Few people know, however, that their experiments with aerosolized botulinum toxin and anthrax failed. In all cases, real experiments near U.S. air bases and the Imperial Palace failed because of either their selection of bacterial strains or inadequate spraying mechanisms. When one evaluates anthrax, it emerges as the first-choice death germ. Smallpox is more insidious. Although it kills only 30 percent who contract it, it is the disease that keeps on giving because it is highly communicable.
Vaccination is the only prevention.
The plague is similar in infectivity with smallpox, but it is readily treatable with penicillin if detected early. The time for action is now. This situation, unlike nuclear war threats, is real, practical and devastating. The cumulative worldwide risks must make the inhabitants of the global village reconsider the low probability, high consequence scenario of bioterrorism once thought to be the reality. We, as physicians first, should play an active role in addressing these threats.