All three of the preceding scenarios for cutaneous, gastrointestinal, and primary respiratory infection with the anthrax organism share several epidemiologic characteristics. Bacillus anthracis occupies a natural ecologic niche in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico. The number of individuals involved in each scenario was small. The clinical presentations followed classical expectations. The epidemiologic picture matched the clinical presentation. Thus, the information presented to my clinical audience was relevant to their practice of medicine today in the state of Texas and hopefully raised their level of knowledge regarding the natural history of one of the potential agents of bioterrorism. I conclude with "clues" to understanding how the epidemiologic picture may differ if the anthrax exposures were man-made and intentional rather than a part of what is expected in our part of the world: the epidemiology would be wrong; there would be large numbers of human cases; there may be concomitant deaths of other animal species; and, there may be unusual strains of the organism.