Posted on 10/06/2001 11:52:59 AM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
LANTANA, Fla. (AP) - Relatives of a Florida man who contracted a fatal case of anthrax are being given antibiotics as a precaution and the man's co-workers have been tested and cleared, health authorities said Saturday.
Investigators are awaiting test results from soil and other specimens as they try to learn how 63-year-old Bob Stevens contracted the rare and extremely lethal inhaled form of the disease. He died Friday.
More than 50 health and law enforcement officials have fanned out across Palm Beach County to track his movements over the past two months and look for other possible cases.
"We have a long chronology of common activities we need to pursue," state epidemiologist Dr. Steven Wiersma said Saturday. "We don't have any really hot leads at this time."
No other cases of anthrax have been reported in the area. Wiersma said several of Stevens' co-workers at the supermarket tabloid The Sun have been tested, but results were negative. Also, as a precaution, close family members are being treated with antibiotics.
Officials have said there is no evidence that Stevens was the victim of terrorism. Wiersma said tests of Stevens' blood further confirmed that belief because the anthrax in the sample responded to penicillin. Anthrax developed by some countries as a biological weapon could be resistant to the antibiotic, he said.
The Sept. 11 hijackings have put many people on edge about a bioterrorism threat.
Officials believe Stevens contracted anthrax naturally in Florida. The disease can be contracted from farm animals or soil, though the bacterium is not normally found among wildlife or livestock in the state. Stevens was described as an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and gardening.
Officials are also investigating in North Carolina, where Stevens visited last month, but said the disease also is rare among animals in that state.
Investigators have cast a wide net in their search in Florida.
County medical examiners are looking over any unexplained deaths, but have not found any cases connected to anthrax. Veterinarians have been told to be on alert for animals who might have the disease, but none have turned up.
Investigators also are visiting restaurants, parks and other locations he frequented or even visited casually, Wiersma said.
Samples have been sent to labs in Miami or Jacksonville or to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Results could take days.
Only 18 inhalation cases in the United States were documented in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. The last anthrax case in Florida was in 1974, according to the state health department.
Stevens lived on the same street in this quiet West Palm Beach suburb for 23 years. He and his wife raised their four children, now adults, and British-born Stevens - who became a U.S. citizen - raised his American flag on holidays.
As word of his death spread through the community Friday evening, a worker at a nearly nursery school stopped by his home to drop off cards made by preschool children.
Stevens loved fishing, neighbors said, and would take his next-door-neighbor's 10-year-old boy fishing twice a month.
"It just seems like a horrible dream that you can't wake up from," said neighbor Mary Crandell, whose granddaughter had taken drawing lessons from Stevens for years.
"She's really outgoing and I contribute that to him," Crandell said. "He always had time for her."
AP-ES-10-06-01 1429EDT
Janet Reno is not going to have much to sneer at pretty soon.
So your prediction came through. I had my suspicion about the documentary anthrax for two years. And I have a feeling that there are more cases of this anthrax exposure than what is being revealed to the public.
I'll be listening in for ya! I have some legal research to look into today.
You've got mail.
...FoX News Channel is now reporting that the 2nd person to come down with ANTHRAX worked with the now Dead BOB STEVENS at the Office of the ENQUIRER, STAR, SUN, GLOBE Magazines.
...FoX News Channel is now also reporting that traces of ANTHRAX has been found ON ONE OF THE COMPUTER KEYBOARDS at this Florida America Media, Inc Office.
...See what ya get when you expose -The Enemy Within-...?
...ANTHRAX desposits were found specifically at the Work Station of BOB STEVENS.
TOLD YA.
Hmmm...a vast left wing conspiracy? Tommy Lee Jones in MIB was right about the tabloids (except for that alien angle)? LOL. The question that hasn't been asked (answered) by the press - what was the unfortunate photographer working on recently?
...that the ANTHRAX Attack in Florida that killed one, wounded one ...could easily have been a FAILED ATTEMPT to infect the Whole America Media, Inc Building...!
TOO LATE for ~GARY CONDIT~ as many of his Modesto California Voters told the Los Angeles Times last Friday that he should be removed from office ...thanks to the splendid Investigative Reports on him in ..The National ENQUIRER all summer long.
I have total respect for the tabloids for their reporting these days! However, I was thrown by a recent issue that "praised" Hillary for her valor during this crisis.
Maybe that tabloid HAD to do that?
Thanks for the pings!
...what are the chances that under the cover of Terrorist Strikes against us some disgruntled man OR WOMAN here in America is taking advantage of the situation by getting back at the Media that has struck out at them...? That's Full TV Network, Radio Replays and in-flight airings on jet airliners, Folks.
...Thanks JOHN ...HILLARY -&- BILL needed that one ...BIG TIME.
I also blame those that have had the power to go after them and not worry about their votes in their coming elections, to show the entie world that in America NO ONE is above the law. And they can throw Janet Reno in their too and McAuliffe and rthe whole gang . Politicians are qay to worried about polls and the media and compromzing to the LEFT socialist communist.
Thanks ALOHA RONNIE FOR A VOICE OF HONESTY AND TRUTH.
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