Firefighters to be checked for Firefighters to be checked for 'WTC cough'

NEW YORK (CNN) --Firefighters who raced to the World Trade Center collapse last month will be checked for respiratory problems.

Starting today, the nearly 11,000 firefighters who responded to the attack will undergo screening.

Dr. David Prezant, chief pulmonologist for the New York Fire Department, said there has been an increase in the number of cases he calls the "World Trade Center cough."

The symptoms have been as severe as respiratory distress requiring mechanical ventilation, while most have a cough with or without associated sinus infection.

While Prezant is hesitant to refer to the problem as a "syndrome," he said there has been a sudden increase in respiratory problems and up to 40 percent of the respondents need medical care and treatment for their breathing problems.

The health surveillance screening program will target 150 to 170 firefighters a day for the next two months.

The specific tests will include lung function tests, chest X-rays, electrocardiograms, hearing tests and blood work, including screening for heavy metal contamination and PCBs. Firefighters and other rescue personnel, including EMTs and paramedics, will also begin educational and counseling sessions about post-traumatic stress disorder and other effects the events of September 11 may have on their physical and emotional lives.

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/29/rec.wtc.cough/index.html

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Answers

This is a "heads up" article for me. I hope that the WTC cough is due to inhaling massive amounts of fine debris and not something else.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

couldn't agree more with you, meemur! I hope it is a simple thing, and not a harbinger of worse to come!

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Please! Help me out, here, you research hounds.

I remember seeing an article on TB2K, which is currently down, about a postal worker (?) dying from legionnaire's disease, not anthrax. It struck me as quite odd. Is it possible that there might be a new air borne pathogen loose?

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Meemur.... you requested...

Link

Boca postal worker died of Legionnaire's disease BOCA RATON -- (AP) -- A female clerk at a Palm Beach County post office has died from Legionnaire's disease, but the case appears isolated and is not a threat to the community, health officials said. Rosa Anderson, 55, a distribution clerk at the Boca Rio Road post office, died Thursday at Boca Raton Community Hospital, said Judy Johnson, head of the American Postal Workers Union in Miami.

Legionnaire's disease is a respiratory infection that generally spreads through the inhalation of mist from contaminated water. It is not contagious.

The disease is treatable, but Anderson ``arrived at the hospital very, very sick,'' said Dr. Jean Malecki, director of the Palm Beach County Health Department.

Since Anderson was hospitalized a few days after a man died from anthrax, she was also tested for the bacteria. Bob Stevens, who worked for American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, died of the inhaled form of anthrax earlier this month.

Anderson's tests for anthrax came back negative. It was only after she died that health officials determined she had Legionnaire's disease.

There's no ``obvious source'' for the disease, and there are no new cases in the area, Malecki said.

``We're all very saddened,'' said Ellen B. Bohde, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service. ``She was a wonderful employee and she'll missed by all of our employees.''

Legionnaire's disease was discovered in 1976, when 34 people died and 221 became ill at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified the bacterium responsible for the outbreak in January 1977, calling it Legionella pneumophilia.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Thanks, Apoc! Let's keep these two articles in mind. I hope that there aren't any connections, except in my feeble imagination.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

I swear I'm not making this up...I know I heard on some tv news tabloid show that legionnaire's bacteria was also a possible biowar weapon. I heard this a few years ago.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001