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To: TomB
I will check my references, but from memory I know that atmospheric concentrations of 10-15 spores per cubic meter was sufficient to achieve 90% infection rates in test animals. I can't imagine that with atmospheric densities in the range of 10 to 15 spores per cubic meter that the test animals were able to develop spore loadings above 8,000 spores per individual. They would have to have breathed 800 to 1500 cubic meters of air.

If I'm wrong on this, I will willingly concede.

71 posted on 10/10/2001 5:46:08 PM PDT by John Valentine
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To: John Valentine
From the CDC:

Anthrax spores lend themselves well to aerosolization and resist environmental degradation. Moreover, these spores, at 2-6 microns in diameter, are the ideal size for impinging on human lower respiratory mucosa, optimizing the chance for infection. It is the manufacture and delivery of anthrax spores in this particular size range (avoiding clumping in larger particles) that presents a substantial challenge to the terrorist attempting to use the agent as a weapon. The milling process imparts a static charge to small anthrax particles, making them more difficult to work with and, perhaps, enabling them to bind to soil particles (11). This, in part, may account for the relatively low secondary aerosolization potential of anthrax, as released spores bind to soil, now clumping in particles substantially in excess of 6 microns. This clumping tendency, together with a high estimated ID50 of 8,000-10,000 spores may help explain the rarity of human anthrax in most of the Western world, even in areas of high soil contamination. Other potential bioweapons, such as Q fever and tularemia, have ID50 values as low as 1 and 10 organisms, respectively.

(ID50 is the dose necessary to cause anthrax in 50% of people who ingested that dose.)

77 posted on 10/10/2001 5:51:47 PM PDT by TomB
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