Postal Anthrax More Dangerous Than Realized

Ah, lovely.

A new study shows that more people were at risk of anthrax infection in the Oct. 2001 attack on U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle’s office than previously known
...
Those in or near Daschle’s office, judged likely to have been exposed to the spores, received antibiotics or a vaccine, as did others within or outside the building, and no deaths resulted from this act of bioterrorism. According to the new study of the event, however, people in areas assumed to be at minimal risk of exposure showed immune responses suggesting they had been exposed.
...
The results: Immune responses occurred not only in subjects in or near the Daschle office but also in those elsewhere in the Hart building, or even outside the building; the extent of exposure was thus greater than predicted.

Happily, the several recent anthrax scares (at the United Nations, the Lincoln Memorial, and multiple at Bill Clinton's Harlem office) have turned out to be hoaxes and false alarms.

Still, the risk of broad exposure in densely populated areas, now understood to be even greater, should call into greater question the readiness and responsibility of high-risk urban institutions, given the danger posed to large populations by inadequate or uncooperative facility-specific security forces.

Previously:
Nonthrax, Nonchalance At the U.N.
Anthrax/Nonthrax/Bomb Threat At Lincoln Memorial
Nonthrax Shuts Down Bubba's Office Again