Not to cuase an anthrax panic but........

[newsperson999]

its going ot be interesting to see how many people have been exposed in the mail building may be on the 100's

[Don Joe]

"I wonder, if you were to lace a letter with airborne type anthrax spores, how long do they last? Perhaps they would be most deadly at first, which would be at the post office, then slowly deteriorate being significantly harmless after several days in the mail."

They will become harmless in approximately 18,250 to 36,500 days.

Seriously.

[Texaggie79]

If the concentration is diminished, though, they would be less harmfull right? If they are airborne then wouldn't they disburse pretty quickly?

[Don Joe]

"If the concentration is diminished, though, they would be less harmfull right? If they are airborne then wouldn't they disburse pretty quickly?"

This is going to sound evasive, but "it all depends".

If they're airborne in a closed location, with slow ventilation and not a lot of people moving around, and, there's a suffient number of 'em in the air, then they will hang there for a long time. Don't count on them falling to the ground like normal "dust". They are microscopic, and will hang in the air like nobody's business. Don't think "dust", think "smoke". Same principle -- microscopic particles that are too light to push their way through the air to the ground. When was the last time you saw a pile of smoke on the floor, having settled out of the air?

Eventually, like smoke, they'll deposit themselves equally on every available surface -- and when it's disturbed, it'll go right back into the air.

The only comfort -- and safety -- will come from not having it there in the first place. Once it's there, we're not going to outlive it. It'll stay there, and keep killing, unless it's removed -- and that will be a costly and dangerous assignment.

[choppersrule]

im not obsessing. i still put food on the table and enjoy time with my family. but i am concerned when people NOT opening mail are getting exposed and DYING. just how much are these envelopes leaking out? and is it getting on my mail? these are valid questions to ask.

if i was out in BF egypt i wouldnt give it another thought as you do. but im here. there are people on my street that dont have fathers anymore. they were in the pentagon...a very short drive from my house. DC is the motherload of targets. its not a TV show here. it is for real. as for your stats, im sure they are very comforting to the dead and their families.

[Don Joe]

"My current guess is more people will die from heart attacks and strokes caused by worrying over anthrax than anthrax itself."

Ha ha ha, very funny, boy, I bet you really think thadasfl j;lj k;als fjfdls; kfasdfsdfsdfasdf.gasdfgsfdgfssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[Don Joe]

"I am quite amused at the folly of some here who foolishly believe in the heard mentality. Just because the number of cases are so low they think they have nothing to worry about, the idea seems to be that anthrax is something other people get."

I gotta wonder how these smug folks would behave if once per month, always at random, someone sniped a customer at their favorite shopping location as they were walking from the car to the store. Or maybe inside the store, to make in more sporting, since people could have a driver whisk 'em right up to the door to avoid being taken down.

Would they make a show of going shopping just to show everyone that they weren't afraid, because the odds were in their favor? Would they sweat? Just a little? Or perhaps a whole lot?

Or maybe they'd discover that they had more pressing business that day, and wouldn't be able to make it to the store. Will they call someone else and ask 'em to pick something up while they're out?

I've received an amazing increase in my email spamload the past few weeks. I talked with the guy who owns my ISP. He's an old friend of mine. He said that as of late, the spamload is staggering, almost bringing his servers to their knees. Several of the spams I've received have been garbage messages, with a trojan/virus file attached. (My firewall protects me from them.)

I'll put two and two together, and suspect that the terrorists have purchased some of those godforsaken "99 million addresses!" spamware CD collections.

I'll extrapolate from that, and weigh the odds that they've also bought some of the innumerable snailmail address lists.

I'll then wonder if some smirks will come off some faces if "random" people other than famous government and media people start getting powder-thrax in the mail.

I know that when I considered the odds, I had my wife go dig out our HEPA paint mask.

[poet]

As frightening as all this is, I simply will not let terrorists affect how I live and since it's beyond my control, I will go on with my life. I am at peace with Christ. I will live as man and not as a coward.

[choppersrule]

amen don!

[ScholarWarrior]

I agree, you have to go on. Determination, patience, prudence, and ammunition.

[newsperson999]

well todays news said that the white house mail may have touched the other letters and thats why it showed a positive hit..what about the rest of the mail to the average person

[callisto]

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[sistergoldenhair]

Not a biologist nor a doctor but I have worked with spore forming bacteria. Don't panic. However, the bacterial spores might be described as dormant or in hibernation. Anthrax spores can live for 20 years (or more) in soil. If the spores are "happy" they remain dormant waiting for an appropriate host to activate. In other words, they don't degrade unless subjected to hostile conditions. Sorry.