Just heard on the "AP Network News". . .Confirmed case of Anthrax in FL. . .. VERY brief report

Tommy Thompson 'says' this is an isolated case, and not an act of "terrorism". . .

That's all I caught. . .will see if I can find more.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Answers

I'm limited to network TV and radio here. . .nothing . . .

Nothing on Drudge or FoxNews.com yet, either. . .

AP Breaking news hasn't had anything new for over an hour!

I neglected to mention earlier I heard this on the radio. . .our local PBS radio/tv station broadcasts AP Network news at the top of the hour.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

hot off the presses...

Link

Fla. Anthrax Case Confirmed 63-Year-Old Man Hospitalized The Associated Press

T A L L A H A S S E E, Fla., Oct. 4 — A 63-year-old man has been hospitalized with pulmonary anthrax, Florida Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan said today.

Anthrax has been developed by some countries as a possible biological weapon, but Brogan said there was no indication the illness was related to bioterrorism. The Lantana, Fla. man, whose name was not released, checked into a hospital on Tuesday and it was initially believed he had meningitis, Brogan said. But testing and X-rays showed that it was pulmonary anthrax, an extremely lethal disease. It is treated with antibiotics.

Florida Secretary of Health John Agwunobi said the disease is not contagious and there is no indication that anyone else has it. The disease, while rare, can be caught naturally.

Brogan said the man had recently traveled to North Carolina and became ill shortly after he returned. The incubation period for the disease can be 60 days.

Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the Palm Beach health department, said officials believe the case is isolated and it is "very likely" to be fatal.

Palm Beach County health officials have scheduled a news conference this afternoon to discuss the case.

Anthrax is a spore-forming bacterium often carried by livestock that is especially virulent if inhaled. The disease causes pneumonia and the spores germinate and spread through the lungs, releasing toxin.

There is a vaccine to prevent the disease.

Anthrax can be caught by handling infected animals, eating contaminated meat or breathing in anthrax spores. All forms are rare, but the most recent cases — including ones in Texas and North Dakota — have been so-called cutaneous cases resulting from handling animals.

During the 20th century, only 18 cases of inhaled anthrax have been reported in the United States, the most recent in 1976.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Thank you, dear! Just found it online myself.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Posted at 3:33 p.m. EDT Thursday, October 4, 2001

Palm Beach man hospitalized with anthrax BY MANNY GARCIA and DAVID KIDWELL dkidwell@herald.com

A 63-year-old Palm Beach County man has been hospitalized in critical condition in Lantana with anthrax, state health officials confirmed today.

State of Florida and federal investigators from the Centers for Disease Control are at the Columbia JFK Medical Center are investigating, federal sources said.

The patient was identitified as Robert Stevens.

[b]Investigators said he had recently returned from dropping his son off at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.[/b]

At a hastily arranged news conference, Florida Lt. Gov Frank Brogan said the man was first diagnosed with meningitis, but the Centers for Disease Control confirmed that it was anthrax Wednesday afternoon.

Brogan said the man may have inhaled the deadly bacteria but added that the health officials believe it is an isolated case.

Anthrax is not contagious from one person to another, and in the rare occasions when it is spread to humans, it is usually done so by infected animals.

In the United States, about one case of anthrax has been confirmed each year over the last 10 years, according to a report by Dr. Arthur M. Friedlander, chief of the Bacteriology Division in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. The bacteria is most deadly when spread by air, making it one of the most feared methods of biological attack. But such cases are rare.

In 1979 in Sverdlovsk, Russia, anthrax spores accidentally released from a military research facility reportedly killed dozens of people.

Judy Orihuela, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Miami, said agents are assisting with the investigation.

"We're monitoring the case with the CDC and Florida Health officials," Orihuela said.

At Columbia JFK Medical Center in Lantana, hospital officials declined to comment. They said information would be released later today. A security guard was posted at the entrance to the critical care unit on the hospital's second floor. A media representative escorted a reporter off the property.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

I had just gotten out of a meeting and saw your post. I hit ABC news and found it.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

"Anthrax is not contagious from one person to another, and in the rare occasions when it is spread to humans, it is usually done so by infected animals."

Sounds as if he picked up the disease before he came to Durham because of the 60-day incubation period. I guess we're safe.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

But the key to it all is....

he may have inhaled it.

If he inhaled it, where from? How many others inhaled it as well? Could his age be a factor in him showing signs before others?

So many questions....

Sheeple

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Florida Man Contracts Anthrax Authorities Insist Bioterrorism Not A Possibility WASHINGTON, 5:09 p.m. EDT October 4, 2001 -- A Florida man was hospitalized with a case of anthrax, but authorities are careful to insist that there is no evidence of bioterrorism.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson insisted that the man's case is an isolated one. While Anthrax can be used in biological weaponry, a bioterrorist attack would result in many victims, and there are no indications that anyone else has anthrax at this time.

Anthrax is not contagious or communicable; that is, it cannot be passed from person to person.

The man is a 63-year-old from Lantana, Fla. and is of British descent. It appears the man inhaled the bacterium.

Thompson mentioned that the man drank unprocessed water from a stream while traveling to North Carolina last week, but the incubation period of the anthrax bacterium makes authorities believe the man was infected in Florida.

Authorities are advising anyone with severe upper respiratory ailments to go to the hospital. Anthrax can be treated with antibiotics if caught early enough. Thompson said that there are enough anti-anthrax antibiotics to treat 2 million people for 60 days.

Thompson says the "system works" -- since health officials in Florida quickly reported the case. He stresses officials have an adequate supply of drugs to combat the illness.

Florida Lieutenant Governor Frank Brogan says at first, officials in Palm Beach County thought the man had meningitis, but tests showed he had pulmonary anthrax, an extremely lethal disease.

One person contracted anthrax in Texas earlier this year, but it was a so-called cutaneous case, resulting from handling animals. Pulmonary anthrax, in which the anthrax rests in the lungs, is extremely rare.

Previously, the most recent documented case of pulmonary anthrax was in 1976.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Just did a search and found this on Anthrax incubation period:

Treatment of Biological Warfare Agent Casualties: Chapter 2: Bacterial Agents

Section II - Anthrax Headquarters Departments of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and Commandant, Marine Corps Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

2-6. Biological Warfare Clinical Presentation

a. Incubation Period. The incubation for anthrax is hours to 7 days. Most cases present within 48 hours post-exposure.

b. Signs and Symptoms.

(1) Inhalation anthrax. Inhalation anthrax will begin with nonspecific symptoms of fever, malaise, and fatigue. A nonproductive cough and vague chest discomfort may be present. These initial symptoms may be followed by a short period of symptomatic improvement, hours to 3 days in duration. This will be followed by an acute phase, including the abrupt onset of severe respiratory distress with dyspnea, stridor, diaphoresis, and cyanosis. Bacteremia and toxemia, septic shock, metastatic infection (meningitis in approximately 50 percent of the cases), and death usually occurs within 24 to 36 hours from the onset of the acute phase.

(2) Oropharyngeal or gastrointestinal anthrax. Oropharyngeal or GI anthrax can occur following ingestion of food contaminated with anthrax spores.

(a) Oropharyngeal anthrax will present with initial symptoms of fever, sore throat, and difficulty swallowing. The disease may progress to an acute phase with symptoms including a necrotic ulcer or eschar involving the hard palate, tonsils, or posterior oropharyngeal wall, edema of cervical tissues (possibly resulting in upper airway obstruction), and cervical lymphadenopathy. Most acute cases progress to septic shock and death.

(b) Gastrointestinal anthrax begins with vague initial symptoms featuring fever, anorexia, nausea, and vomiting. Abdominal pain, bloody vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and possibly massive abdominal swelling (ascites) may follow these symptoms. Also, septic shock and death may follow these symptoms.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Facts on Anthrax By The Associated Press Oct 4, 2001 : 5:10 pm ET

About 95 percent of all cases of anthrax worldwide result from skin contact with infected animals or tissue, and ranchers and animal handlers are sometimes at risk.

Two suspected case of so-called cutaneous anthrax have been reported in Texas this year, both in ranch workers. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported another cutaneous case in a North Dakota rancher last year.

Anthrax is an animal disease that rarely spreads to humans and almost never is transmitted from person to person. In the North Dakota outbreak, 32 farms were quarantined, and 157 animals died.

The North Dakota case was the first in the United States since 1992. In the early 1900s, there were about 200 cases annually.

Anthrax can also be caused by eating tainted meat or by breathing in anthrax spores. No cases of digestive anthrax have been reported to the CDC. Only 18 inhalation cases in the United States were documented in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976.

Cutaneous anthrax often begins with a bump on the hands, arms or head that eventually turns into a sore. More severe symptoms may follow, including fever, swelling and headache. The infection can be cured with a variety of antibiotics, including penicillin and Cipro. But when left untreated, about 20 percent of patients die.

Inhalation anthrax is far more serious. Symptoms typically start within seven days of breathing in spores of the bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, although they can develop six to eight weeks later.

First symptoms may resemble a cold, with cough and fever, but the disease progresses to severe breathing problems and shock. Once symptoms begin, the disease often responds poorly to antibiotic treatment. Without treatment, 90 percent of victims die within a few days.

The largest experience with inhalation anthrax was in Russia in 1979, when anthrax spores were accidentally released from a military biology facility. Seventy-nine cases of anthrax were reported, and 68 died.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

via drudge

Thursday October 4 3:57 PM ET

U.S. Confirms Isolated Case of Anthrax in Florida WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An isolated case of anthrax infection was confirmed on Thursday in a Florida hospital but there was no evidence of an assault, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said.

Appearing at the daily White House briefing, Thompson said the victim reported to a Florida hospital on Monday and was confirmed to have anthrax but Thompson said officials believed it was an isolated case.

``There is no evidence of terrorism,'' said Thompson, who also said the FBI and other agencies were investigating.

He said the 60-year-old British-born man from Lantana, Florida, could have picked up the infection from his clothes and was known to have drunk water from a creek recently.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

. Hopefully it is off now.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

I found the part towards the end of the article to be most interesting. ****************************************************

Fla. Anthrax Case Prompts Questions By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer

October 4, 2001, 7:06 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Florida's anthrax case raised new questions about whether there would be enough medication for sick Americans if bioterrorists ever attack.

There are enough antibiotics for anthrax in a federal stockpile to treat 2 million people for 60 days, Tommy Thompson, the nation's health secretary, said Thursday.

Also in storage are other antibiotic tablets, streptomycin and gentamicin for the plague, for instance.

Millions more tablets are available under a backup plan that places drug companies under federal contract to ship all their inventory in an emergency.

"That's an important component," stressed Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who helped set up the stockpile under the Clinton administration. "You don't necessarily need to have a warehouse full of all the drugs you might need for the long haul. You need to have a mechanism to ensure backfilling of supplies as they're utilized."

That may not be necessary -- four companies make one of the antibiotics that can treat anthrax, and local pharmacies always have a lot on hand, noted Jerry Hauer, a New York City bioterrorism specialist who advises Thompson.

Of more concern is the highly contagious smallpox, for which there is no treatment. If smallpox ever surfaces, the government has 15.4 million doses of smallpox vaccine in storage and would ship them to the affected area not to help the already sick, but to keep the people around them from catching it. An additional 40 million doses are on order, but won't start arriving until late next year.

There are 280 million Americans, however. In a panic situation, who would ensure that limited supplies of drugs and vaccines are distributed to the people who really need them, not just the rich or top politicians?

Thompson assured senators this week that no member of the Cabinet or Congress would get their own special stockpile.

"It's going to be given to the people who need it in the city that has the greatest need," Hauer said. "You've got to turn it over to the locals. They've got to be able to distribute it in the city."

New York, for instance, has set up 300 potential distribution points. The city was supposed to practice how such distribution would work on Sept. 12, a drill canceled for obvious reasons. But if an outbreak was big enough that all those sites needed to open _ more likely, only a few dozen would be needed, Hauer stressed -- the city would need 40,000 workers to hand out medications.

Why so many? The antibiotics are stored in huge bottles, meaning doses for each person would have to be counted out by hand.

"One of the dumbest things I've seen was in the previous administration, this decision to buy bulk antibiotics rather than blister packs," Hauer said.

But bioterrorism experts still don't agree how smallpox vaccine should be given out. Some say only people who have had contact with the sick should be vaccinated, while others say that entire cities where smallpox was found would need inoculations, Hauer said.

No one will be vaccinated in advance out of fear of bioterrorism because smallpox is a live vaccine and thus is very risky to anyone with a weak immune system, he explained.

That aside, no matter how ready the government is to help, it can't unless local hospitals spot an outbreak and call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- fast.

[Me- notice it was a lab worker that sounded the alarm, not a Doctor]

That happened Thursday when a Florida state lab worker recently trained by CDC about anthrax symptoms tested a patient's blood and sounded the alarm that he had anthrax. Such tests might never have been done before the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks heightened doctors' awareness, said CDC director Jeffery Koplan.

[Me-notice they are checking to see if "he was infected naturally and not through terrorism"]

The CDC's disease detectives now are trailing the patient's every move over the last few weeks to make sure he was infected naturally and not through terrorism.

But most of the time, hospitals don't alert the CDC to suspicious symptoms right away -- and early symptoms of anthrax, plague or smallpox can resemble the flu.

"If you got really lucky, you might save quite a number of people," because of the stockpiled medications, said Dr. C.J. Peters, a virologist who recently retired from the CDC, where he helped plan bioterrorism preparedness. "But you would have to be really lucky."

Once CDC declares an outbreak, hospitals within 12 hours would receive a so-called "push package" containing 50 tons of medical supplies -- drugs, bandages, IV fluids and other equipment. Eight such caches are stored in secret sites around the country and each can treat from 10,000 to 35,000 people. Thompson wants to create two more.

While the next day's supply would come from the backup federal drug stockpile and those CDC contracts with drug makers, a big question is whether a city would share any of its push package with a neighbor also fearful of disease. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Just found this article on the man who has anthrax, it fills in some of the gaps: LINK

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Mags, the link just goes to the search page--could you cut and paste the article, please?

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

WRAL TV

North Carolina Health Officials Looking for Anthrax Clues

RALEIGH, 10:33 a.m. EDT October 5, 2001 -- North Carolina public health officials are looking for clues about how a visiting Florida man may have contracted anthrax, although they doubt he picked up the lethal disease here.

The case has stirred worry in a nation fearful of biological warfare since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 on New York and Washington, D.C.

Public health officials here and across the country have stepped up monitoring for anthrax and other diseases since then. Their efforts may have helped identify the disease in Bob Stevens, 63, of Lantana, Fla.

Stevens left North Carolina on Sunday after a four-day driving trip that took him to Charlotte, Chimney Rock and Durham. He was hospitalized in Palm Beach County, Fla., with inhalation anthrax, an especially lethal form in which the disease settles in the lungs.

"We're praying that he pulls through," said Rita Stevens, a daughter-in-law who lives in Tallahassee, Fla. She said the family did not know how he contracted the disease. "We're devastated."

Health officials say they're skeptical that Stevens caught the disease in North Carolina, based on the incubation period. Signs of inhalation anthrax can appear within a week of infection, though it can take as long as eight weeks.

The disease can't be passed from person to person, but has been developed by some countries as a possible biological weapon.

Steve Cline, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Health and Human Services, said health departments in Durham, Mecklenburg and Rutherford counties were looking for others who may have contracted the disease. As of Thursday night, they had found no similar cases.

The detection of similar cases would help determine where Stevens contracted the disease. If no one else is found to have it, health officials said, it could indicate that Stevens had an isolated case and may have been purposely exposed.

But Kelly McKey, the state epidemiologist, said there was no evidence of an intentional exposure.

"We may never know the cause," Cline added.

The type of anthrax that afflicts Stevens is contracted by inhaling a large number of anthrax spores. The disease can also be passed through infected meat or through exposure to contaminated animal skin or hair.

Stevens is an avid outdoorsman and participated in some outdoor activity while in Chimney Rock, Cline said. He also visited Duke University.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and officials of the Center for Disease Control have come to North Carolina to help with the investigation.

Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said a deliberate release of the germ by terrorists is one of several possibilities under investigation.

"We have that on the list," he said.

The most recent previous U.S. case of anthrax was earlier this year in Texas. But that was the more common skin form, not inhalation anthrax.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

I went to the place I got it and when I hit the article, it said error. I will look other places for the article.

The man died today that had Anthrax.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

If I heard right, CNN said the man had symptoms while he was in N. Carolina last week but they said they were sure he contracted it in Florida. I don't know about anyone else but, in the back of my mind...it sounds to me he could have contracted it in N. Carolina. Not saying it did. Somewhere it said he was visiting friends in (can't remember the town for sure, maybe ,just maybe it was Charlette?) N.Carolina and also talked about him going to Durham. Sometime after this he went back to Florida. Just thinking out loud, trying to make some sense to this.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Okay, here is the part that got me:

Health officials said they were tracing where Stevens had been and what he had done.

He traveled to North Carolina on Sept. 27 and left three days later because he wasn't feeling well, said Debbie Crane, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service. He visited Charlotte, Duke University in Durham and Chimney Rock Park where he participated in outdoor activities, Crane said.

The CDC has canvassed hospitals and health departments in the two states and found no one else with similar symptoms, Koplan said.

Health officials said they believe he contracted anthrax in Florida BECAUSE THE DISEASE HAS AN INCUBATION PERIOD OF 60 DAYS.[end snip]

If I'm not mistaken, in a post that I put up above about the symptoms and incubation period, the symptoms could come within a short time after one is exposed. I just don't like them saying one thing when it COULD have happened other places besides Florida.

This isn't the article that I had a link to, that didn't work.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat- gen/2001/oct/05/100507828.html

Today: October 05, 2001 at 12:20:26 PDT

Fla. Man Hospitalized With Anthrax

LANTANA, Fla.- Health officials have begun tracing the steps of a Florida man to pinpoint how he became the first person in the United States in a quarter-century to contract an inhaled form of anthrax, a disease with a much higher profile since the terrorist attacks.

U.S. officials said there was no link to terrorism, but they dispatched investigators to North Carolina and Florida, two states where Bob Stevens has spent time in recent weeks. The 63-year-old Stevens was in critical condition Friday.

"There's no need for people to fear they are at risk," said Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Officials at the CDC and in Florida said Friday that no other cases of anthrax have been reported. CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said investigators "have been scanning the hospitals, but we don't have anything."

Tim O'Conner, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, said several ill people visited doctors and called public health clinics Friday, fearing they might have anthrax.

"We have ruled them out," O'Conner said.

Stevens, is known by neighbors in this suburban town south of West Palm Beach for helping others with home repairs, his morning bike rides, and for sharing tomatoes and peppers from his garden. He is an avid outdoorsman.

Neighbors said they were worried about where he contracted the disease and whether they also could be at risk of contracting anthrax from the same source.

"Hopefully it wasn't around here," said Louis Sellitti, 33, a father of four.

Anthrax isn't contagious, but can be contracted naturally, often from livestock or soil. It has been developed by some countries as a possible biological weapon.

Koplan said a deliberate release of the germ by terrorists is one of several possibilities under investigation. "We have that on the list," he said.

"We are in a period of heightened risk and concern in this country," he said. "It's our responsibility to make sure people know what is going on and we control it as quickly as possible."

Health officials said they were tracing where Stevens had been and what he had done.

He traveled to North Carolina on Sept. 27 and left three days later because he wasn't feeling well, said Debbie Crane, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service. He visited Charlotte, Duke University in Durham and Chimney Rock Park where he participated in outdoor activities, Crane said.

The CDC has canvassed hospitals and health departments in the two states and found no one else with similar symptoms, Koplan said.

Health officials said they believe he contracted anthrax in Florida because the disease has an incubation period of up to 60 days.

Koplan said the patient has no digestive symptoms that would indicate the anthrax came from drinking contaminated water, and no skin symptoms from direct contact with the germ.

The most recent previous U.S. case of anthrax was earlier this year in Texas. But that was the more common skin form, not inhalation anthrax, an especially lethal form in which the disease settles in the lungs.

During the 20th century, only 18 cases of inhaled anthrax were reported in the United States, the most recent in 1976.

Stevens was on a ventilator at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis.

"We're praying that he pulls through," said Rita Stevens, a daughter- in-law who lives in Tallahassee. "We're devastated."

Neighbors said Stevens, a father of four grown children, would mow the lawn of an ill neighbor and repaired flat tires on their children's bikes. His identity was released by his employer, the supermarket tabloid The Sun, where he is photo editor.

"He helped all the neighbors whenever they needed it," said Mary Crandell. "He's just a really great neighbor. He has been for twenty- some years."

Fears that terrorists may have been planning an airborne chemical or biological attack were raised last month when it was learned that a group of Middle Eastern men - including one of the hijackers in the attack on the World Trade Center - had been asking suspicious questions about a crop sprayer at an airfield in Belle Glade, about 40 miles from Lantana.

The men who visited the airfield had asked employees of a fertilizer company about the range of the airplane, how much it could haul in chemicals, how difficult it was to fly and how much fuel it could carry.

Those fears prompted the government to ground crop sprayers after the attacks.

Anthrax causes pneumonia, and patients are treated with antibiotics. There is also a vaccine to prevent the spread of the disease, but it is available only to the military now.

--

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Pity it didn't say in which city he first had the symptoms, since he was in three places. Chimney Rock is roughly to the west of Durham, in the mountains. I wonder if they've sent anyone to take samples from the stream where he drank water? Surely someone was with him and knows where it is. Well, long as I don't drink any wild water or contact any livestock, I guess I'm okay.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Lantana man dies of anthrax; no other cases found

By AMANDA RIDDLE Associated Press Posted October 5 2001, 5:53 PM EDT

LANTANA -- A 63-year-old Florida man died of the inhaled form of anthrax Friday in the first such death in the United States in 25 years. Health officials said there is no evidence he was the victim of a terrorist attack, but the FBI and CDC are investigating.

Bob Stevens, a photo editor at the supermarket tabloid The Sun, died at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis after antibiotics failed against the infection, Dr. Jean Malecki said.

Federal and state health investigators have emphasized that the disease is not contagious and that no other cases have been reported. But they are trying to reconstruct Stevens' movements and track down the source of the disease.

Anthrax has been developed by some countries as a possible biological weapon, and the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 have put many people on edge about the threat. But anthrax can also be contracted naturally, often from farm animals or soil. Stevens was described as an avid outdoorsman.

FBI, CDC and state investigators sealed off Stevens' house in Lantana and searched it for about two hours Friday. When they left, they removed the yellow crime-scene tape. They were also searching his workplace.

Some in Lantana have been concerned because Mohamed Atta, believed to be one of the hijackers who destroyed the World Trade Center, had rented planes at a flight school at Palm Beach County Park Airport, according to the school's owner. Stevens' home is within a mile of the airport.

Also, Atta and other Middle Eastern men are believed to have visited an airfield in Belle Glade, about 40 miles from Lantana, and asked a lot of questions about crop-dusters. In addition, some of the suspected hijackers had lived at an apartment complex in Boynton Beach, about 10 miles from Lantana.

``I'm starting to get a little scared,'' said Louis Selitti Jr., 33, who lives across the street from Stevens. ``To get something in our lungs, you have to breathe it in. Hopefully it wasn't around here.''

The most recent previous U.S. case of anthrax was earlier this year in Texas. But that was the more common skin form, not the inhaled type of anthrax, an especially lethal and rare form in which the disease settles in the lungs.

During the 20th century, only 18 cases of inhaled anthrax were reported in the United States, the most recent in 1976. That, too, was deadly.

``There's no need for people to fear they are at risk,'' CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan said Thursday. But he said a release of the germ by terrorists is on the list of possibilities under investigation.

Eric Croddy, a bioterroism expert at California's Monterey Institute, said that everything so far leads him to believe that the government is right, that Stevens caught the disease naturally and that it is an isolated case.

``He's an unfortunate, unlucky fellow,'' Croddy said.

Anthrax causes pneumonia, and patients are treated with antibiotics. There is also a vaccine to prevent the spread of the disease, but it is available only to the military now.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

This from a post above:

2-6. Biological Warfare Clinical Presentation

a. Incubation Period. The incubation for anthrax is hours to 7 days. Most cases present within 48 hours post-exposure. [end snip]

Again if I remember right, the article I tried to put a link to and now can't find, said it didn't come from the water and I've heard it said the Anthrax you can get from animals isn't the kind this man had.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Johns Hopkins has this from its Center for Civlian Biodefense Studies:

Bacillus anthracis, the organism that causes anthrax, derives its name from the Greek word for coal, anthracis, because of its ability to cause black, coal-like cutaneous eschars.

Anthrax infection is a disease acquired following contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products or following the intentional release of anthrax spores as a biological weapon.

In the second half of this century, anthrax was developed as part of a larger biological weapons program by several countries, including the Soviet Union and the U.S. The number of nations believed to have biological weapons programs has steadily risen from 10 in 1989 to 17 in 1995, but how many are working with anthrax is uncertain.

Perhaps more insidious is the specter of autonomous groups with ill intentions using anthrax in acts of terrorism. The Aum Shinrikyo religious sect, infamous for releasing sarin gas in a Tokyo subway station in 1995, developed a number of biological weapons, including anthrax.

Given appropriate weather and wind conditions, 50 kilograms of anthrax released from an aircraft along a 2 kilometer line could create a lethal cloud of anthrax spores that would extend beyond 20 kilometers downwind. The aerosol cloud would be colorless, odorless and invisible following its release. Given the small size of the spores, people indoors would receive the same amount of exposure as people on the street.

There are currently no atmospheric warning systems to detect an aerosol cloud of anthrax spores. The first sign of a bioterrorist attack would most likely be patients presenting with symptoms of inhalation anthrax.

A 1970 analysis by the World Health Organization concluded that the release of aerosolized anthrax upwind of a population of 5,000,000 could lead to an estimated 250,000 casualties, of whom as many as 100,000 could be expected to die.

A later analysis, by the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, estimated that 130,000 to 3 million deaths could occur following the release of 100 kilograms of aerosolized anthrax over Washington D.C., making such an attack as lethal as a hydrogen bomb. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that such a bioterrorist attack would carry an economic burden of $26.2 billion per 100,000 people exposed to the spores.

The largest experience with inhalation anthrax occurred after the accidental release of aerosolized anthrax spores in 1979 at a military biology facility in Sverdlovsk, Russia. Some 79 cases of inhalation anthrax were reported, of which 68 were fatal.

One of the major problems with anthrax spores is the potentially long incubation period of subsequent infections. Exposure to an aerosol of anthrax spores could cause symptoms as soon as 2 days after exposure. However, illness could also develop as late as 6-8 weeks after exposure -- in Sverdlovsk, one case developed 46 days after exposure.

Further, the early presentation of anthrax disease would resemble a fever or cough and would therefore be exceedingly difficult to diagnose without a high degree of suspicion. Once symptoms begin, death follows 1-3 days later for most people. If appropriate antibiotics are not started before development of symptoms, the mortality rate is estimated to be 90%.

There are a number of rapid diagnostic tests for identifying anthrax at national reference laboratories, but none is widely available.

If anthrax is suspected on clinical, laboratory or pathology grounds, then the Working Group recommends that hospital epidemiologists contact local and state health officials immediately so that the proper reference tests can be performed.

The U.S. has a sterile protein-based human anthrax vaccine that was licensed in 1970 and has been mandated for use in all U.S. military personnel. In studies with monkeys, inoculation with this vaccine at 0 and 2 weeks was completely protective against infection from an aerosol challenge at 8 and 38 weeks, and 88% effective at 100 weeks.

However, U.S. vaccine supplies are limited and U.S. production capacity is modest. There is no vaccine available for civilian use.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001