On a Friday in March 1979, an employee of an anthrax-producing factory in Sverdlosk, Russia, asked that one of the building's filters leading outside be replaced. After being told to take the old filter off and wait for a new one, the employee left for the weekend. No one ever came with a new filter. Less than a week later, animals more than 30 miles downwind were dead. Within 44 days, 76 people had died.
Less than 100 grams of anthrax had been released into the air when the filter was removed, causing the deaths. When Russian officials discovered what had happened later that week, they said the anthrax had come from \contaminated meat.""
UW-Madison Medical School Professor Dennis Maki told this story as part of a symposium on bioterrorism in the Wisconsin Union Theater Tuesday.
The UW-Madison Medical School, Foundation and Hospital, along with the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, sponsored the event.
The case in Russia, in which 76 of 96 infected individuals died, demonstrated a lack of resources to deal with anthrax contamination at the time, Maki said.
""What's important here is that they realized they had an epidemic ... and yet they had a difficult time saving people,"" he said.
According to Maki, the situation now is much different in the United States, and especially Wisconsin.
""As frightening as inhalation anthrax is, modern health care has been remarkable in [treating it],"" he said.
While the United States is not as prone to anthrax contamination as other countries, certain states still have higher risks than others. The Dakotas, for example, are especially susceptible due to large populations of cattle, bison, deer and horses that carry the bacteria.
UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine Professor Chris Olsen said it was important to realize anthrax is not new.
One of the earliest reports of anthrax came from Egypt during a fifth-century plague, he said.
It is also not a new means of warfare, Maki said.
The Japanese dropped anthrax, plague and cholera organisms on Chinese cities during World War II.
Part of the problem with the anthrax bacteria, Olson said, is its ability to survive for more than 200 years. Due to the minuteness of its spores, anthrax can also travel into the lungs, unlike other bacteria that are too large to travel past the mouth and nose.
""This could make the Black Plague [and] AIDS look like child's play,"" Maki said.
