1876

Bacillus anthracis

• Robert Koch was the first to prove
• that a specific microorganism
• causes a specific disease,
• specifically, that bacillus anthracis causes anthrax.
• Pollender, Davaine, and Rayer before him
• found bacillus anthracis in diseased animals,
• described the bacterium,
• and even asserted that it caused the disease.
• Bacillus anthracis forms hardened spores
• that survive in soil for many years
• and when the spores get into an animal
• they grow, produce toxins, and release more spores.

Strains

• There are 89 strains,
• some of which have been manufactured as biological weapons
• and some of which have been used to develop vaccines
• or to test the effectiveness of vaccines.
• Roy Vollum developed the Vollum strain in 1935
• from a cow in Oxfordshire. Britain increased its virulence
• by infecting 36 macaques, isolating it from each.
• The U.S. sold Vollum M36 to Sadam Hussein.
• Other weaponized strains were Anthrax 836,
• collected in Kirov and weaponized by the Russians in 1953,
• and the Ames strain, collected from a heifer in Texas in 1981.
• Letters sent to newsmen and senators in 2001
• contained the Ames strain.

Spores

• Spores may lay
• long dormant
• Seeds of squash
• buried in a pot
• An original
• attachment
• A physical
• connection
• A different
• identity
• A new
• strain
• Back in
• the ground.