Anthrax was genetically modified strain

Federal investigators now believe the strain of anthrax bacterium that killed Robert Stevens and got stuck in the nasal passage of an American Media co-worker was genetically modified, The Palm Beach Post has learned.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the strain is more lethal, because officials say it is sensitive to penicillin. What remains unclear is how the strain was modified. Although it could have been altered in a terrorist’s bioweapons factory, it also could have been retooled in an academic or commercial laboratory for research or be a natural mutation never seen before. The strain’s name hasn’t been made public. Palm Beach Post