As Lethal As The Hydrogen Bomb?Posting Date: 10/08/2001 Here is the most definitive clinical medical look at anthrax that I could find. It was published in JAMA in May of 1999 by the Working Group on Civilian Biodefense. This group represents members from public health, government, military, academic centers, and emergency management. It is quite long, so I will be only giving you some brief highlights. advertisement In the preamble the authors write: ?Anthrax is one of the most serious diseases [that could be used as a bioweapons]. A 1993 report of the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment estimated that between 130,000 and 3 million deaths could follow the aerosolized release of 100 kilograms of anthrax spore up wind of the Washington, D.C. area ?- lethality matching or exceeding that of a hydrogen bomb. ?The first evidence of a clandestine release of anthrax as a biological weapon most likely will be patients seeking medical treatment for symptoms of inhalation anthrax. The sudden appearance of a large number of patients in a city or region with an acute-onset flu-like illness and case fatality rates of 80 percent or more, with nearly half of all deaths occurring within 24 to 48 hours, is highly likely to be anthrax or pneumonic plague.? Here are some points I?d like to highlight from this in depth and lengthy report:
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