When Anthrax Was Let Loose Before
Oct. 19 -- If a huge plume of anthrax were let loose on a large population, what would happen? Who would survive?
Though many Americans are learning about anthrax for the first time, the Russian city of Sverdlovsk in the Ural mountains learned about the deadly bacteria through a ghastly incident in 1979.
"It is the largest recorded outbreak of inhalation anthrax in human history," said Jeanne Guillemin, a sociology professor who wrote the definitive book on the Sverdlovsk incident.
'Compound 19'
The Soviet Union was secretly manufacturing biological weapons in a place called "Compound 19," while lying about it to the world.
Apparently one night someone forgot to turn on the filtration system and a small amount of anthrax, about a third of an ounce, went up in a gust and floated out in the wind.
As the wind picked it up, it sailed like a deadly arrow across the city. And as the particles drifted on, they infected sheep and cattle as far as 30 miles away.
"When they tested this strain, it appeared to be one of the most virulent, most potent strains ever seen in Russia," said Ken Alibek, who was director of the Soviet bio-weapons program before he defected to the United States.
The anthrax strain that was released, he said, was not antibiotic-resistant, but the spores were mobilized in the deadliest possible way, exactly the size to be inhaled.
"Spores which were released were weaponized," explains Alibek.
Autopsies Reveal Anthrax
The Soviet Union was silent about the human biological battlefield, where people seemed to be dying of flu, pneumonia and internal bleeding. In the end, two-thirds of the people who would die lived a mile to 3 miles away.
Many doctors were afraid to examine the bodies for fear of contagion. But Dr. Faina Abramova, a pathologist, came out of retirement and began conducting autopsies.
While Soviet authorities were blaming tainted meat for the epidemic, she diagnosed anthrax.
"When we finished examining the bodies, we realized it was not what they were saying it was," said Lev Grinberg, then a medical student assisting Abramova.
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