The only thing I can think is that she was at the unfortunate lower end of the sensitivity scale. Here is portion of an anthrax article from someone at the university of Texas
Pulmonary challenges have to be of high dose because of both the low proportion of particles that can be phagocytosed and the low probability of particles reaching the deep lung. However when in the deep lung the actual dose needed is relatively low at less than 10 spores
Maybe she got 10 spores deep in the lung, as a secondary release from the other anthrax attacks in the city, and maybe her immune system was very sensitive to anthrax, some type of autoimmune reaction on top of the usual anthrax problems. I'm reminded of the study done on the russian release, in which at the extreme low end someone died also from a very low dosage, tens of spores. If this is the answer, what are the chances of finding other spores around her place of work, or home, if there are only, say, 100 spores total that killed her? Perhaps there are many others in her immediate community who got this dosage, but survived it with no symptoms. |
