Previous acts of biological terrorism involving release of B. anthracis spores within the United States logically prompted blood testing for the clinical detection of anthrax [1–3]. The mediastinitis that characterizes an initial course of inhalational anthrax is associated with a rapidly progressive bacteremia once efferent lymphatics become highly laden with organisms [2,4]. Therefore, PCR testing of blood should provide a rapid method for detection of anthrax in bacteremic patients [3].