Expert: Live anthrax may have been sent by military because spores were too tough to kill

Anthrax bacteria.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Experts believe that there could be a simple explanation behind the Department of Defense inadvertently sending out live anthrax samples.

The spores are incredibly tiny and very tough, and the irradiation procedure used to deactivate them might not have killed each and every one, John Peterson, a microbiology professor who works with anthrax at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told NBC News. Anthrax spores are one micron in diameter, and samples could contain 10 billion spores, making it difficult for an X-ray or gamma ray to kill all the spores. "If a procedure kills 99.999 percent of the bacteria, there would still be 100,000 spores left viable," Peterson said. "They are very difficult to kill."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.