I'm a physician residency trained in public health.
It's not the Anthrax bacillus/bacteria that would have been a concern, but the spores. The bacillus doesn't live for very long outside the body, but the spores do.
Person-to-person transmission of Anthrax is not that common.
The spores are commonly found in very small quantities in soil and certain livestock. But people almost never get sick because our bodies have natural immunity which can take care of small amounts of almost anything. The doctor should have been wearing masks to prevent spore exposure, well known even back then.
The "weaponized anthrax" that was mailed after the 9/11 Terror text was actually Anthrax spores specially treated to allow them to remain Airborne for longer periods of time. And to be breathed deeply into the lungs.
In other words, the show greatly exaggerated how deadly that hide would have been. In fact, the hide would have been tanned and therefore not contagious.
It's not the Anthrax bacillus/bacteria that would have been a concern, but the spores. The bacillus doesn't live for very long outside the body, but the spores do.
Person-to-person transmission of Anthrax is not that common.
The spores are commonly found in very small quantities in soil and certain livestock. But people almost never get sick because our bodies have natural immunity which can take care of small amounts of almost anything. The doctor should have been wearing masks to prevent spore exposure, well known even back then.
The "weaponized anthrax" that was mailed after the 9/11 Terror text was actually Anthrax spores specially treated to allow them to remain Airborne for longer periods of time. And to be breathed deeply into the lungs.
In other words, the show greatly exaggerated how deadly that hide would have been. In fact, the hide would have been tanned and therefore not contagious.