Anthrax case in Florida

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Just watched a briefing on C-SPAN about a man diagnosed with a case of anthrax. He was an elderly man.

They said there is only enough serum to inoculate 2 million people against anthrax.

-- Cherri (jessam6@home.com), October 04, 2001

Answers

Am not familiar with anthrax at all, how did this gentleman come in contact with anthrax?

-- Gary (gcphelps@yahoo.com), October 04, 2001.

Nobody knows yet, Gary. They'll question him on his previous whereabouts until he drops dead. So far the only thing I've heard that MIGHT indicate where he got this is his drinking from a stream in NC on his way to Florida. His case is quite advanced in its effects, so he could have acquired this quite a while back, it seems. It ALSO seems that there have been isolated cases of anthrax poisoning in various states [including Texas] as recently as a year ago. The CDC considers it an isolated case.

Also in the news today [and forgive me if I failed to notice reports on this forum] included the crash of an airliner from Tel-Aviv to Siberia and an outbreak of Ebola[i]? in Pakistan, presumably brought in by refugees from Afghanistan.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), October 04, 2001.


I don't know. All I saw was a news briefing from the White house telling of the case and explaining that it is being investigated, they are trying to track down all the info on where he was and how he could have gotten infected.

The questions I have are;
how long does it take to show up after exposure?
How are you infected with it? (they said you can not get it from someone else). Then how DO you get it?

I gotta go to to the school open house, but when I come back I will try to research anthrax, unless someone wants to do it instead?

-- Cherri (jessam6@home.com), October 04, 2001.


Center for Disease Control - Anthrax:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/anthrax_g.htm

-- flora (***@__._), October 04, 2001.


I get bulletins from Pro-Med every day about serious disease cases from all over the world. Nothing today about anthrax in the U.S. The most recent anthrax post is 9/22/01 regarding India. The next previous one is dated 9/12/01 about anthrax in cattle in Canada. It will be interesting if this case does or doesn't show up real soon on Pro-Med.

-- Snooper (Snooper@aol.con), October 04, 2001.


I'll heat that one up for you, Flora.

Didja read that part about goat hair? Do ya think we need to worry about Helen?

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), October 04, 2001.


Cherri wanna have sex?

-- CallMe (call@me.com), October 04, 2001.

Oh. Oh no.

-- helen has a headache and cough and suddenly feels worse... (they@slew.me), October 04, 2001.

Thanks, 'Nita -

[After Z, I'm hopin' helen's our secret weapon {maybe in more ways than one!}]

-- flora (***@__._), October 04, 2001.


I don't work in bio-warfare myself, but I have been a consultant for a few companies that work in defense against biological attack.

What I told Lars:

CDC on Anthrax

Bacillus anthracis

Lars: The debunking answer is different for each proposed organism. Let's take anthrax; Bacillus anthracis . The organism is everywhere. I can go into one of my fields, scoop up dirt, plate it out and find it. Epidemic? It is not transmitted from human to human. Drop it from a plane; you couldn't drop enough to change the native population. Indeed, it wouldn't be effective dropped from a plane or sprayed from a cropduster. Use as a weapon requires maintaining a suspended aerosol. Really quite complex spray engineering.

To learn more about anthrax go to the CDC site:

Anthrax

For the different virus and bacterial groups discussed the requirement for spray engineering remains the same. Retention of viability becomes a problem for some of these.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z -- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), September 25, 2001. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lars, by-the-by:

Don't confuse anthrax [the disease] with Bacillus anthracis [the organism causing the disease]. The organism is everywhere. The disease is more commonly limited to countries with less advanced technologies. You could be forgiven for the mistake; all of the press makes the same mistake. :)

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z -- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), September 25, 2001.

Best Wishes,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), October 04, 2001.



Z,

I don't think it would have made the news if this was just another case of the common form of anthrax, do you? This time it is a very rare and deadly strain, exactly like what would be used by terrorists...

Fla. Man Hospitalized With Anthrax

By Amanda Riddle Associated Press Writer Thursday, Oct. 4, 2001; 7:41 p.m. EDT

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. –– A 63-year-old Florida man lay near death Thursday with an extremely rare and lethal form of anthrax that could be a weapon in the hands of terrorists. U.S. officials said there was no evidence of terrorism but promised "a very intense investigation."

"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. He and others emphasized that the disease is not contagious and that there is no evidence yet of other people infected.

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

Bob Stevens, photo editor of the supermarket tabloid The Sun, was hospitalized Tuesday with what was diagnosed as inhalation anthrax and was reported to be gravely ill. The Lantana, Fla., man's identity was released by the tabloid's publishing company.

Anthrax has been developed by some countries as a possible biological weapon. But the disease can be contracted naturally, often from livestock or soil. Officials said the Florida man is an avid outdoorsman.

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.

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

CDC investigators were dispatched to both Florida and North Carolina, since Stevens was said to have visited Duke University in Durham, N.C., about a week ago. The FBI is also investigating.

"We will be checking on a day-by-day basis where he was, what he did, where he stayed, and looking for risks," Koplan said.

But the CDC already has canvassed hospitals and health departments in those states and found no one else with similar symptoms, the CDC chief said.

"There's no person-to-person spread of this disease. Individuals in contact with this sick person wouldn't have caught it from him," Koplan said. "There is no evidence of other cases within the communities this gentleman has been in."

Symptoms of inhalation anthrax typically start within seven days of breathing in the bacterial spores. Dr. Steve Wiersma, a Florida Health Department epidemiologist, said authorities are certain the man contracted the disease in Florida.

Koplan said the patient has no digestive ills that would indicate the anthrax came from drinking contaminated water, and no skin symptoms from direct contact with the germ. But as for the possibility that he got anthrax from deliberately contaminated air, Koplan said: "We are aggressively investigating this case."

At a news conference at the White House, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson declared: "This is an isolated case and it's not contagious." He, too, said there was no evidence the case resulted from bioterrorism.

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

Because of those fears, the government grounded all crop-dusters across the country for a few days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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.

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

In North Carolina, Debbie Crane, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Service, said: "Anthrax occurred before Sept. 11. And it will occur in the future. The presence of a case of anthrax does not necessarily mean that some evildoer has done something horrible."

Koplan said the disease may actually be more common but goes undetected. The latest case may have come to health officials' attention only because of heightened concern about its use as a possible weapon of mass destruction, he said.

"What might have been tossed off as an undetermined bacterium was sent on to a state lab, where people recently received training in detecting anthrax," he said. "It is a possible answer, which is an improved detection system."

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.

Dr. Larry Bush, an infectious-disease specialist at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis, said the patient there was on a ventilator. "He's critically ill. Hopefully he'll respond to treatment," Bush said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that President Bush had been notified of the anthrax case by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. He said HHS has been working on plans for years in case of an outbreak, and "a series of protections have been put into place."

-- get the facts (before you dismiss it @ so. easily), October 04, 2001.


It ALSO seems that there have been isolated cases of anthrax poisoning in various states [including Texas] as recently as a year ago.

The elderly gentleman in Florida contracted the type of anthrax that must be inhaled to cause infection (hence his severe respiratory problems.) There have only been a small handful of cases of this type of anthrax reported in the U.S. for close to two decades. It is rare, indeed, for him to have contracted pulmonary anthrax. Thankfully, it is not contagious. Investigators believe that the infection was picked up in Florida.

Coincidentally....

A drug-eradication plane (aka "crop duster") has been missing from Miami since Monday.

A missing tanker truck capable of spraying 5,000 gallons of liquid along city streets disappeared from Colorado sometime last weekend.

A driver and his 18 wheeler with markings that allow the truck to be used to haul hazardous materials has disappeared in W. Virginia.

All while An Ebola-style killer virus sweeps the Afghan/Pakistan border

AND A mysterious flu outbreak hits Philippine schools

All of a sudden, FS's famous joking line "We're all gonna' die" isn't quite so funny any more.

-- A (Concerned@Citizen.com), October 05, 2001.


Because he is 63, he could be affected more quickly than others. Give it a few days and see how many other victims turn up.

-- (wait@and.see), October 05, 2001.

Can you get anthrax from Amtrak?

-- (Boxcar Willy@KC.yards), October 05, 2001.

Yes, you could get anthrax from an Amtrak if someone put it into the air conditioning/ventilation system. But since sarin or cyanide gas would do the job much quicker, they will probably do it that way. Enjoy your trip.

-- happy trails (next stop @ heaven. or hell?), October 05, 2001.


Come on, you guys. One person in the U.S. gets anthrax and it somehow threatens you?

Live your lives and be happy until the day you really die!

The truth is, you shouldn't do anything else.

-- (LadyLogic2000@yahoo.com), October 05, 2001.


That's how it starts... one person, then a few more, then several dozen, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions.

-- (bwaaaaaa@we're.dead), October 05, 2001.

Weaponized Anthrax

This link had a lot of really good info - I plagiarized it from a posting by Old Git on another forum. Scroll down a ways to find it, it has some colorized fonts...

-- Zzzzz (asleep@the.wheel), October 05, 2001.


"Don't confuse anthrax [the disease] with Bacillus anthracis [the organism causing the disease]. The organism is everywhere. The disease is more commonly limited to countries with less advanced technologies."

As Z has correctly pointed out, the bug is everywhere and very few ever come down with the illness. It takes a significant quantity of spores to infect a person, and the disease is NOT passed person to person like SmallPox, Ebola, TB, etc. You just have to keep the spores out of your lungs, nose, throat, etc. and take a shower when you get home. The spores don't last more than a few days in direct sunlight and Clorox supposedly renders them inactive, too.

-- Pecker Checer (-@aol.con), October 05, 2001.


10/05 10:32

Center for Disease Control Investigating Second Anthrax Case

By Chris Dolmetsch

Fort Lee, New Jersey, Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Center for Disease Control is investigating a second case of anthrax poisoning in Florida, financial network CNBC reported, citing NBC News.

One man is already hospitalized in critical condition in a Florida hospital with the deadly disease, CNBC said. The disease is not contagious between people. No further details were given.

-- In (The@News.com), October 05, 2001.


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