# Deadliest substance/thing in the world by size/weight

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadliest-substance-thing-in-the-world-by-size-weight/631814>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 17, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadliest-substance-thing-in-the-world-by-size-weight/631814 "2012-08-17T20:10:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadliest-substance-thing-in-the-world-by-size-weight/631814/41 "2012-08-20T21:46:17Z")

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> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> Looks.

FAIL. My wife has been trying this on me for years with no ill effect.

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**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadliest-substance-thing-in-the-world-by-size-weight/631814/42 "2012-08-20T23:57:09Z")

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> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> What about the HIV Virus? Doesn’t it kill everyone who gets it eventually?

Yes, but the likelihood of getting an infection from a single virus is very low. HIV is actually fairly incompetent at getting into the body and infecting cells. It requires a significant dose of viruses to have a good chance of getting an infection. Once it has a foothold in your body, you’re very likely to die from it, at least without aggressive drug treatment.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadliest-substance-thing-in-the-world-by-size-weight/631814/43 "2012-08-21T00:22:31Z")

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Well, if we’re talking infectious agents, the LD50 for Anthrax is around 10,000 spores, and each spore weighs 1 trillionth of a gram, so a lethal dose would be around 10 nano grams.

Information [here](http://www.pnas.org/content/103/20/7589.full).

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