The recent outbreaks of anthrax in Florida continue to instill fears in people of possible biological warfare.

A 63-year-old Florida man died last week after being diagnosed with the most deadly form of the anthrax virus — inhalation. Two more cases have been reported from the state in recent days.

Inhalation anthrax, caused by inhaling anthrax spores, is deemed the most deadly and has the potential to be used in biological warfare but is not contagious. Assistant biology professor Stuart Hill said people shouldn’t be worried that these cases in Florida could reach the Chicago area.

The anthrax bacteria are one of the few bacteria which make spores.

“These spores can survive millions of years, until the right conditions come around for them to germinate,” Hill said.

Someone can come in contact with these spores simply by inhaling them after they have been spread in an area.

“If you get a large enough amount of spores in your body, they will germinate inside you and you can come down with full-blown anthrax,” Hill said. “It needs correct conditions to germinate, and the human body is really good at growing bacteria.”

According to the Anthrax Vaccination Immunization Program’s web site, www.anthrax.osd.mil/,there are three forms of the disease.

The first form, cutaneous, is most common in people in close contact with animals, like veterinarians. Gastrointestinal anthrax, the second form of the disease, is caused primarily by eating contaminated meat. The latter of these two forms is rare in the United States, and usually occurs in countries with less specific health guidelines for meat products.

Penicillin can be used as a satisfactory treatment for cutaneous and gastrointestinal anthrax, but will not work for inhalation.

Vaccines can help if used prior to coming in contact with inhalation anthrax, but treatment must begin early and sometimes it can take up to 45 days to show signs of the infection, making it very lethal, Hill said.

The recommended vaccine is a cell-free filtrate vaccine distributed by the BioPort Corporation. On their web site, www.cdc.gov, the Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases recommends the vaccine for anyone who works directly with organisms in a lab, those who work with imported hides or furs, people who handle infected animal products and military personnel in cases of biological warfare.

The bacteria are fairly easy to grow. Because it doesn’t need any special containment, anthrax can live in the open for a number of years. The easiest way to spread it, Hill said, is to

sprinkle it over an area.

It’s those types of facts that led the to the FAA’s grounding of all crop dusting planes on Sept. 25. Crop dusters aren’t the only way this disease could be spread, though. Hill said it could easily be placed into a shell and fired into an area through a bomb.

“There’s a quite high potential of many people dying if it’s released in a populated area,” Hill said.

In the 1940s, the British tested this virus on cattle on a remote Scottish island. To this day the island is still totally uninhabitable, Hill said.