Anthrax weaponization
[1][3] Anthrax spores can cause infection from inhalation, skin contact, ingestion or injection and when untreated can lead to death.
[3] Concentrated anthrax spores, and not necessarily the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, pose the biggest risk as a biological weapons to humans.
[4] Post exposure symptoms resemble flu-like illness followed by a fulminant phase of severe acute respiratory distress, shock and, ultimately death.
[4] A mathematical model of a simulated large-scale airborne anthrax attack in a large city (1 kg anthrax spores in a city of 10 million people) was created, which takes into account the dispersion of spores, the age-dependent dose-response, the dynamics of disease progression and the timing and organization of medical intervention.
[4] Once exposure occurs and before the fulminant stage, antibiotic treatment of ciprofloxacin 400 mg or doxycycline 100 mg intravenously twice daily as well as two other antibiotics (clindamycin, vancomycin, imipenem, meropenem, chloramphenicol, penicillin, rifampicin, clarithromycin) and close clinical observation for a 60-100 day period is recommended.
North Korea is believed to be conducting tests on anthrax filled warheads which may be deployed on Hwasong-15 missiles, which could be used to contaminate areas, such as military bases, in a time of war for periods of months.
[13][14] However, it can also be achieved with direct feeding, such as the "cattle cakes" containing anthrax spores, which were kept on hand by the Royal Air Force for aerial dispersal during the second World War.
[1] This change lead to increased resources for the research and creation of methods such as "vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests", to defend against biological weapons.
[1][2] This treaty was created based on proposals by Great Britain and the Warsaw Pact nations, where it was ratified in April 1972 and went into force in 1975.
[1][9] As a response to possible attacks from Germany, the United States, Great Britain and Canada started biological weapons programs.
[1][12] In 1942 and 1943 n-bomb cluster munition, containing anthrax spores were detonated over Gruinard Island, as a joint research program between the United States, Canada and Great Britain.
[1][12] In 1944, the US converted the Vigo Ordnance Plant, Terre Haute, Indiana, to mass produce biological agents for the U.S. bio-weapons program.
Although the Vigo plant never actually produced bio-weapons before the end of World War II, based on preliminary studies performed at Camp Detrick (now Fort Detrick), it did produce 8000 pounds of the anthrax simulant, Bacillus atrophaeus (then termed Bacillus globigii), which was used in weapons development testing.
[1][3] Soviet reports in 1979 denied the manufacture of biological weapons and reported that the anthrax outbreak originated from livestock, but in 1992 it was confirmed by the president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, that the outbreak originated from a Soviet military microbiological facility within 4 kilometers of the city, and occurred from improper installation of air filters at the facility.
[1][3] 1993 the Aum Shinrikyo cult released anthrax spores from the roof of an eight-story building in downtown Tokyo.
