Word: bacterium
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...freedom of speech and thought and the institutions that make our liberties a tangible reality. Though these targets have generally been far away from Harvard Yard, it is easy for the threat to come close to home: a number of Harvard institutions have undergone testing for the bacterium, and just yesterday, an anthrax scare took place at the Harvard Hillel...
Although anthrax is the newest weapon Americans’ fear, the bacterium and the disease it causes are of ancient origin...
According to a MIT press release, officials at the Massachusetts State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain carried out tests yesterday which showed that the powder tested negative for the anthrax bacterium...
...disease progresses like this: Once introduced into the body, the particles of anthrax travel into the tiny air sacs in the lungs. They lodge there and begin to disseminate themselves. At this point the bacterium produce toxins, which is what creates the illness in the host: First you see non-specific flu-like symptoms. Then, in hours or in a few days, some patients will have a brief period of recovery. Others progress directly to the second stage of the disease, which generally leads to shock, massive swelling of lymph nodes and hemorrhagic meningitis (bleeding in the brain...
...Then the bacterium would have to become spores in order to travel through the air. Then they?d be disseminated - most likely as a slurry, which is a liquid, or possibly as a powder. Either way the spores would be imperceptible, because in order to be used as a weapon, the particles have to be microscopic in size. Over a period of hours, sunlight would kill the bacteria, so the danger of infection starts to fade over time...