| ID | 096004 |
| Title Proper | Tracing and attack |
| Other Title Information | the problems and pitfalls of Microbial Forensics |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Koblentz, Gregory D ; Tucker, Jonathan B |
| Publication | 2010. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | On 18 September 2001, exactly one week after the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States, five letters containing dry powdered spores of Bacillus anthracis - rugged, seed-like forms of the bacterium that causes anthrax - were mailed to media outlets in Florida and New York City. Three weeks later, two more letters containing a more refined preparation of anthrax spores were sent to US Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy in Washington DC. The tainted letters contaminated several buildings and caused 22 cases of anthrax (half involving the skin and half the lungs) in five states and the District of Columbia. Five of the people who contracted the inhalational form of anthrax died: two US Postal Service employees in Washington; an employee of American Media, Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida; a 94-year-old woman in Oxford, Connecticut; and a hospital worker in New York City. The anthrax letter attacks also had pervasive ripple effects, forcing thousands of people to take antibiotics as a precaution, disrupting the US Postal Service, temporarily shutting down the US Senate, causing nationwide anxiety about the safety of the mail, and triggering a flood of false alarms and hoaxes involving white powders. All told, the cost of the incident was estimated at $6 billion. |
| `In' analytical Note | Survival : the IISS Quarterly Vol. 52, No. 1; Feb-Mar 2010: p.159-186 |
| Journal Source | Survival : the IISS Quarterly Vol. 52, No. 1; Feb-Mar 2010: p.159-186 |
| Key Words | Terrorist Attacks ; United States ; Florida ; New York ; 9/11 ; American Media ; Iraq ; Al - Qaeda |