This is the most dangerous bacteria that a terrorist could use since, once released, it will present a problem for decades. Gruinard Island, off the coast of Scotland, remained infected with anthrax spores for 40 years after biological warfare tests were carried out there in the 1940s. If Berlin had been bombed with anthrax bacteria during World War II, the city would still be contaminated. Causes bubonic plague, the Black Death of the Middle Ages. Untreated cases are nearly always fatal.
Vaccines can offer immunity and antibiotics are usually effective if administered promptly.
This organism can infect by either the respiratory or oral route and can be readily cultivated in the laboratory. Another likely agent of choice by a terrorist. The most powerful poison known. Cause of botulism, produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Symptoms appear 12 to 72 hours after ingestion or inhalation.