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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 1: Anthrax Halted In Its Tracks

The new weapon being used by terrorists and mad individuals alike is not necessarily in the form of a gun or rocket, but rather in the form of a bacteria. Anthrax has been used as a bio-weapon for the past 40 years, and ways to prevent infection have been developed. However, none of these truly were able to prevent complete infection, until now.

At this moment, the most commonly used method to combat a disease such as anthrax is to use antibiotics. The problem with this though is that diseases like anthrax can mutate, which allows them to bypass antibiotics easily with no problem.

Instead of fighting the disease while it is inside a host, scientists are using an ‘inhibiter’ which will block the receptors. By blocking the receptors that diseases like anthrax attack, the disease will have nothing to do and in-turn die due to not being able to attach to the receptors to start an infection.

Scientists are now proposing that this method could be used to prevent the spread of other illnesses such as AIDS and SARS.

--Written by Richard Spigner

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