update on anthrax threat

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Freedom! self reliance : One Thread

Please read my last post on the thread above "smallpox innoculation"...After thinking about it, I should have posted it as a new topic because i believe all you folks need to have the correct medical facts so that you can choose your own course of action or non-action. God bless.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 01, 2001

Answers

Here are some sobering medical FACTS regarding biological warfare utilizing smallpox or anthrax: highly unlikely terrorists would ever use smallpox because it is difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities, and complications are quite easily treated by simple oral antibiotics. On the other hand, anthrax, in humans, is transmitted in one of three ways; direct contact through broken skin with infected animal hides (#1 animal is wild goat), gastrointestinl tract via eating undercooked contaminated meat (goat again), and inhalation via breathing bacterial spores released into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the most fatal and most rapid type is via inhalation. It is estimated by the CDC that a single concentrated dose of anthrax relased in the atmosphere downwind from a city with a population of 500, 000 would cause at least 95,000 deaths and an additional 125,000 ill folks who would recover. More bad news is that the symptoms of inhalation anthrax are the same as a common cold for the first week, and then the disease is so far along that the likelihood of treating it zips down to 30%. The skin and GI types of anthrax are treated with oral antibiotics, and if diagnosed early, have a high cure rate. Inhalation anthrax has such a benign onset that it is nearly always fatal, AND oral antibiotics ARE NO HELP. IV antibiotics are more effective. Here's the only good news.....there is an effective preventative dose of either Doxycycline or Cipro which, if taken will prevent a person from developing anthrax in the first place. So if a city were attacked, the citizens in that city who were still around, as well as probably the entire country would immediately be advised to take either one of those antibiotics to prevent a reoccurance. Doxycycline dose for prevention is: 100mgms by mouth twice a day for 4 weeks. Cipro dose is: 500mgms twice a day for four weeks. Folks who have been exposed to inhalation anthrax are NOT contagious to anyone else. So, if you are going to stock up on anything, get doxycycline or cipro....Neither one of these drugs have been approved for children under 9 years of age. My literature has no recommendations for preventive antibiotics for children under 9. The other antibiotics used to treat anthrax IV are: penicillin, erythromycin,streptomycin,doxycycline,tetracycline,chloramphenicol,and cipro. BTW, this knowledge is all over the internet on many non- secure medical sites including the CDC, so I am not giving out info to homesteading terrorists unwittingly. Folks who say to wear a mask and prevent biological warfare do not realize that a regular cotton mask or a synthetic one like you see the medical folks use is only 100% effective if changed every hour or less...(warmth from your breath causes the mask surface to become damp and provide an osmotic entry for bacteria. Personally, after spending around three hours reading all the stuff on the medical sites I could find, I am going to get enough doxycycline and cipro for my entire family. God bless.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 01, 2001.

-- an elf;) (here'e@the.post), October 01, 2001.


Found this and the good thing is (???please correct me if I am wrong!) is that oxytetracycline is widely available animal antibiotic and it should do the same thing if you can't get the doxycycline.

Doxycycline

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), October 01, 2001.


Ya got me there, Doreen..I looked up doxycycline again to pour over the chemical formula and found no similarity to the drug you mentioned..having said that, I will speak with my chemist buddies who work for the pharmaceutical companies (these are my rich friends from Jersey LOL) and let you know ASAP. There are several online companies which offer prescription drugs without a prescription from Europe, or New Zealand or other places. I have used them myself in the past and found them to be reliable, but pricy. For example, the cheapest site I found offers Doxycycline 100mgm tablets at 8 tablets for $12 USA funds. Yikes! It would be swell to find out with a certainty that this vet antibiotic is, indeed, as effective as its' more expensive human counterpart.More on this later.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 01, 2001.

Lesley, just wondering how effective antibiotics would really be against smallpox, which is caused by a virus? The reading I've been doing seemed to indicate that there is a specific for smallpox which will help at least somewhat (and right now I'm drawing a blank on what it's called) but it didn't sound like something that was widely available -- and would only be available to medical personnel. (Hubby got it out of one of his medical books, I think.)

Kathleen

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 02, 2001.


Lesley, My Vet says that tetracycline they use for animals is the same as what is prescribed for humans, Now I know you can get fish cycline which is tetracycline in capsul form for 8.00 dollars for 100 capsuls. Now the question is will it work for anthrax, and what is the dose. Love Irene

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), October 02, 2001.


Also consider that they need to have the expiration date on them. If Doxycyline or whatever it is called has expired, I understand it turns toxic. Have not heard this about Terramycin (which is oxytetracycline HCI) the souluble powder cost around 5$ for 6.4 oz. for poultry, cattle, swine, sheep and bees. It says broad spectrum antibiotic, oral, and was sold in the Country General store in the chicken area. (lasts quite a while, as the expiration date on this packet is 3-04) I have chickens and have read about it's use for them. Just not the conversion stuff. I am sure a Doc. could let you know.

-- notnow (notnow05@yahoo.com), October 02, 2001.

Lesley how about starting a new thread and give us some examples of cross-over antibiotics and include several ordering sites you have used and were pleased with.

Thanks

-- K & S (healthywizard@earthlink.net), October 02, 2001.


http://norden1.com/~hawkins/CIVIL.HTM this is a civil deffense manusal on Bacteriological Warfare, tells what you and your family can do defensively before and after

-- trendle ellwood (trendlespin@msn.com), October 02, 2001.

Oxytetracycline is a tetracycline based antibiotic with a bit of a sulfa drug added to it. Also called tetramycin. It is not effective against anthrax spores which are inhaled unless given in large quantities IV. RE: antibiotics and smallpox; smallpox, or any other virus does not care how much or what kind of antibiotic you take. There is no way an antibiotic ever combats a virus. Nasty viruses often weaken the body's immune system so much that THEN the germs come marching in. At that point in time, an antibiotic can be life- saving. For instance, chickenpox, medically known as "varicella" can cause the skin to become infected with usually staph or strep bacteria. Any of the penicillins then would take care of this secondary infection but the varicella virus does what it will until it is done with you. Smallpox causes the same type of skin problems, only much worse and then proceeds to give you an overwhelming viral pneumonia. Viral pnemonia, except in people who already have a serious disease, is pretty much taken care of by putting folks on life support until the virus "runs its' course" Antibiotics are given to combat the secondary infections common with a huge viral load. That is why the CDC does not consider smallpox to be as great a threat to folks because once it is diagnosed, IV fluids, vents and antibiotics would take care of most of the problem in most of the people. The concern would be that who has enough ventilators, IV fluids and anitbiotics to serve a huge population in a major city. Getting back to anthrax, oxytetracycline aint going to do anything for you..sorry..only Cipro (no generic available) or doxycycline will prevent a person from getting anthrax from breathing spores of the bacteria. Once a person has it, only big doses of IV antibiotics will work, and only if it is diagnosed "early". Will put on my bifocals after supper and share the "no prescription needed" sites with you all. God bless.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 02, 2001.

sorry..above should have said that oxytetracycline is the same drug as terramycin...

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 02, 2001.


Well Lesley....I still say you're a ray of sunshine! Thanks for all of the research you are doing and the dissection of the medical aspects.

One thing, when I was a kid I had the pleasure of having the measles badly TWICE. I don't recall, but it may have been one was rubella and one was German. I do remember having such a high fever that I had to wear two pair of sunglasses inside and be covered with a blanket to go to the doctor because any light seemed like it drove icepicks into my brain.

One other question on the anthrax here, is the inhalation anthrax something that also affects animals? I can't find out what type of anthrax it is that is affecting the deer populace and that is why I ask. If you don't know, that's okay, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks everyone!!!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), October 02, 2001.


No way anybody who had real measles once ever gets it again. If I had a dime for every person who was told by their families that they had chickenpox twice or measles twice, I'd be filthy rich by now and own all the farmland I wanted LOL.....All of the material I researched was limited to anthrax in human beings. BTW, most viral illnesses cause photosensitivity to one degree or another.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 02, 2001.

This is just a side-tracked question....when I had shingles, they put me on an anti-viral medication, called Famvir. Are anti-viral meds common, very specific (probably a really dumb ?). I guess I'm wondering if it's an option, not the famvir, but anti-virals.

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), October 03, 2001.

anti-virals slow the reproduction of a virus, so the symptoms are lessened...they do not "cure" the illness caused by a virus. If it were me, and smallpox was running around, I would take any anti-viral I could get my hands on just in case it would slow the progress..who knows?????

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 03, 2001.

Mash here -> 1drugstore-online.com

-- William in WI (gnarledmaw@lycos.com), October 03, 2001.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ