Anthrax Powder Discovered In U.s. Is Of Local Origin -- Russian Scientist

Powder containing anthrax spores, which is being more and more widely mailed in the United States, is of American origin. This viewpoint was voiced at a Friday press conference in Moscow by Mels Turianov, reports the RIA Novosti correspondent. Turianov is in charge of the infectious diseases chair at the Russian Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education. He said that people who mail anthrax spores mostly target "blackmail and spread of fear" among the population. Turianov is sure that the use of the bacillus as spores for "biological terrorism" is "inefficient". If anthrax bacillus were spread as aerosols, "lethality would be 100-percent", believes the scientist. To Turianov, the viruses of some other diseases are "much more efficient" as a biological weapon. He added that vaccination against, for example, antismallpox has not been done in the United States in the last 20-30 years because hotbeds of this disease had been fully rooted out. He also said that Russia can turn out a required amount of antianthrax vaccine and pass it to the United States. He recalled that Russian Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko promised to help the United States with massive vaccinations.