Word: anthrax
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...Bayer was notified, and members of Congress urged the Food and Drug Administration to speed up the often labored process of drug approval. In August 2000, Cipro, which had demonstrated an anti-anthrax efficacy in tests on monkeys, was rushed through the approval process and dubbed the unequivocal drug of choice in the anthrax battle. It is currently the only drug used to treat inhalational (pulmonary) anthrax...
...Health and government officials, alarmed by recent stockpiling of the drug, eagerly point out that exposure to anthrax is still contained to an infinitesimal portion of the population. They also warn there are dangers to self-medication, ranging from common side effects like nausea to the worst-case scenario: Overuse of the drug could produce Cipro-resistant bacteria...
...While the U.S. public now knows more about anthrax than it ever wanted to know, information about smallpox is less ubiquitous. Looking for answers, TIME.com turned to Dr. Lee Harrison, a medical epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist, also works with the Biomedical Security Institute, a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh?s Graduate School of Public Health and Carnegie Mellon University...
...does smallpox differ from anthrax...
...Well, with anthrax, either you?re exposed to the attack medium, or you?re not. Anthrax is very containable and very treatable. With smallpox, on the other hand, you?re dealing with a highly contagious virus that, if it were used as a bioweapon, has major potential for damage. Also keep in mind that we?re living in a very susceptible society; we stopped vaccinating people in the early 1970s...