Anthrax! Jan. 21, 2011

White Powder Protection

Anthrax... It's not just an 80's heavy metal band anymore.  Anthrax is a disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis.  It affects mammals and can be spread airborne, by contact, or consuming infected flesh.  It killed millions of people and animals up until the 20th century.  It can also be weaponized.

I'm sure you remember the anthrax mail attacks of 2001.  In Desert Storm, we had an anthrax vaccine in anticipation of a biological attack.

Infection can be pulmonary, cutaneous or gastrointestinal depending on the exact form of the source and how it entered the host.

If a person is exposed, rapid dosing with antibiotics can prevent infection. 

So what brought this on, you might be asking...

The area where I work is gearing up for an exercise to practice the distribution of anthrax prophylaxis to a large population after a terrorist attack.  I met with the emergency manager today to preplan for the exercise.  The original plan was to use school buses with armed escorts to distribute the antibiotics to every single family residence.  The manpower needs would be enormous.  A more recent idea is to use the voting precinct locations as distribution points with one-on-one distribution to the housebound who call a hot line.

If you don't live or work in a metropolitan area, you probably don't have to worry too much about this.  If you do, then it might be good to contact your local emergency manager to find out your locality's plan.  If you have a good relationship with your doctor, it might be worthwhile to get a cycle of Cipro or other indicated antibiotic for each member of your household to have on standby so you won't be dependent upon the government.  After all, isn't self-reliance what we are striving for?

Thanks to Wikipedia for Anthrax details.


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Be sure to tune in this weekend.  I hope to be able to make a big announcement Saturday or Sunday!