MR. POSTMAN ???

After reading " The Killer Strain ", and a lot of anthrax conspiracy-related material, one hard-to-dispute theory seems to present itself:

The anthrax-laden materials found in the envelopes came from our own military research labs.( One specimen Russian microbiologist Alibek examined had gotten soaked prior to examination, and was understandably "clumpy", but the rest was superfine, electrostatically charged,and made in accordance with the Patrick process.)

Quite some time before the attacks, there were massive layoffs at Ft. Detrick: the primary repository of this "hot" material. Administrative discipline, according to many reports, had become extremely slack, and, according to a later audit, quite a bit of potentially dangerous material "couldn't be accounted for".It is difficult to escape the conclusion some of the unaccounted-for material was used in the anthrax attacks.

Move ahead in time a bit, and we meet " The Postman ": a person who has,in some unknown fashion, gotten his hands a few grams of weapons-grade anthrax.Who knows : Maybe he traded a couple of ounces of Columbia's best-known export for it; maybe he bought it for cash on speculation. Again: who knows?

The Postman ( Forgive me, ladies if I assign a masculine gender to this unknown. Yes, I know: Some of you probably have the "stones" to do something like this, but the packaging was pretty crude ! ) may or may not have been a trained micro-biologist. He didn't have to be.All he needed to do was get the mail out.

(Actually, the crudeness of the packaging tends to confirm he lacked the skill to make the lethal stuff himself; though he probably needed access to at least a Level II Safety Cabinet.)

By now, the whole world knows a safety cabinet is a glass enclosure - (that does not in the least resemble a minnow trap )- and that it is equipped with air filtration to keep the bad stuff from escaping, and sealed glove access panels, so a researcher can manipulate materials in the cabinet-and live to talk about it.

I would guess the particular safety cabinet The Postman used was located not too far from where the "love letters" were mailed; and that The Postman was either a very adept night watchman, who was able to work without risk of discovery, or-more likely - a trusted company employee whose use of the cabinet would go unquestioned.

I'm told, if the anthrax was kept very cold, it would be fairly safe to work on it in a Level II cabinet.The Postman had his letters ready - copies actually- which had been trimmed down crudely to fit inside a small, pre-stamped postal envelope, after being folded into a small "pouch", filled with the nasty stuff, and sealed in classy fashion with transparent tape.( If you've looked at the pictures,you'll see it was a typical "guy" sealing job - the kind a lot of us do when wrapping gifts.)

So far, The Postman has not emerged as a Nobel-class scientist, has he ? He probably dreamed up this caper from a pirated copy of Bill Patrick's paper on Anthrax mail attacks, and didn't know what in Tophet he was dealing with: anthrax so fine it would leak through the pores of any envelope not specially treated.

I kind of wonder what he did once the extent of his own stupidity began to dawn on him. Did he wipe down the safety cabinet? Change the filters ? Engage in an orgy of belated house-keeping ? I don't think he would have been stupid enough to risk some unsuspecting lab worker getting dermal anthrax ( or worse ).

Scary thoughts :Suppose a whole flask "went south" ?

Imagine flask #________ is supposed to contain irradiated slurry, but contains the hot stuff ?
Conspirator A arranges the mis-labelling;
Conspirator B, alerted to watch for flask #___ snags it when it comes in.

The big problem with that is :too many conspirators=too many chances of the scheme being discovered.

A more likely scenario is someone at the "receiving" end of the chain sees a sudden opportunity to "liberate" a small amount of anthrax; does so, and walks it out the door. He or she is high enough in the food chain to walk past whatever security is in place without being challenged.

1. Was the theft deliberate and pre-meditated ?
2. What was the ultimate aim of the thief ? Political? Money for gambling debts? Drugs?Just for kicks?

Penyakit Antrax.

Oleh Mohamed Yosri Mohamed Yong
17 Rejab 1422

Pengenalan

Anthrax merupakan sebahagian dari keluarga basillus - bacterium yang mempunyai bentuk panjang. Nama saintifiknya adalah Bacillus anthracis. Bacillus anthracis mempunyai saiz yang agak besar (1-1.5um x 4-10um).

Bacillus anthracis boleh dibiakkan dalam medium agar berkhasiat biasa secara aerobik (dengan oksijen) ataupun anearobik (tanpa oksijen). Bacillus anthracis mempunyai gene dan ciri-ciri yang menyerupai Bacillus cereus, sejenis bakterium yang biasa di dapati dalam tanah di seluruh dunia, dan juga menyerupai Bacillus thuringiensis, pantogen kepada larva Lepidoptera. Antrax merupakan basillus yang pertama dibuktikan sebagai punca penyakit dan basillus Antrax juga membentuk spora yang tahan lama.

Sejarah asal Antrax adalah samar. Ini adalah kerana walaupun spora Antrax dijumpai secara semulajadi di dalam contoh tanah serata dunia, basillus Antrax tidak boleh di dapati di kawasan di mana tidak terdapat penyakit ini. Kawasan yang dikenalpasti di Amerika sebagai kawasan mempunyai Antrax adalah di Dakota Selatan, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi

dan California. Wabak Antarx tidak tetap tetapi berlaku selang beberapa tahun di antara wabak. Ciri-ciri penyakit Antrax boleh dikesan selepas 2 - 4 hari, atau selewatnya 7 hari dari tempoh serangan,

Anthrax merupakan penyakit yang biasa menyerang haiwan liar dan haiwan peliharaan, terutamanya haiwan maun seperti biri-biri, lembu, kuda, baghal, dan kambing yang tidak dijaga dengan bersih dan cermat. Manusia boleh dijangkiti Anthrax apabila tersentuh haiwan berpenyakit termasuk daging, tulang, bulu, rambut dan kotoran. Walaupun begitu, risiko jangkitan hanyalah 1/100,000. Jangkitan Anthrax dibahagikan kepada 3 jenis iaitu :-

Kudis Anthrax (cutaneous anthrax)

Dalam 95% kes cutaneous antrax, ia menjangkiti manusia melalui luka. Luka kecil pada badan terutama dibahagian terdedah seperti muka dan lengan dijangkiti spora Antrax dari haiwan berpenyakit, bangkai atau tanah. Spora Antrax membiak dan kudis tumbuh dikawasan jangkitan. Kudis ini akan bernanah dalam tempoh 12-36 jam jangkitan. Antrax boleh menjadi bertambah teruk dan tersebar sekiranya tidak dirawat. Sekiranya Antrax memasuki salur darah, Antrax boleh membawa maut. 20% daripada kes yang tidak dirawat membawa kematian.

Antrax Salur Perut (Gastrointestinal anthrax)

Antrax ini berlaku apabila daging haiwan yang dijangkiti ini tidak dimasak dengan betul sebelum dimakan. Ini adalah kerana spora Antrax mampu bertahan suhu yang tinggi. Apabila spora Antrax memasuki salur perut, Antrax akan menjangkiti mereka yang mempunyai luka yang sedia ada di salur perut. Antrax akan merebak dengan cepat dan boleh membawa maut sekiranya lewat dirawat. Spora Antrax memerlukan suhu 121C selama sekurang-kurangnya 30 minit untuk mati. 25%-60% daripada kes yang tidak dirawat membawa kematian.

Antrax secara dihidu (penyakit penyisih bulu / woolsorters' disease)

Apabila spora Antrax memasuki paru-paru seperti yang berlaku kepada orang yang bekerja sebagai penyisih bulu biri-biri, Antrax menyebabkan demam mengejut yang teruk dengan sakit di bahagian dada. Antrax merebak dengan cepat menjadi batuk berdarah dan membawa maut sekiranya rawatan gagal mengawal jangkitan Antrax. Jangkitan secara dihidu dianggap paling merbahaya dan memerlukan rawatan antibiotik dalam tempoh 24 jam dari jangkitan untuk berjaya. Sekiranya tidak, kadar kematian dipercayai 99%.

Kematian akibat serangan Antrax adalah disebabkan kekurangan oksijen, kejutan sampingan, salur darah bertambah telap, kegagalan pernafasan dan kegagalan jantung. Kematian sering berlaku secara mengejut tanpa disangka-sangka. Aras toksin dalam salur darah meningkat pada peringkat akhir selari dengan jumlah Antrax di dalam darah. Haiwan yang terselamat daripada serangan Antrax menjadi kebal kepada jangkitan semula. Jangkitan kali kedua amat jarang berlaku.

Urutan penyakit

http://w3.spancity.com/yosri/PenyakitAntrax.htm

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