maybe this should lead the investigators on the wrong track. Trenton is the home of a large Arab-American community. Those responsible for the World Trade Center attacks had lived there, too. Having luck, the letter has never reached senator Leahy due to a mistake. It remained closed and has only been opened by the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in December 2001.

Test results proved that the anthrax belongs to the Ames strain. The substance sent to the senators was specially developed powder. The envelopes contained one gram of anthrax that consisted of ten percent more spores than the letters sent to the news stations. Moreover, the powder was almost pure, consisting of a trillion spores. The anthrax could be “weaponized” anthrax that was made by biological weapons experts. The Ames strain was purchased to more than fifteen bio-research laboratories located in the United States. Furthermore the strain has been delivered to laboratories outside the country (Pate).

1.1. The victims

Five victims did not survive the attacks, all of them were exposed to pulmonary anthrax: Robert Stevenson, working for the magazine Sun , and four other civilians, including two women. The journalist Robert Stevens died within twenty days after the infection. The substance was found on his computer keyboard. One of the women who died was Kathy Nguyen who worked in a hospital in New York City. It is unknown how she got infected. Ottilie Lundgren, an old woman aged 94, was also infected. It was assumed that she got it by mail but no signs of the bacterium could be found in her flat. At last, two mail workers of the Mail Centre Brentwood in Washington D.C. died of inhalation anthrax. These are the first inhalation cases in the United States since 1976. Tommy Thompson who works as secretary at the United States Department of Health and Human Services proposes that Stevens may have got infected with anthrax, because he drank contaminated water, but Thompson neglects that the attacks might be in connection with terrorism (Pate).

1.2. Searching for the culprit

Still, the true culprit has not been found, although the FBI has been investigating this case for several years. Some journalists and people of the general public have started to make up own theories about who has released the bacterium. Amongst others, there is Dr. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg who openly accused the virologist Dr. Steven Hatfill. This led to a careful and thorough examination of Dr Hatfill’s person. From then on, the whole world was aware of the public pursuit. Steven Hatfill, who has worked as a researcher at USAMRIID, is known to be an expert on the Ebola and Marburg viruses, but not on anthrax bacteria. Dr. Rosenberg was sure that the assailant “has connections with the U.S. government“ (Pate) and that he worked for the CIA. Furthermore, she believes that the FBI made sure that the villain should not be found, because he knows about information that the government wants to keep secret. However, it could not be confirmed that Dr. Hatfill was responsible and due to this fact, he has never officially been claimed to have committed the crime he was accused of. Hatfill has been very upset about the accusation and declared to be innocent. He made a claim in a court of law against the government and journalists, because of the character assassination that happened to him.

1.3. The aftermath

After the anthrax attacks, people were frightened to get infected with the disease, too. More than thousand people took Bayer’s antibiotics called Cipro to prevent an infection with the bacterium. Showing concern, the government has given out guidelines how to behave in the case of other attacks on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Moreover, the Defense Department and the FBI have given out information about anthrax as a biological warfare agent and The FBI and the Postal service have published posters how to treat suspicious mail.

2. The Real Scare

After the media has published lots of articles about the threat that anthrax is supposed to be for the population, it has come to a scare among American citizens. Still shocked by the attacks on the World Trade Center, people believed the news of another terrorist threat. Many governmental institutions have responded to this fear by giving help in form of information about anthrax and giving out guidelines. Moreover, information given by lots of different governmental institutions like the United States Department of Defense, its special Anthrax Vaccination Immunization Program, the FBI, and the Centers for Disease Control Prevention is described. It is part of the Department of Health and Human Services and cooperates with federal health establishments: health departments, veterinarians, hospitals, emergency response teams and laboratories.

2.1. Anthrax

Information about anthrax has been given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The United States Department of Defense, and by scientists and universities.

Bacillus anthracis is a bacterium that can survive in the environment by forming spores. It can cause an infectious disease known as anthrax. It is known to be very severe (Centers for Disease Control). Anthrax is an infection that has already been known in ancient Greece. The word anthrax is Greek and means “coal”. It derives its name from the dark sores that occur on the skin in its most common form cutaneous anthrax. Anthrax is a livestock disease that appears for example with sheep, cattle or horses.

Humans can get anthrax by touching or breathing in anthrax spores located on infected animal products like wool. Very important is the fact that the virus cannot be transmitted from one person to another, it cannot come to an epidemic (Centers for Disease Control). It has appeared in many parts of the world, including Asia, southern Europe, parts of Africa and Australia (World Health Organization). Recognized areas of infection in the United States are South Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and California, small areas exist in other states. Only one or two cases of cutaneous or “naturally-acquired” anthrax occur in the United States per year. Unreliable reporting makes it difficult to estimate the actual incidence of human anthrax infections worldwide. To destroy the bacteria is only possible by steam sterilization or if they are burned at 212F or 100 °C. Anthrax has an extremely high mortality rate (Todar).

2.1.1. Different disease types

Three disease types exist: cutaneous, gastrointestinal and pulmonary anthrax. The symptoms of the three anthrax types are very different. Usually first signs of having anthrax become visible within seven days after having infection with the bacterium. This is true for all anthrax types (Centers for Disease Control). According to the Defense Department, symptoms begin between day one up to day six of the incubation.

2.1.1.1. Cutaneous anthrax

The most common anthrax type is cutaneous anthrax. It is usually acquired when people get in contact with anthrax when they have cuts in the skin (Todar). A sore develops and changes rapidly into a small swelling filled with liquid under the skin. Finally a skin ulcer with a black centre develops that do not cause pain. In severe cases, when it has come to a blood infection, the disease is frequently fatal. In most cases and when antibiotics are used, it can be healed. Untreated anthrax leads to death in roughly twenty per cent, but with effective antibiotic treatment, few deaths occur (World Health Organization).

2.1.1.2. Gastrointestinal anthrax

Gastrointestinal anthrax results from eating meat that has not been cooked long enough and originates from infected animals. At first, patients feel sick and show a loss of appetite. They can have bloody diarrhoea, and fever. These symptoms are similar to food poisoning, but these can worsen to produce serious stomach ache or even vomiting of blood . This form of anthrax is rare. With antibiotic treatment at least a quarter of the infected die. In the worst case, more than half cannot be saved (Centers for Disease Control).

2.1.1.3. Pulmonary Anthrax

Though the rarest, the most dangerous form of human anthrax is pulmonary or inhalation anthrax. Therefore it is causing the most current concern. This form of the disease is caused when a person is directly exposed to a large number of anthrax spores suspended in the air, and breathes them in (World Health Organization). This form was used during the anthrax attacks and all deaths occurred after people were exposed to those spores. In 2001, twenty-two anthrax cases were known. Eleven people were infected with inhalation anthrax, only six survived.

Approximately 10,000 or even more spores are needed to get the disease (BBC- Anthrax Fact File- Symptoms and effects). Spores that can be inhaled are about one to five microns small that is a millionth of a meter. When one has got infected, spores germinate and damaging toxins stream through the veins. They move into the lymph system via the alveoli of the lungs. Symptoms normally become visible after three days, they remind of having a cold or flu. People often have a sore throat, mild fever and muscle aches. Later on it can also happen that patients show cough, chest discomfort and shortness of breath, tiredness and muscle aches (Centers for Disease Control). Afterwards it comes to a severe bleeding inside the person's body (BBC- Anthrax Fact File- Symptoms and effects).

Researchers believe that inhalation anthrax is fatal in approximately 75 per cent of cases, even with appropriate treatment (Mayo Clinic). The British Broadcasting Company has published the figure of 89 per cent (Anthrax Fact File- Symptoms and effects). The Department of Defense has claimed that about the entire infected people die.

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