Anthrax is a dangerous bacterium, bacillus anthracis, which was first documented in 1876. This rod-shaped microbe grows in soil, where it can be ingested by sheep, cows, horses, and goats. That's why anthrax is labeled a veterinary disease, and why those most likely to contract it work with animal products. In the October 22, 2001 issue of People an article quotes:

Up to this point the rare person who contracts the disease has been exposed to anthrax from soil where the bacteria are normally found or has handled or eaten animals infected from dirt. It can survive for decades in the soil, but sunlight will kill it quickly if it becomes airborne. It is most dangerous when it

"But in order to be inhaled, cross-contaminated spores would have to be reaerosolized, and that is hard to imagine," says William Patrick, a longtime Army biological-weapons researcher. "There's an electrostatic bond between the spore and the envelope," he says " It takes a lot of energy to break the bond" (Lemonick, "The Mystery Deepens" 43).

President George W. Bush implored all Americans to "live their lives as normally as possible. Our government is doing everything we can to make our country as safe as possible..." (Begley and Isikoff 30). Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago said that "...People have to start calming down. I know they're worried. But they can't overreact. ...We have to start using some common sense" (Simon 20). The U.S. Postal Service advised all Americans to monitor their mail carefully and to be suspicious of any envelopes without return addresses, with stains or odors or with too much postage. The State Department ordered all U.S. Embassies to buy and store three days supplies of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, as a precaution.

But at the same time, the number of new anthrax infections has grown by only three. "Because the first two people evidently had no direct exposure to any of the known anthrax letters, nor were they known to have spent significant periods of time in the post offices that handled them, it has become increasingly hard to figure out what's going on." (Lemonick, "The Mystery Deepens" 43). Maybe it's a lot easier to get the disease than the experts thought, or maybe some people are just more susceptible to it. Maybe more letters got out than the authorities know about.

With anthrax showing up in mail around the country people should still open their letters. The U.S. has a system that's already saving lives. And if you find a powdery substance in a piece of mail, put the letter or package down, leave the room, wash your hands and call 911("Learning to Cope..." 103). Unless powder has been spilling conspicuously from your hate mail, you don't have much to worry about (Cowley 36).

For now authorities are keeping their eyes open on crop dusters and skyscraper air vents, but if someone managed to puff a good-size cloud of anthrax into a large, enclosed area-a basketball arena, or a city subway system-the death toll, for instance, could be in the hundreds or even thousands.

Some common words found in the essay are:
FAQ's Anthrax, Trade Towers, Mystery Deepens, Manchester NH, Prevention CDC, York I'm, Tom Daschle's, York Washington, Silent Killer, David Satcher, deepens 43, inhalational anthrax, mystery deepens, mystery deepens 43, lemonick mystery deepens, lemonick mystery, mail handlers, disease control prevention, cowley 37, disease control, health officials, control prevention, issue finding understand, conventional wisdom, 8000 10000 spores,
Approximate Word count = 1855
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)