Anthrax Causes Blogging Delay

Anthrax is a particularly nasty disease found in the Bible (Exodus 9: 9-11); all throughout the world, and in my left arm. The nasty buggers are the last part of the vaccination process before I ship out for Iraq. Besides swelling into a four-inch blight, the vaccine's side effects are generating heat on the wound and making me sleepy. However, I dare not sleep because of bad fever dreams.

According to this medical map anthrax has receded from the first world but still manages to run wild throughout the third world. The reason is because the disease is commonly spread through livestock. First world farmers can afford vaccines that stop the disease. However, lack of money and general dirty living in the third world allows for anthrax to thrive.

Another main reason I had to get the shot was because of weaponization. The spores that cause anthrax can live hundreds of years and are easily available if one knows where to look. It is a messy process that can easily effect the maker but a crude anthrax weapon can be made from household equipment. And a black market somewhere might have the weaponized version for sale for the right price.

Scary little tidbit, the island where the Soviet Union had their anthrax stockpile was in the Aral Sea and now is a peninsula. Fortunately American scientists managed to destroy the stockpile remains... after it was abandoned for a decade!