August 6, 2013: In the south (Stavropol) a health emergency has been declared because two people have contracted anthrax. Last year there was an outbreak in southern Siberia. Anthrax is found naturally in both areas and infected animals (who pick up the disease while grazing in areas where the anthrax spores are active) have to be destroyed when there is an outbreak. Anthrax is also found in some parts of the United States and other parts of the world where climate and geographic conditions are right for it. In rural areas of the United States where anthrax is found, people liable to exposure are usually vaccinated against the deadly disease. Animals are also vaccinated, as it is the cattle and sheep that usually spread Anthrax to humans. Vaccination is much less common in Russia but when there is an outbreak people and animals in the area are vaccinated in order to contain the outbreak. During the Cold War Russia devoted a considerable amount of effort to create a “weaponized” version of anthrax for wartime use.
yeah. when the anthrax in the mail scare hit the US, our Oklahoma farmers laughed and said if they wanted anthrax they'd just dig in their barnyards.
Weaponized anthrax is something different: The spores clump, and are too heavy to be inhaled...to weaponize it you have to process it in a way to stop clumping...which is why the scientist who killed himself after harassment probably wasn't the culprit: He knew bacteriology but not the second process....
oh yes: Anthrax is also common in Africa and kills elephants.
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