After several years of little or no news, the “Amerithrax” Investigation (to use the FBI’s nomenclature) took a sudden, interesting turn this weekend. In the intervening years since the mail attacks, the government has been busy researching, investigating, and compiling information about anthrax, its effects, and how to prevent and cope with attacks. The following links will give you just a sampling of the resources available.
FBI Investigation – this site offers a fact sheet about the 2001 attacks, photographs and linguistic/behavioral analysis of the actual letters, and statements and press releases.
CDC’s Questions and Answers about Anthrax – clinical information, covering every aspect of the disease, from diagnosis to treatment to prevention.
AVIP (Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program) – a DoD site with information about the U.S. military vaccination program. As someone whose husband has been immunized by the Navy, I found the information here interesting, if a little scary. There are good links to medical journals and articles about anthrax, as well as non-DoD sites with further information.
CSIS - where I once interned, long, long ago, publishes The Washington Quarterly. Lest we think the attacks here in the U.S. are unique, this article examines an anthrax incident which took place in April and May 1979 in Sverdlovsk, in the former Soviet Union. The history of the incident, including “Lessons Learned” is a fascinating one. The Washington Quarterly article is not the only publication from this preeminent think tank; search “anthrax” on their website to see more.
CRS has published a number of reports which relate to the anthrax threat and investigation, including a regularly updated “Overview of the U.S. Public Health System in the Context of Bioterrorism, an annual report on “Innovation and Intellectual Property Issues in Homeland Security”, and “Anthrax-Contaminated Facilities: Preparations and a Standard for Remediation”, published in 2005. These reports are not available regularly, but the HSDL offers access to the ‘open’ content. University of Richmond students have access to these reports through IP access; i.e., you must be on-campus or using VPN to take advantage of our subscription. (Contact me if you are a University of Richmond student who needs assistance using this resource or setting up VPN.) Alternately, you may request a password for yourself as a student in an ESM/Disaster Sciences program; information can be found here (https://www.hsdl.org/?auth/login). The GAO also has many interesting reports, testimonials, etc. that are available by searching for “Anthrax” on HSDL, then limiting the results to GAO.