Anthrax scares: Fake, but costly

Los Angeles emergency personnel respond to an anthrax scare  ALSO: How Anthrax Kills

January 12, 1999
Web posted at: 9:25 a.m. EST (1425 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- In recent weeks, a rash of bomb threat-style warnings said to involve deadly anthrax bacteria have turned out to be hoaxes. While no injuries have occurred, the potential for danger and the cost of responding to the false alarms are real.

At the threshold of the 21st century, anthrax -- which in 1877 became the first bacterium proven to be the cause of a disease -- has become synonymous with germ warfare and, increasingly, domestic terrorism.

Despite being hoaxes, the eight anthrax scares reported in Los Angeles County since December have had a powerful impact.

Each incident costs taxpayers as much as $500,000, because hundreds of police, fire and health department employees were forced to respond.

Alba

"After the first four (hoaxes), we sat down and talked about a lesser response but still keeping the public safety in mind," Los Angeles Police Lt. Anthony Alba said. "The last two responses have been much smaller."

Anthrax hoaxes also have occurred in Colorado, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Anthrax is primarily a disease found in some farm animals, although humans can contract it from them. It cannot be spread from person to person, and it is very difficult to fashion it into a weapon in which anthrax spores are inhaled.

While anthrax can be fatal, it can also be treated with a wide range of antibiotics, a circumstance that makes it a better weapon for hoaxsters than terrorists, some terrorism experts say.

In fact, terrorism expert Brian Jenkins has listed various incidents and an average American's chances of being killed:

• A car accident -- 1 in 5,000.
• A homicide -- 1 in 12,000.
• A terrorist bomb -- 1 in tens of millions.

"I would suspect," Jenkins adds, "that the odds of being killed as a result of a terrorist use of biological substances are even greater than that."

Correspondent Charles Feldman contributed to this report.

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