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Reconnissance Sampling and Decontamination Module
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Index to Reconn/Decon Webpages Anthrax |
Anthrax as a Bioterrorist Weapon in the U.S. Anthrax attacks followed the aerial attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. These attacks, resulting in damages and costs measured in billions of dollars, mobilized the U.S. into a War on Terrorism. The vulnerability of the U.S. to bioterrorist attacks has become part of a new public awareness. Precision Lift's contribution to the Homeland Defense effort is its Reconn/Decon Module. This module provides a way of tracking the path of a cloud of wind-blown anthrax 1 or 2 weeks after release. The anthrax disease, caused by the bacteria, Bacillus anthracis, has a vegetative form, which is viable and active in its host, and a spore form, which can survive for many years in soils. Cattle, sheep, deer, and other large hoofed-animals which die from anthrax, contain the vegetative form of the disease. When the carcass is ripped open by scavengers so that the bacteria are exposed to air, the bacteria forms spores. The spores go into the soil where they can remain for many years. Wind and water disperse the spores. Grazing animals ingest the spores and the cycle repeats itself.
Because of the ease with which spores can be dispersed in an aerosol, inhalational anthrax is of the greatest concern as a bioterrorist weapon that can cause a large number of casualties. The expected form of this kind of attack is as an aerosol dispersed in the air with a steady wind blowing, either as tiny droplets of liquid or as dry particles. Particles 1 to 2 microns in size penetrate into the lungs and are difficult for the lungs to eject. Sprayers mounted on the top of high buildings, mounted in a truck, or mounted in an airplane can disperse a cloud of anthrax spores over a large area. Anthrax can be carried and dispersed from a cruise missile or an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Anthrax Attack in South FloridaOn Tuesday, October 2, 2001, Robert Stevens of Lantana, Florida was hospitalized. He was diagnosed as having inhalational anthrax on October 4th. He died on the following day. There were only 18 cases of inhalational anthrax during the 20th Century in the entire United States. The majority of these cases involved workers handling the hair, wool, or hides of contaminated animals. In the aftermath of terrorist attacks on NY and Washington, DC, any case of inhalational anthrax will receive a great deal of attention. The obvious first question in determining the origin of infection is whether the victim(s) had access to hides, fur, or carcases. Can these be located and do they test positive for anthrax? In the Stevens case there was no connection to hair, wool, or hides of contaminated animals. The details of the Stevens case can be found in a series of articles in the Miami Herald and in other reports by the media. (The link at the bottom of this page gives the entire history of the anthrax attacks.) Two hypotheses for the anthrax were intensively investigated:
Subsequent cases confirmed the second hypothesis. Since bioterrorist attacks and their consequences were daily news during the fall of 2001, responses to both types of attack are discussed below. The "Cloud of Anthrax" HypothesisA Credible Threat
Atta visited a crop-dusting operator several times at the Belle Glade Municipal Airport, about an hour's drive west of Lantana, wanting to know how to start the engine of a crop-dusting plane, how much fuel it could hold, how much of a chemical load it could carry, how fast it flew, and whether it was hard to fly. A crop-dusting plane can disperse enough anthrax to do major damage to the population of a metropolitan area. According to a September 24, 2001, article in the Miami Herald, Atta was sometimes accompanied by other men. Also, there were other groups of Middle Eastern men asking the crop-dusting operator for details of his plane and its operation. Essam al Ridi, an Egyptian-born US citizen and pilot, testified on February 14, 2001, that Usama bin Laden personally asked him to set up a crop-dusting business. Crop-dusting manuals were found in the belongings of Zacarias Moussaoui, the indicted terrorist who was apprehended at a Minnesota flight school before he could participate in the September 11, 2001, attack. The Federal Government grounded all crop-dusting planes in the U.S. for several weeks. The hypothesis that Atta or another terrorist released anthrax in the air from a rented airplane received major attention from investigating agencies. Anthrax Affects Only Small % of Population and Can Have Long Incubation Period In the 1979 aerosol release of anthrax at Sverdlovsk, Russia, only about 1% of the people exposed to airborne anthrax spores contracted anthrax disease. The anthrax released there was freshly cultured, highly virulent and weaponized for stability and other properties. A less virulent strain of anthrax may be less effective in infecting the human population. The incubation period at Sverdlovsk--the time before the first symptoms appeared--was up to 6 weeks. In other studies the incubation period has been as long as 90 days. Thus, the Stevens case was well within the timeframe for a small release of anthrax in August, 2001, by Atta or another terrorist. How To Track a Large Aerosol Release If there is a large release of anthrax or other biological agent into the air at an outdoor location, how can one track the path of the deadly plume days or several weeks later? The simplest answer to this question is to look at the maps showing the locations of dead bodies, locations of the place of death, and most likely locations for exposure. However, anthrax can have a long incubation period. An answer is needed quickly. Surveying the immediate, adjacent, and surrounding environments by collecting samples and using rapid analysis techniques can determine the dispersal pattern in only a couple of days--in time to save lives.
Soil and Water Samples Anthrax spores can survive for many years in the soil, but are much more likely to be preserved in soils rich in calcium. Limey soils that have developed on limestone bedrock are particularly suitable for preserving anthrax. Anthrax spores tend to float on water and thus can be flushed from the vegetation and soil and carried downstream. Places where the spores may collect when carried by running water include wetlands where there is sticky biofilm on the plants and clumps of organic matter stuck in eddies. Large Animal Sampling
Carnivores that are actively eating small rodents can provide a "collective sample of the rodent and small animal population." Larger live traps can be set for carnivores. The aid of local trappers as to the best placement of the traps can be very helpful. Small Rodent Trapping Program Small rodents are widely distributed. If there are indications of anthrax in the wildlife and domestic animal population, a major program to trap mice and voles can provide definitive information on the path of an aerosol. Defining the perimeter and the buffer zone are important components in managing the response to a bioterrorist attack. The trapping scheme should cover an extensive area. A suggested scheme would be to set traps in the immediate vicinity of a known occurrence of anthrax and then along traverses laid out as a set of concentric circles around this point; for example with radii of 1/4 mile, 1 mile, 4 miles, and 10 miles. Traps can be set out in one day and then visited the next day and each day thereafter for a week. Both live traps and snap traps should be used. The Biological Sampling Kit, used with Reconn-Decon Module is designed to perform this task where a large area needs to be surveyed in a short period of time. Results of Environmental Surveys in South Florida Surveys of the garden, house, garden tools, and adjacent areas to the Stevens residence were all negative. However, some samples for anthrax tested positive in the building where Bob Stevens worked. Anthrax-Contaminated MailStevens worked for American Media, Inc., which publishes of several tabloids widely sold in supermarkets; namely, The Sun, The Globe, and The National Enquirer. Stevens was the photo editor for The Sun. These tabloids have a long list of potential enemies. According to the Miami Herald, Gloria Irish, a real estate agent and wife of Sun Editor Michael Irish, rented apartments to two of the hijackers who flew into the second World Trade Center Tower on September 11. Anthrax was discovered on the keyboard of the computer that Stevens used at work, in the mailroom of the American Media, Inc. building, in two sorting bins of the Boca Raton Post Office where mail to the publisher was placed, and in 5 other South Florida Post Offices. Ernesto Blanco, the mail-room clerk who brought mail to Stevens, was hospitalized on October 1 with "pneumonia" and given antibiotics. However, the antibiotics masked the presence of anthrax and only 2 weeks later was there confirmation that Blanco had contracted inhalational anthrax. The mail-room clerk who replaced Blanco at American Media tested positive for anthrax in her system, but did not show symptoms of the disease. Anthrax-contaminated mail was sent to Tom Brokow, News Anchorman at NBC, Dan Rather at CBS, the Editor of the New York Post, and Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahey in the US Senate. Twenty eight workers in the US Senate Building tested positive for anthrax. [The Senate Building was fumigated several times and not reopened until January, 2002.] Anthrax was found in the mail-sorting machine for the US House of Representatives. Two postal service workers in the District of Columbia, who handle mail that goes to Congress, died from inhalational anthrax and two others workers were gravely ill with the disease. Anthrax spores were found at the mail facilities for the White House, Supreme Court, CIA, and Pentagon. Three of the anthrax-contaminated letters were mailed from Trenton, New Jersey on October 9, 2001. Two postal workers there were hospitalized for cutaneous anthrax; i.e. obvious lesions on the skin. One had inhalational anthrax in addition, where the lungs and lymph nodes next to the lungs are affected. The letters contain anti-American and anti-Israeli threats. Several anthrax-contaminated letters were mailed from St. Petersburg, Florida. Determination of the Anthrax Strain Using Molecular Biology Techniques DNA studies of samples of the Bacillus anthracis bacteria collected from victims of the bioterrorist attacks and from contaminated mail were done by national laboratories [Center for Disease Control (CDC) and US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases(USAMRIID)] and university labs, including the one at Northern Arizona University. According to press releases concerning these studies, all samples show that only one strain of anthrax is involved--the strain that was misnamed "the Ames strain." Anthrax is endemic in Texas. According to the New York Times, a sample was collected from a dead cow near the Mexican border in 1981, cultured at the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab at Texas A & M University and then sent to the USAMRIID lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland. However, a pre-paid shipping label for the USDA lab in Ames, Iowa was put on the package. Army researchers in Maryland found that the Texas strain was indeed very virulent, called the strain "the Ames Strain" after the shipping label, and cultured it for use in research on anti-anthrax vaccines. In December, 2001, further DNA tests showed that the sub-strain used in the contaminated mail attacks was indeed developed at the USAMRIID facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland. This very virulent strain was made available to several government, military, and university research laboratories, and to some outside contractors used by the Army and the CIA. One such contractor is the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, where Project Jefferson is developing powerful new strains of anthrax to test anti-anthrax vaccines. The only non-US labs given this strain of anthrax are the British research lab at Porton Down, UK and the Canadian research lab near Medicine Hat, AB. Weapons grade anthrax was produced by the U.S. before 1969; but according to the New York Times, the only lab known in recent years to have processed anthrax spores into fine powder, such as was found in the Brentwood mail sorting machines, is at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. As they say in detective novels, "It looks like an 'inside job.'" If this was someone's 'cute idea' to give a 'wake-up call' to America and the person had access to high-grade anthrax and the knowledge of where in Florida both a tabloid and hijackers were located in close proximity, then the ploy was highly successful--at the cost of 5 lives and more than a billion dollars. Preparing for More Bioterrorist AttacksAs America and its Allies conduct the War Against Terrorism, military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq have been successful; and on the home front the small series of anthrax attacks and an estimated 10,000 anthrax hoaxes have ceased. The small number of anthrax-contaminated letters was a wake-up call to the US to greatly increase its defenses and preparedness for future attacks. In the 1980's Iraq's Education Ministry ordered and received flasks of freeze-dried anthrax and other diseases from the American Type Culture Collection in Manassas, Virginia, a non-profit organization that is the world's largest supplier of disease organisms to medical researchers. Iraqi scientists were able to grow anthrax bacteria in a fermenter and admitted to brewing more than 2,000 gallons of anthrax. Iraq later claimed that all anthrax had been destroyed. This claim was not accepted by the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. Military action to eliminate Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" was taken in April, 2003. In the U.S. increased security of transportation systems, of the postal system, of public buildings, and at corporate headquarters and facilities are some of the many actions taken as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, Congress, and the news media. Although attempts to use crop-dusting planes to release anthrax from the air were not successful in August, September, and October of 2001, there is a high probability for future actions that cause large numbers of casualties.
Useful Links to Other Sites Discussions of Anthrax by the News Media Location of buildings in and around Washington, D.C. that tested positive for anthrax. New York Times. Interactive Tutorial on Anthrax. In Depth Discussions of Anthrax The article on anthrax is in a textbook of bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin. The article by Peter Turnbull in the online textbook on Medical Microbiology is written for medical professionals. However, it has a series of photos showing the development of cutaneous anthrax, seen as a large lesion on the skin. There are also excellent photographs of the bacteria taken through the microscope. Diagnosis of anthrax
The pathology of inhalational anthrax or the features observed during autopsy are described in detail by the Russian pathologists who worked on the many victims of the anthrax release at Sverdlovsk in 1979. Advanced methods for testing for anthrax are available at some government, university, and private laboratories through the Laboratory Response Network. The enzyme-linked-immuno-sorbant assay (ELISA) tests for antibodies that are produced in the body when a person is exposed to anthrax. The test of choice is polymerase chain reaction amplification (PCR). These new tests are being developed with much faster turnaround times. The PCR technique has such high sensitivity that cross-contamination becomes a major problem. Do the samples really measure anthrax at the intended location or is the person collecting the samples carrying spores from one location to the next? A high degree of cleanliness and care in sampling is required to obtain meaningful results. These issues are being discussed in connection with the surveys and decontamination of buildings used by the US Congress and the Postal System in the Washington, DC area. A discussion of the recent anthrax cases from a medical viewpoint is given in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the CDC. Detection of Anthrax in the Environment An article in Science & Technology Review discusses new methods developed at the Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory for detecting anthrax and plague. DC Dragon described the periodic outbreaks of anthrax in bison in the Northwest Territories of Canada and techniques to monitor spores in soil samples. An outbreak of anthrax in North Dakota cattle occurred in 2000, killing 157 head. Anthrax Used in Biological Warfare According to a "Consensus Statement on Anthrax" that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the outbreak in Zimbabwe in 1979-1980 was the largest reported epidemic with more than 10,000 persons infected by the disease. The epidemic is described in a series of articles listed by the National Library of Medicine (PubMed). Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV. Meryl Nass of Physicians for Social Responsibility discusses evidence that the epidemic resulted from biological warfare during the civil war there. According to the same Consensus Statement, approximately 1 million sheep died from anthrax in Iran in 1945. Investigation of U.S. Anthrax Attacks The book by the Washington Post reporter, Marilyn W. Thompson, The Killer Strain: Anthrax and a Government Exposed gives a detailed and documented history of the anthrax mail attacks and resulting investigations from September, 2001 through December, 2002. The book by Rutgers University Professor Leonard Cole, The Anthrax Letters: A Medical Detective Story, provides in-depth technical coverage of the anthrax investigations through 2003.
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Role of the CST WMD Reconn-Decon Module Specs for Module Chemical Terrorism Chemical Response Kit Bio-Terrorism Bio Sampling Kit Plague Tularemia DNA Studies Decon Shower Decon Solutions & Foams
In humans, anthrax occurs as a skin infection (cutaneous anthrax), in a gastro-intestinal form from eating contaminated
food and as inhalational anthrax from breathing contaminated air. The image to the right shows small dark-colored, rod-shaped anthrax bacteria in a blood smear as seen through the microscope. The red blobs are red blood cells. By the time this view can be seen in the microscope, there is so much anthrax bacteria in the patient's system that his or her chances for survival are poor.
In October, 2001, letters containing anthrax spores caused 12 cases of cutaneous anthrax, and 11 cases of inhalational anthrax (including 5 fatalities); but triggered widespread anxiety and
temporary disruption in the U.S. and elsewhere. The image to the left shows an anthrax sore on the neck of a male patient. The black eschar in the center is dead tissue killed by the anthrax toxin.
The Stevens home is less than a mile from the Palm Beach County Park Airport where Mohamed Atta, a hijacker who slammed a jetliner into the
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, rented a single-engine plane
on four separate occasions in August, 2001. (The photo on the right shows the twin towers which were destroyed.)
Grazing animals, in particular, large animals with hooves, such as sheep, cattle, horses, and deer, not only
breath in anthrax spores from an aerosol release, but also ingest anthrax spores that have fallen on the
vegetation. Such animals are more likely to become sick and die from an anthrax aerosol, than humans. In the
1979 Sverdlovsk anthrax release, people were affected out to a distance of 4 kilometers, but sheep and cattle
died up to 50 km from the point of release.
In South Florida investigators searched for any occurrence of hoofed animals sick or dying in the area
around the Stevens residence in Lantana and around his workplace at Boca Raton since August 1, 2001.
No such occurrences were reported to the news media. If carcases had been found, standard procedures are
to collect samples from the remains. Blood samples of livestock are an important source of data. Samples
of dung and bones may also contain anthrax spores.
Working with local veterinarians, the State Veterinarian, livestock organizations, and
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture is
essential. With its fleet of Blackhawk Helicopters, the Army National Guard can
provide reconnaissance surveys, looking for dead animals and collecting samples.
Infra-red scans at night from a helicopter have been useful elsewhere in locating carcases of large animals
that died due to anthrax. [Anthrax killed more than 200 head of cattle in adjacent Broward County in an 1951 outbreak.]
Prompt response and vigilance by government agencies have greatly reduced the casualties in the current
series of anthrax-attacks-by-mail. Prompt and effective action by a Civil Support Team using PLI's 
The Center for Disease Control has an 
Anthrax bacteria are living organisms. One spore can grow into a large colony under the right conditions. Culturing the bacteria is a widely used lab test for anthrax. The petri dish in the photo on the left contains sheep blood agar--a medium on which the bacteria grow rapidly. A sample is placed in the bottom of the dish; a transparent, tight-fitting lid is placed on top; and the dish is turned upside down and incubated for 18 to 24 hours at 35° C. Large colonies that grow quickly and have an appearance similar to ground glass are diagnostic for anthrax bacteria. In the Stevens case characteristic colonies were visible in the petri dish after only 6 hours.