Anthrax in Florida; Melting virus in Afghanistan

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Anthrax Confirmed in South Florida

10/04/01 4:00 EST Health and Human Services Director Tommy Thompson announced that there has been a confirmed case of pulmonary anthrax reported to the CDC. The victim is an unidentified 66 year old man from Lantana, Florida. Thompson said this was an 'isolated' case that could have been contracted naturally. In all of the 20th century, there have been only 18 cases of pulmonary anthrax in the United States. The last confirmed case was 25 years ago. Anthrax symptoms include severe upper respiratory distress. Thompson said that the CDC has sufficient medicine to treat two million people for a period of sixty days. This type of anthrax is not contagious. It is contracted by inhaling the spores of the virus directly. We'll update as information develops.

Virus Literally "Melts" Victims

Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Rages On Afghan Border

10/04/01 An Ebola-like virus called Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever and believed to have come from within Afghanistan is raging through refugee camps containing as many as four million refugees. According to one doctor at the scene, a patient infected with the virus 'literally melts'. There have been suggestions that Osama bin-Laden is experimenting with various bio-weapons. A test run?

-- Sissy Sylvester-Barth (iblong2Him@ilovejesus.net), October 04, 2001

Answers

It was reported on NPR today that the man with anthrax had just returned from a trip to North Carolina. Yesterday NPR reported that a Charlotte, NC area hospital had treated (and released?) someone with West Nile virus and gave the usual warnings about using insect repellant to protect yourself. I got the impression that this person may have just been passing through the state but since it was just a blurb I'd like more info if anyone knows more than that.

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 04, 2001.

This may be bad, but not yet!

From the newswire: Ebola-style killer virus sweeps Afghan border By Tim Butcher in Quetta (Filed: 04/10/2001)

THE largest outbreak in history of a highly contagious disease that causes patients to bleed to death from every orifice was confirmed yesterday on Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan.

At least 75 people have caught the disease so far and eight have died. An isolation ward screened off by barbed wire has been set up in the Pakistani city of Quetta, and an international appeal has been launched for help.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), October 04, 2001.


Let's hold off further comments on the Ebola (Afghanistan) thing until it has been confirmed by a couple of credible news organizations for at least 24-hours. Rumors have a way of creating their own lives.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 04, 2001.

the Afghanistan virus reports have been on the newswires since early Wednesday morning.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), October 04, 2001.

Does it seem strange to anyone else that this is a case of pulmonary anthrax that is contracted by inhaling the anthrax spores and that the "authorities" are saying that this man may have contracted it by drinking from a stream in NC ...?? Could he possibly come in contact with spores by walking in a place that no other human or animal has walked in for at least the last 25 years? I know very little about this disease, but my powers of logic are still functioning.

-- nancy (stoneground@catskill.net), October 04, 2001.


Ken may not consider the BBC credible, but for those that do here is the link:

Subject:BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Ebola style virus hits Pakistan

Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1579000/ 1579521.stm

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), October 04, 2001.


I agree with Nancy that something sounds fishy about this whole situation. It seems like every time I read or hear this story it changes. When I first heard it the man was recovering, then he was likely to die. First, he did not have inhalation anthrax, then yes it was the inhalation veriaty. First bioterrorism was ruled out, then it was being investigated. Seems like a very strange "coincidence" to me that this case should come up now after all these years.

The CDC has been trying to allay public fear by telling everyone that they are prepared and that they have antibiotics stockpiled for emergencies like this. However, the fatality rate of inhalation anthrax is around 95% WITH TREATMENT. I recently found a website for medical personel that suggested NOT treating active inhalation anthrax with antibiotics during a biowarfare attack. The site stated that the meds should be used only on those exposed individuals who were still asymptomatic. The reason was given that once pulmonary anthrax is in full swing their is virtually no chance of saving the victim and the medication is being wasted.

If this is so then why did my local paper carry an article saying that Anthrax treatments were available and effective. It was even stated that "Anthrax is easilly treated". Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Someone is not telling the truth or at the least is getting confused about the facts. I think what we MAY be seeing here is an effort to keep the public from panicking - which is understandable. Does anyone else notice some inconsistencies in the way the Anthrax story is being reported?

-- Tiffani (cappello@alltel.net), October 04, 2001.


First Anthrax, it has been around for 100s of years and is nothing new triditional it has only been farmers and meat cutters that have been at risk. the problem is that the spores can 'live' in the soild for 10's of years an re-infect any one that breathe them in (pig rooting etc) from time to time seveveral people in the US get it.

The reson it 'popular" for biological warfair is that the spore can be readly manufactured and stored. but it needs a proper factory not a tent in the desert.

Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, this is not new again its a agricutrial desase know to europe, asia and africa Sporadic cases and outbreaks of CCHF in humans can also occur. Humans may be infected:

directly through the bite of an infected tick; through the handling of infected domestic animals such as cattle, sheep or goats; or, by person-to-person contact through the blood or secretions of an infected person.

today its knows in south Africa and Kosovo in the balkans

refugee canps are the worst places and any desease can take hold , I suspect you will find smallpox, colora and TB there as well.

Information from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/tmp-pmv/2001/kosovo_e.html ther is also a paper on it from south africa http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa/annals/202/99-087.htm

bin-Laden may be beyond belief but lets keep this in perspective,panic and mas-histera is exactly what he wants. so lets not play his game.

Julian

-- Julian Young (Julian.young@nl.compuware.com), October 05, 2001.


Is Lantana anywhere near where the terrorists had been living before the attacks? If it is, that's enough "connection" for me to guess it is anthrax that had been inadvertantly "leaked" by their sloppy handling of it, not intentional release, or way more would have been affected by it by now.

Ebola type viruses are not "new", they are the most deadly of all human contracted viruses, and death comes too quickly to even treat it, the only protection would be a vaccine, unfortunately, there is none for Ebola at this time.

We also have stockpiles of Ebola at Fort Dix in MD, really is playing with the "ultimate fire", as there is no cure or prevention available. One of the nastiest of bio-weapons the world has, and I don't doubt that it is terrorist related, the outbreak in Afghanistan.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 05, 2001.


Thought Fort Dix was in New Jersey.

-- sally stanton (mallardhen67@hotmail.com), October 05, 2001.


October 5, 2001

Army of Afghan Refugees Could Spread a Deadly Virus

By DOUGLAS FRANTZ

UETTA, Pakistan, Oct. 4 — A 40- year-old truck driver bled to death today four hours after arriving at a hospital in this frontier city, the 34th person killed by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever here in 16 months.

The cases of the tick-borne virus have raised alarms because they have been traced to villages and towns along the road between Quetta and Kandahar, Afghanistan, the main population centers in the region. Medical experts warned that the limited treatment capacity in this province bordering Afghanistan would be overwhelmed if the disease was carried by even a fraction of the tens of thousands of Afghans expected to flee their country in the event of an American attack.

"We are very much scared," said Dr. Akhlaq Hussain, medical superintendent of Fatima Jinnah hospital, the only treatment center in a huge province with a population of 4.4 million. "We have capacity for 10 patients. We don't know how bad it is in Afghanistan or what the refugees will bring here," the doctor said.

The four fever patients at the hospital are confined to a spartan, ill- equipped isolation ward in a squat concrete building behind barred windows and barbed wire.

Infected clothing, bandages and bedding are burned in a rusty barrel outside the building because the hospital has no proper incinerator. Rather than the full protection suits and headgear common in Western hospitals, doctors and nurses wear only latex gloves, surgical masks and cloth boots.

Vincent Laforet/The New York Times Muhammad Ismail, 9, in the isolation ward of the Fatima Jinnah hospital in Quetta, Pakistan. He is fighting Crimean- Congo hemorrhagic fever, caused by a tick- borne virus. Experts fear the disease could spread if an American attack on Afghanistan, where the virus has been traced, produces more refugees.

Food and Medicine: Bush Wants $320 Million in Provisions for Afghans (October 5, 2001)

Refugees: Pakistan Readies Forbidding Moonscape for 10,000 Afghans (October 5, 2001)

Inside one of the dingy rooms this morning, 9-year-old Muhammad Ismail was lying motionless and silent on a white metal bed, curled in a fetal position. His nostrils were stuffed with cotton to slow the bleeding.

Dr. Hussain said the boy had a good chance of recovery because he had been brought to the hospital in time to receive antiviral drugs and blood transfusions.

Muhammad Lal, the truck driver, who made his living hauling sheep and goats, was not so lucky. He was taken to a clinic in his town near the Afghan border after he started bleeding on Tuesday, Dr. Hussain said. By the time relatives got him to Quetta at 3 a.m. today, he was bleeding too much to be saved, the doctor said. He died shortly after 7 a.m.

Mr. Lal was the latest fatality in an outbreak that started spiraling last June, said Dr. Hussain. While sporadic cases are common, he said, the recent numbers are higher than usual. There have been 63 cases in the last four months and 11 deaths.

Among the victims were 6-year- old and 7-year-old sisters and health workers who are susceptible to infection because of the shortage of protective clothing. A doctor who contracted the virus in Chaman on the Afghan border survived, but a colleague died.

The viral infection, which causes massive bleeding and organ failure, threatens to add another layer of misery to an impoverished region already suffering from drought, 22 years of war in Afghanistan and waves of refugees straining the resources of neighboring countries.

Refugees are particularly susceptible to Crimean-Congo fever because of primitive living conditions and an almost complete lack of access to medical care, experts said.

People become infected through contact with blood or other tissue from livestock infected through the bites of a button-sized tick. A majority of cases have occurred in people who work or live around livestock.

Anyone with an open cut or abraded skin can be infected by contact with blood, vomit, urine or other liquids from an infected animal or person, experts said.

"Squash a tick picked off a dog and if juice gets in a cut you've had it," said Dr. Robert R. Swanepoel, head of the special pathogens unit at the National Institute for Virology in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Fever, vomiting, aches and abdominal cramps show up within days of infection. The initial onset is followed rapidly by bleeding from pores and orifices and liver and kidney failure. About three in 10 people who contract the fever die.

The fever was first identified in 1944 among Soviet soldiers in the Crimea and the identical virus was found in Africa in 1955. It shares many characteristics with the more deadly Ebola virus. The Crimean- Congo fever cases in Quetta were confirmed through tests on blood samples sent to the virology institute in Johannesburg. Officials there cautioned that Pakistan faced a potentially serious problem if there was an influx of refugees.

"There is reason for great concern, without being alarmist," Dr. Swanepoel said in a telephone interview. "There is more exposure when people are living outdoors in the circumstances going on now in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The potential has always been there, but the situation is worse."

The type of tick that carries the virus, hyaloma marginata, most often attacks livestock, but Dr. Swanepoel said the ticks sometimes bite humans. "If people are sleeping outdoors, it is eminently possible to pick it up," he said.

When the caseload here rose sharply early this summer, Dr. Hussain said officials of the provincial government appealed to the World Health Organization, seeking about $1.5 million to expand the ward and buy essential equipment. So far, he said, the organization had not responded.

Ian Simpson, a spokesman for the health organization in Geneva, said he did not know about any request from Quetta. He said the agency was following the outbreak, but that the numbers were not uncommonly high.

Crimean-Congo fever is widespread in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, though the number of cases is usually far smaller than the number in Quetta.

Widespread outbreaks have been reported in Afghanistan. In 1998, 19 cases were reported and 12 people died. Experts said the death rate was higher than normal because of a near-absence of medical treatment and the difficulty in reaching hospitals from remote areas.

"The living in Afghanistan is very much miserable," Dr. Hussain said. "You cannot imagine. They don't have water. They don't have food. Diseases and infections are common."

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 05, 2001.


Julian Young has it best. Anthrax can live in soil for centuries, and be reborn by drought, other conditions. We have hemoraegic (sp) disease in the mule deer here (wyo)once a decade or so. It is not that these two diseases are absent from our environment, just not active most of the time. JMHO

-- s paulette parks (susan_norfolk@yahoo.com), October 05, 2001.

Mass biological warfare is effective but difficult. Much easier would beto, say, quietly infect a handfull of people near where you're known to be operating (say, Florida), and let mass hysteria do the work of shutting down transportation, industry, and travel for you.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), October 06, 2001.

Or infect a few Santa's helpers.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), October 06, 2001.

Is anyone truly naive enough to think that any potential biological weapons would be coming from a tent in the desert?? Wouldn't it be fairly simple to create a human biological bomb by infecting oneself, as a suicide bomber, with one of the contagious bio-weapons? Plague, Ebola, Marburg, Smallpox, etc. might be hard to spray from a crop duster, but much easier to spread by human contact. I am not "paranoid" or even frightened of this potential threat, however we are fooling ourselves if we think that the bio-weapons are coming from a tent in the desert and are difficult to disseminate. I can think of many easy ways that a bio-weapon could be effectively used. Just remember that these terrorists are willing to sacrifice their lives. Don't underestimate the intelligence, resourcefulness and support that the terrorist networks have at their disposal.

-- nancy (stoneground@catskill.net), October 06, 2001.


Nancy: And yes, that scares me. I have extreme difficulty in the concept of anyone making themselves into a human bomb, or whatever, to show their absolute support for a religious, political or social cause. As I understand it, even the Tuliban have their limits. When they do a frontal assault, those in the first wave are volunteers from other countries. At least they do remove themselves from the gene pool.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 07, 2001.

I think this whole war is stupid, what did we ever do to the afghans? they have know right to be doing these threats and hijacking our planes,I just hope one day these evil people will come to there senses.

-- anna marie deLuna (angel_baby77968@yahoo.com), November 02, 2001.

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