BREAKING: Anthrax case possible in VIRGINIA

AP Breaking ^ | 10/09/01

[cgk]

Elsewhere, a state official in Virginia confirmed that health officials there were monitoring a possible case of anthrax at a northern Virginia hospital.

Prince William Hospital in Manassas, Va., contacted the state health department with a possible anthrax diagnosis, "one of several possible diagnoses" for the victim, whose name was not released, said M. Boyd Marcus, Gov. Jim Gilmore's chief of staff. He said a germ culture from the victim was transported to a state laboratory in Richmond on Monday evening and would take at least 24 hours to analyze.

The state government was told that the Virginia victim had either been an employee of or a contractor for The Sun, Marcus said. He had no details, and he said it wasn't known whether the victim had been in Florida of late or had had direct contact with Blanco or Stevens.

[Clinton's a rapist]

No, I think you are right. Looking at it from their point of view, they wanted to break it gently. The "100% chance of attack" warning (completely non-specific), combined with whispers in the ears of the major media (and Matt Druge, I suspect) to downplay the anthrax story (esp. the obvious, phenomenally-coincidental proximity to the terrorists' nest) was probably a conscious strategy to soften the blow.

Now can we see a picture of the Middle Eastern intern who launched this attack, please?

[justa-hairyape]

That's what the FBI meant when they said there was a 100% of another terror attack,

They must have found traces of anthrax or other details/plans about how to spread anthrax. Look, no one is going to inquire about a cropduster, without first having something they can dust with.

[eyebeme]

Thinking like a terrorist is what will keep your eyes and ears open in the times ahead.

[Don Joe]

"I'm a doctor of medicine. Don't worry guys. The treatment for anthrax is well-established. These guys would have to genetically engineer the strain to defeat the newest antibiotics. I don't think they can do that. It's hard for our own biotech companies to do that. If you start freaking out, it will drive up the cost of the drugs. It's better to use these antibiotics judiciously. If you over use them, the germs themselves will become modified through the natural mutation process. It's better to NOT use the antibiotics unless you absolutely have to. OK?"

My late mother was fond of saying that there's nothing common about common sense.

Your advice, while techincally accurate, is completely worthless, because by the time you "know" that you need treatment, it's too late to start treatment. When the first symptoms occur, you are the walking dead.

[GeronL]

yep too cultured.. wait like in a bacteria culture? How many people might have used the same computer as the first guy and then picked their nose.

Anthrax patient sneezes on keyboard and zoom... it spreads... been shaking hands??

[Sunshine55]

That's EXACTLY why I had to order Cipro online!!!

[Vicki]

You're probably right.

[justa-hairyape]

One of the reports says authorities think between September 23 and 25.

Ouch. That means there are more terrorist, still out there, with anthrax on them.

[xm177e2]

I'm going to repost this as a vanity, I want to make sure I get credit for this...

[bonesmccoy]

My compliments on your analysis. The timing makes sense.

The DOJ needs to announce where the package was sent from. Other major companies need to identify if they could have received any wierd mail.

Sounds like someone figured out how to aerosolize the spores in a powdery material.

It would be far more helpful to our nation if the gov't health people simply released the testing materials to ALL HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS.

The gov't is really making me upset with the way they are sequestering supplies for diagnosis. This is NOT a time when gov't bureaucrats should be permitted to grandstand and monopolize an essential service. The free market needs to function. This will increase the availability of the testing and decrease the cost of the it (due to competition).

You just have to wonder why they are limiting the testing (too few test kits?)

[stlnative]

Anthrax Bacteria Found in Second Florida Man; FBI Takes Over Case,
Scores Seek Testing
By Amanda Riddle Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 9, 2001

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - The FBI on Monday took over the investigation into the anthrax death of a Florida man after the germ was found in the nose of a co-worker and on a computer keyboard in their office. Hundreds of people who worked near the men lined up to get medical tests. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the case could become "a clear criminal investigation."

"We don't have enough information to know whether this could be related to terrorism or not," he said during a news conference in Washington.

The FBI sealed off the Boca Raton building housing several supermarket tabloids, including The Sun, where both men worked. Agents donned protective gear before going inside.

How the bacterial spores got into the newspaper's office remained under investigation. Federal investigators handling the cases have eliminated the obvious environmental sources of anthrax, said Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said CDC officials told him that "human intervention" was the likely cause of contamination.

Health officials insisted there was no public health threat, but there was unease among some of the 500 people waiting for antibiotics and anthrax tests at the Palm Beach County health agency Monday.

"I feel nervous. I'm worried for everybody," said David Hayes, an editor for the Star tabloid who works in the building. Test results are expected to take days or weeks in some cases.

Anthrax cannot be spread from person to person, but all 300 people who work in the building - and anyone who spent more than an hour inside since Aug. 1 - were advised to visit health officials.

Antibiotics can treat anthrax, though the form that killed Sun photography editor Bob Stevens is particularly lethal. Stevens, 63, died Friday of inhalation anthrax, the first such fatality in the United States since 1976.

The anthrax exposure case reported Monday involved a mailroom employee identified by co-workers as 73-year-old Ernesto Blanco. Health officials said he had anthrax bacteria in his nasal passages, but he has not been diagnosed with the disease.

Blanco was tested for anthrax because he happened to be in a hospital for what co-workers said was an unrelated heart problem.

He was in stable condition at a Miami-area hospital, authorities said. Relatively large anthrax spores that lodge in the upper respiratory tract are less dangerous than smaller spores that get into the lungs.

Reynolds said authorities may never know whether he actually had anthrax because antibiotics may have killed it before it was detected.

Anthrax can be contracted from farm animals or soil, but the bacterium is not normally found among the wildlife or livestock in Florida. Stevens was described as an avid outdoorsman and gardener.

"When you have two cases in the same building and a positive sample from the environment in that building and no wool sorters or animal hides in that building, it lowers the likelihood of it coming from the environment," Reynolds said, reading a statement from CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan.

State epidemiologist Dr. Steven Wiersma said tests will help determine whether the anthrax found in the second victim was natural or genetically engineered. Health officials have said the bacteria in Stevens' blood responded to antibiotics, indicating that it was natural.

He and other health officials said there was no reason for alarm.

"The risk is low," said Dr. John Agwunobi, Florida secretary of health. He said the sample of anthrax that was found in the building was taken from Stevens' computer.

lsewhere, a state official in Virginia confirmed that health officials there were monitoring a possible case of anthrax at a northern Virginia hospital.

Prince William Hospital in Manassas, Va., contacted the state health department with a possible anthrax diagnosis, "one of several possible diagnoses" for the victim, whose name was not released, said M. Boyd Marcus, Gov. Jim Gilmore's chief of staff. He said a germ culture from the victim was transported to a state laboratory in Richmond on Monday evening and would take at least 24 hours to analyze.

The state government was told that the Virginia victim had either been an employee of or a contractor for The Sun, Marcus said. He had no details, and he said it wasn't known whether the victim had been in Florida of late or had had direct contact with Blanco or Stevens.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have raised fears of bioterrorism across the country, and focused particular concern on the origin of the anthrax here.

Stevens lived about a mile from an air strip where flight school owner Marian Smith said suspected hijacker Mohamed Atta rented planes. Several suspected hijackers also visited a crop-dusting business in Belle Glade, 40 miles from Stevens' home in Lantana.

David Pecker, chief executive of the tabloids' publisher, American Media, said he did not believe the company was being targeted by terrorists because of how the papers have covered the attacks and suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Newsweek magazine reported on its Web site Monday that the office received a "weird love letter to Jennifer Lopez" a week before the Sept. 11 attacks. Inside was what was described as a "soapy, powdery substance" and a Star of David charm. The letter was handled by both Stevens and Blanco, according to unidentified workers cited by Newsweek.

Bennet Bolton, a senior reporter for The National Enquirer, told The Associated Press on Monday about a "cryptic" e-mail sent to the staff in late August or early September by an intern who worked in the newsroom this summer.

"It intrigued us that he left such a cryptic farewell," Bolton said. "It was rather neutral and then he said, 'I left you a surprise for you to remember me by. Ha ha, just kidding.'"

He said federal investigators were told about the e-mail. The FBI did not return several phone calls seeking comment about it.

Only 18 cases of inhalation anthrax were reported in the United States during the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. Without treatment, 90 percent of victims die within days. More common is a less serious form of anthrax contracted through the skin.

Federal officials are sending Florida 100 cases of antibiotics to back up the local supply. The antibiotics came from a federal stockpile that holds enough to treat 2 million cases of anthrax.

An injectable anthrax vaccine has been around since the 1970s, but it limited to military use. It is reportedly not in production.

--- On the Net:

CDC: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/Agent/Anthrax/Anthrax.asp

AP-ES-10-09-01 0230EDT

[keri]

Yaelle, you have to inhale thousands and thousands of Anthrax spores to actually develop symptoms of Anthrax, because so many of the spores are trapped in the respiratory tract before reaching the alveoli in the lungs. It's highly unlikely your scenario as a means of delivery would work, because too many spores would be dispersed.

Do you read Stratfor? A more probable means of delivery would be ventilation systems, as Sabertooth pointed out. The "letter" and the "white powder" are probably what Stratfor analysts would call a diversionary tactic. Also, if you're looking to terrorize and disrupt the lives of a lot of people, not reading newspapers or opening mail would be a good way.

Clever bastards, yes?

[dandelion]

Man alive, to know there's going to be an attack, but not to have enough vaccine or antibiotics for everyone to run down and get what they need - just enough for the cases that are confirmed. No wonder they are concerned about panics and false alarms. The Feds might have known everything EXCEPT where the attack took place, and we have to hang on to every precious drop of vaccine we have so we can fight it. That means NO ROOM FOR ERROR...

[CommiesOut]

In Virginia, officials said last night that they were monitoring a possible case of anthrax in a Northern Virginia

[cgk]

There's no marginalizing this. Follow the story. A middle-eastern intern (and student at F.A.U.) worked in the building. He left a note saying he was going to leave something behind for his co-workers to remember him by. Now we have a possible third case of a disease that hasn't been seen in this country in 27 years (and 18 times in the last 100 -- this can't be stressed enough) in the building where this kid worked . A disease that's been cultivated as a WMD by the enemies we're currently engaged in a war with.

The F.B.I. is now treating this as a criminal case. The C.D.C. has concluded that the bacteria was placed there, and that it most likely not a naturally occurring strain.

And, oh yeah... there's missing crop duster out there. In Florida.

Instead of telling people what you think they're reaction should be, why don't you just share with the board whatever information you may have that seems to be keeping you so calm, in the face of what is obviously a biological attack. (albeit, a small one).

[justa-hairyape]

You make good points, but I just though of a nasty scenario. What if the terrorist were hanging around the cropduster, to place anthrax spores somehow inside the plane or inside the chmicals that were going to be spread. That would mean the cropdusters would then spray the spores onto food. Which of course may be sitting on a super market shelf right now. Hopefully, the anthrax is not viable in this scenario.

[bonesmccoy]

regarding the theory that FBI knew of diagnosis... I say no way. FBI will be taking cues from local health authorities and doctors in the field. Tom Ridge needs to bring some discipline to this process. I think the local doctors need to take charge of the home care. Local law enforcement needs to take charge of the crime scene if multiple cases are identified by local health department (who is called when the local doctor suspects the diagnosis). Anyways, take Ashcroft on his word. The guy ain't lying when he says that he doesn't have enough info to make a conclusion. But, in my professional judgement, he'll have that data in 72 hours (how long it will take for these other tests to pan-out). By weeks end, the Bush Administration will have a good estimate on the exposures involved. Wish I could buy Bayer stock. They make the Cipro antibiotics.

[wayne_shrugged]

Yaelle, friend, please remain calm. What has been done cannot be undone. This is a time to be calm, still -- please think and pray for others, first. G*d will take care of you and the rest...

[Dan Day]

I think its safe to conclude that we now know why the terrorist were inquiring about crop dusters.

I've heard that although the terrorists did inquire about renting crop dusters, and asked about their carrying capacity and so on, they *DIDN'T* ask a single question about the available sprayers or nozzles.

The guy they had talked to at the cropduster service said that it sounded to him as if they were just looking at the planes as transportation of some sort (or maybe even suicide bomb flights), but didn't show any interest in the actual spraying abilities of the plane.