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
Just a hypothesis.
Maybe anthrax was released but it didn't work(as an effective terrorist "tool"). It looks like Mr. Stevens lived in a suburban area(I do not know the population figures, but it seems he did not live in Bum, you know where, Egypt).
It seems that 1 death out of 'targeted' area of 1,000 people(again I am estimating the population of the targeted area) is not an effective "tool" to terrorize people(a 0.1% effectiveness rate). That is not a reason to get complacent, but to breathe a sigh of relief and to be vigilant.
Stevens worked for the tabloid The Sun; perhaps he and some of his co-workers were trying to see how easy it would be to get ahold of anthrax. Ever since 9/11 the media have been tripping over each other trying to show the public just how unprotected we are in airports, from chemical/biological attacks, etc. Perhaps The Sun cooked up a scheme to acquire anthrax and write and expose and it backfired horribly on them.
Just a thought; flame on.........
They don't want people to be scared or they might not keep flying and spending money like they're supposed to.
All except for one thing--so far this unlucky soul is the only one who seems to have gotten it.
I understand that the incubation period can vary, and that we can't be sure yet. But any kind of attack would have gotten more than one person and even though somebody had to be the first to show symptoms, others would soon follow.
If we go another week or two without any more cases, I'd say it's highly likely that this is an incredible coincidence.
It seems hard to believe, but even the government couldn't cover up an anthrax outbreak.
-The need to check within the scope of all possible strains of Antrax. Do do otherwise would be to risk missing the source.
The only other similat time line was with a russian biowarfare strain, not with any "natural" anthrax.
-Only those "Natural" strains that we know of. Diseases change, new strains arise.
Next, they keep swearing it's not communicable human to human, but his relatives are being given a prophylactic treatment of antibiotics.
-The precautionary principle. If they didn't attempt to protect the family and this does indeed turn out to be a new strain that is somehow communicable then the CDC would look mighty damn stupid and I'm sure there'd be a looooong line of Freepers condeming them for "ignoring the possibility".
Last is still this WHOPPER coincidence with being 10 miles from the mad jihaders hangout.
-This has merit, but is should not be overlooked that coincidences do happen. Sometimes they happen in a manner that we consider highly improbable.
Good overview. This is exactly what I read about it yesterday. It's the toxin that kills. You have to take antibotics before you get symptoms.
No doubt. That is why we must be vigilant, and not do what the Clinton administration did and ignore the threat.
We gram stain and culture all cerebrospinal fluids and most sputums. If anything we culture too much.
Many of you misunderstood this entirely. The idea of the bug they cultured from this man being sensitive to penicillin is supposed to indicate that it was not genetically manipulated, and therefore less likely to be bioterrorism. One thinks that if you were to release a bioterroristic bug, you would first make it resistant to common antibiotics. Since this bug was not resistant, they are using that to help support the idea that it was not from a terrorist source.
I have little doubt that he would spray the entire USA today if he could.
The only reservation I have is that he might be holding back on another big attack for the first bomb to fall. That would have some strategic terror value in (his mind) making us reconsider the wisdom of fighting him.
That's why Anthrax sucks bigtime.
That's why sensors need to be developed for this stuff and need to be deployed ASAP....I believe they are working on them as we speak.
I was under the impression that after exposure it is not too late.
They better get serious about stopping the mad men that wish to do this and quickly.
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