Anthrax :: essays research papers fc

ANTHRAX   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most important responsibilities a Secretary of Defense has is to make sure the United States’ military members are protected as much as possible from any type of harm. Since the cease-fire of the Gulf War, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have discovered that anthrax has become the number one biological threat to our troops. With finding this information, the Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen, has decided to ensure that each military member is protected from anthrax with its vaccine. Senior military leaders are accepting nothing less than total acceptance for the anthrax vaccine. The reason is that military members have been refusing to take the vaccine due to unsubstantiated reports popping up on various Internet sites. These sites have been claiming that the anthrax vaccine is â€Å"experimental† and will cause harm if taken. However, the senior military leaders also have been doing what they can to properly educate their members about the anthrax vaccine. Anything less than total acceptance of the anthrax vaccine is not permissible. ALIFF-SANCHEZ 2 Anthrax is an infectious disease which is caused by the spore forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax can be deadly if the symptoms haven’t been caught in time for treatment. Anthrax infection can occur in three forms: cutaneous (skin), inhalation, and gastrointestinal. B.Anthracis spores can live in the soil for many years and humans can be infected with anthrax by handling animal products from infected animals or by inhaling anthrax spores from contaminated animal products. Eating uncooked meat from infected animals can also spread anthrax. Anthrax can also be spread by biological warfare. Any country that has biological warfare capability can use anthrax on its warheads to spread anthrax (FAQs1). Since the threat of anthrax has been discovered, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended that all members of the military receive mandatory vaccinations against this disease. However, the first set of immunizations will go to troops scheduled to go to the Middle East and Korea (Cohen 1). Force protection should not be optional. Moreover, it would be totally incomprehensible to send a soldier on the front lines without ALIFF-SANCHEZ 3 a helmet; it would make even less sense to send a soldier out into a biologically unfriendly environment without being immunized against it (Cohen 2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The fear of anthrax vaccine has been unfounded. Unfortunately, the anthrax vaccine has been getting unreasonable criticism in some circles. In particular, a few people have posted incorrect information on Internet sites and distributed it through e-mail campaigns.