Anthrax Informative Speech

Introduction Lead Technique: Imagine
Imagine you are walking to work on a Monday. As you walk you see a light mist in front of you, thinking nothing of it, you walk into the fog. Within seconds of inhaling the mist you collapse to the ground shaking violently, unable to breathe. Within minutes you and countless people around you are dead. What just happened was a chemical weapon attack with the nerve gas VX, one of the many chemical weapons out there in military warehouses and labs. Biological warfare is the deadly sister to chemical warfare, it uses diseases such as botulism and anthrax to try to wipe out soldiers and civilians alike. Even with the horrible side effects, if the weapons are caught early enough they can be treated and major
Anthrax can occur naturally as spores on animal hides and can be treated with antibiotics, but a weaponized strain may be immune to the medicines and it becomes much deadlier. The main types of infection are inhalation, gastrointestinal (eating the spores on food), wound, and the newest type found injection. Inhalation is the deadliest and most common, symptoms can mimic that of a cold with fever and chills, shortness of breath, a cough, nausea/ vomiting, a headache, and tiredness. With ingestion, the symptoms are the same with swelling of the neck, sore throat, painful swallowing, flushing (also called red face), and bloody vomiting. Finally injection and wound anthrax symptoms include, small blisters around the injection/ wound area, after that a painless skin sore appears around the same area with swelling (“Anthrax”). The reason why Anthrax kills is because it can cause pneumonia and blood infection. Pneumonia occurs when the lungs air sacs fill with fluid and restrict oxygen flow. Anthrax exists as inactive spores that live in the soil and animal hides. Once these spores come into the lungs the bacteria can grow and cause an infection(“Anthrax (Bacillus Anthracis)”). Weaponized anthrax has been used in the USA as recently as 2001. A single strain of anthrax was put in letters and sent to government officials in response to the 911 attacks. 22 people were infected
This makes it extremely deadly and fast-acting(“Facts About VX.”). VX has five main routes of exposure, indoor and outdoor air, water, agricultural, and food. For everything but air, VX enters the body when a contaminated object enters the body. Air contamination happens when a mist or vapor of VX is inhaled. (“VX: Nerve Agent”) VX is a nerve agent, this makes it one of the deadliest and fast acting classes of chemical weapons. Since it is a nerve agent is effects on a specific enzyme, acetylcholinesterase, it is the “off switch” for muscles. Without this off switch, all muscles are constantly stimulated and death occurs when breathing can no longer continue. Effects appear a few seconds after exposure or up to 18 hours after exposure to the liquid form. When exposed to a small amount of VX the symptoms are relatively mild, the main symptoms are high/ low blood pressure, eye pain, drooling and excessive sweating, confusion and drowsiness. After a large exposure, the chemical takes full effect and effects such as convulsions, paralysis, and unconsciousness. ("Facts About VX." ) “Of all of the nerve agents VX is the hardest to manufacture” ("Chemical Weapons: A Summary Report of Characteristics and Effects"). On top of this, there are binary chemical weapons. “The chemicals comprising a binary chemical weapon are much less toxic than the actual nerve agent and