A Study of The 2001 Anthrax Terror Attacks and the History of Biological Warfare

Abstract

In the following abstract we will review the history, data and some first person accounts of the 2001 Anthrax attacks in the United States. We will also review the history of biological warfare and discuss accidental releases of anthrax spores in the former Soviet Union during the closing days of the cold war. We will also analyze in‐depth the extent of the former Soviet Union Bioweapons program and the USSR's response to the United States‐ Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or Stars Wars program. The USSR's response was code named the “ Death Star “ program.Epidemiologic investigation indicated that the outbreak, in the District of Columbia, Florida, New Jersey, and New York, resulted from intentional delivery of B. anthracis spores through mailed letters or packages. We describe the clinical presentation and course of these cases of bioterrorism‐related inhalational anthrax.In 1979, in Sverdlovsk, former Soviet Union, an apparent aerosol release of B. anthracis spores from a military facility resulted in the largest outbreak of inhalational anthrax in the 20th century .Before October 2001, the last case of inhalational anthrax in the United States had occurred in 1976. Identification of inhalational anthrax in a journalist in Florida on October 4, 2001, marked the beginning of the first confirmed outbreak associated with intentional anthrax release in the United States. We describe the clinical presentation of the first 10 cases of this bioterrorism‐related outbreak. Also in this investigation will be the data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control as well as archival data form the Soviet Anthrax accident in Sverdlovsk 1979.Reference sources omitted due to limited submission space .