Custom essays on Biological Agent: Anthrax

I’d like to discuss in this paper the Anthrax as biological agent. It is necessary to define Anthrax and explain how it affects humans. I think that for the best understanding of this topic it will be good to select a Foreign Terrorist Organization and explain why this group might employ the Anthrax as a weapon against the US. In my opinion it is very important topic nowadays and we will discuss it with details through this paper.
First of all it is necessary to define Anthrax and its influence on human organism. According to www.defencejournal.com we can say that “Anthrax is caused by bacteria that are a rod shaped organism, Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax is a non-motile organism between 1-5 micrometers in length. Upon exposure to air, anthrax forms a spore, which can become airborne to cause infection to exposed individuals. Anthrax spore can cause disease by coming in contact with abraded skin or wounds; inhalation; or ingestion.” In relate to above described facts we can add that there are three virulence factors that could be caused by Anthrax. Among them we can mention lethal factor, edema factor and antiphagocytic factor. As Christopher (1997) informs us: “each of these substances enhances the destruction of cells and resists the immune system. Damage to the body depends on which organ system the anthrax spore colonizes.”
On the assumption of our paper’s task we should select one Foreign Terrorist Organization, and I think it will be the most popular organization with the name Al-Qaida. In this part of the paper we should answer on the simple question: Do terrorist organizations can to make and use a biological weapon? The answer is easy and short: yes, they do. Frankly speaking, Anthrax is powerful biological weapon and for terrorist needs quite not necessarily to create the large laboratories of industrial level. A biological weapon can be made in a little amount, and its application will be given by a horrific effect. Experience of the USA shows that a few grammes of exciter of Anthrax can affect enormous country in destructive way. For a great regret, even one person can sufficiently easy to make five grammes of exciter of Anthrax: for this purpose required base knowledge of biology of college level and small room with the modest set of equipment. Terrorist organizations want to be powerful and achieve their aims using, for example, Anthrax as biological weapon. Again to a great regret, it is very hard to prevent similar actions. From my point of view, there are only two mechanisms, which can help against a biological attack: good secret service and good system of biological defense. Secret service is able to prevent an attack, and the system of biological defense is able maximally to decrease its negative effect, if an attack will happen in spite of all prevent measures.
Thus, we can conclude that a biological attack can put on knees any country, even such highly developed as the USA. Along with human victims, the most important is an emotional aspect of influence of such threat. We must to react seriously toward to the problem of biological terrorism, because our century will be the century of all greater number of attempts of the use biological weapon in terrorist aims. Biological weapon in many cases helps terrorist organization to destroy people, because the range of reasons is extraordinarily wide: from the personal revenge to the attempt to destroy basic part of humanity, to create a new race out of remaining part.

References
Anthrax as a Weapon of Terrorism and Difficulties Presented in Response to its Use. Special report.
Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak. (March, 2000). Nature Medicine, 6:245.
Augerson, W. (2000). A Review of the Scientific Literature as It Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses: Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents – Vol. 5. Rand Publisher.
Christopher, G. W., et al. (1997). Biological Warfare: a historical perspective. JAMA. 278:412-417.
Richards, S. (2002). Futurenet: The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet as Told by Its Creators and Visionaries. Wiley.