Posted on 10/10/2001 3:00:57 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Possible anthrax match found
Fatal strain may be tied to source from 1950sBY DAVID KIDWELL, MANNY GARCIA AND LARRY LEBOWITZ
dkidwell@herald.com
Federal investigators believe they have traced ``unique characteristics'' of the anthrax that killed a Lantana man to a strain harvested at an Iowa facility in the 1950s, according to law enforcement sources.
But the sources caution that final results of tests to confirm the match are not yet finished.
``That's where we are headed, but the tests are not conclusive. We want to be sure,'' said a federal law enforcement official involved in the investigation.
Meanwhile, investigators confirmed that two hijackers who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had subscriptions to tabloid newspapers published in the Boca Raton headquarters of American Media Inc., where photo editor Robert Stevens is believed to have contracted the fatal disease.
``We're not sure what to make of that yet,'' a source close to the inquiry said. ``It may mean absolutely nothing.''
At a high-level briefing Monday, investigators were told that the anthrax strand taken from Stevens had ``certain configurations'' that matched a specific strain among a series of strains on file at a national anthrax repository in Arizona.
Stevens, 63, who worked at The Sun, died Friday from inhalation anthrax, a rare form of infection that claimed a total of 18 lives in the 20th Century. Federal investigators have quarantined the building and begun anthrax tests on employees.
CAN BE TRACED
Investigators say the anthrax strain can be traced to the Iowa facility, but that the specific version of the bacteria may have been widely distributed to researchers. They declined to identify the facility.
Investigators are conducting tests to compare the anthrax strand to those kept at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab in Arizona.
If the match is confirmed, any hope that the deadly anthrax was contracted by accident would be lost.
``It's like a ballistics test,'' said a law enforcement investigator familiar with the case. ``We know a manufacturer samples every barrel of a weapon sold and you can eventually trace it back to the manufacturer.''
Experts on bioterrorism confirmed that molecular biology specialists can tell whether a particular strain of anthrax resembles strains recovered elsewhere, such as from dead livestock or soil or those stored in laboratories or strain ``libraries'' in the country.
COLLECTIONS
Raymond Zilinskas, senior scientist at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, said Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz., and Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., have collections of anthrax ``sequences'' from around the world.
Specialists can determine the precise genetic sequence of anthrax strains and compare them to anthrax types stored in the libraries, Zilinskas said.
Anthrax bacteria, like all living things, show different features related to different strains, and biology detectives can track those characteristics in a given strain's DNA.
As a result, some of the experts said, scientists can tell whether a strain, for example, came from a specific region where a sample from a dead cow or soil was found.
``What the investigators are probably doing is trying to match the genetic makeup of the strain recovered from Stevens with one in the collections,'' Zilinskas said.
In other developments Tuesday, the investigation's focus sharpened on a possible workplace incident at the offices of American Media, which publishes The Sun, The National Enquirer and several other tabloids, after no signs of anthrax turned up in environmental tests performed at Stevens' home.
FAMILY IN CLEAR
Stevens' family is no longer receiving antibiotics and appears to be in the clear, said Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Health Department.
Officials are still awaiting further environmental tests from parks, stores, restaurants and other places that Stevens frequented, he said.
By Tuesday, a total of 770 employees and visitors to the American Media building in Boca Raton had been tested for anthrax exposure and treated with antibiotics.
A Health Department official said of the roughly 300 employees, 70 still had not reported for testing. The department is contacting those employees.
Results of the nasal swabs taken from the 770 people should be available in the next two to three days, said state epidemiologist Steven Wiersma.
FOLLOW-UP TESTS
Meanwhile, the group is being scheduled for follow-up blood tests within the next week, Wiersma said. Nasal swabs will give health officials evidence of anthrax exposure while the blood test will tell them whether antibodies are developing -- suggesting that spores were present at some point, perhaps before antibiotics were administered.
The blood results may take two to three weeks to come back, a delay caused primarily by the large volume of materials being tested in the public health and criminal investigations, Wiersma said.
NO NEW CASES
Palm Beach County Health Department Director Jean Malecki said there are no known new cases of exposure.
She said authorities are still awaiting results of a second round of testing on American Media librarian Martha Moffett, who was hospitalized for chronic bronchitis last week and cleared during an initial test for anthrax. ``She's well, she's fine,'' Malecki said.
Malecki said that the Health Department still has plenty of antibiotics -- tetracycline, amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin -- for the AMI employees and visitors.
The drugs were flown into Palm Beach County from federal stockpiles.
Many who showed up at the Palm Beach County health clinic in Delray Beach for testing Tuesday appeared to be people who visited the AMI building but did not work there.
``I was working there before the cutoff period [for testing],'' said Andrea Rollin, a former freelance writer for The Star, ``but I just wanted to make sure.''
Others were more irked than concerned.
``The whole situation makes me kind of angry,'' said Erica Franzen, who visited the building once after Aug. 1, the cutoff point for testing, to work on a college project.
As investigators worked to solve the medical mystery, nationwide hoaxes kept emergency officials busy. One false alarm even struck the Palm Beach County health center.
Crews from Delray Beach Fire-Rescue responded to the center shortly after 2 p.m. after employees called 911 and reported that an envelope containing white powder was found on a back stairwell.
NO THREAT
A preliminary investigation determined the powder was sheetrock dust from ongoing construction.
``We really need everyone to not get oversensitive to these issues,'' said Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Division Chief Russ Accardi.
Investigators hope to complete their investigation of the American Media building today and possibly begin dismantling parts of the makeshift city of investigative structures at the site.
But it was unclear when employees will return to the building at 5401 Broken Sound Blvd. NW, which has been shuttered since Monday.
Herald staff writers Alfonso Chardy and David Green contributed to this report.
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The only problem with that is some FReeprs did some research and found out that their papers are printed regionally, so....if it's terrorists, they are incredibly incompetent, or this isn't some big masterminded plot (which everybody seems to be ignoring the fact that the photo editor and somebody in the mail room would not be working the presses even if there were presses there so wouldn't be exposed).
Which rules out a photo editor and mail room guy getting accidently exposed to it. This is sounding more and more like it's incredibly manpower intensive for so few results.
Out sick??
They have Arabs working in microbiology labs and university research. They do have access to just about everything.
The title of the post is: Hazmat Investigations Keep Crews Busy
I doubt the hijackers had access to that supply, or at least direct access."
Both universities, particularly in their scientific and technical departments, are LOADED with foreign students and staff from all over the world.
Yes, there are foreign nationals from many countries working in research labs across the country in various disciplines (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.). Not just from Arab countries but also plenty of ChiComs. Most I have known seem to truly loathe their home government, but it would be very easy to plant agents into these labs. Scary stuff.
Request signed for approval by Professor Saddam Hussein, Ph.D.
``We're not sure what to make of that yet,'' a source close to the inquiry said. ``It may mean absolutely nothing.''
Maybe they just appreciate good journalism.
United States Senate, 103d Congress, 2d Session
May 25, 1994
http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/report/riegle1.html
http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/report/r_1_2.html#biotoxins
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has oversight responsibility for the Export Administration Act. Pursuant to the Act, Committee staff contacted the U.S. Department of Commerce and requested information on the export of biological materials during the years prior to the Gulf War. After receiving this information, we contacted a principal supplier of these materials to determine what, if any, materials were exported to Iraq which might have contributed to an offensive or defensive biological warfare program. Records available from the supplier for the period from 1985 until the present show that during this time, pathogenic (meaning "disease producing"), toxigenic (meaning "poisonous"), and other biological research materials were exported to Iraq pursuant to application and licensing by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Records prior to 1985 were not available, according to the supplier. These exported biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction. According to the Department of Defense's own Report to Congress on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War, released in April 1992: "By the time of the invasion of Kuwait, Iraq had developed biological weapons. It's advanced and aggressive biological warfare program was the most advanced in the Arab world... The program probably began late in the 1970's and concentrated on the development of two agents, botulinum toxin and anthrax bacteria... Large scale production of these agents began in 1989 at four facilities in Baghdad. Delivery means for biological agents ranged from simple aerial bombs and artillery rockets to surface-to-surface missiles."
Included in the approved sales are the following biological materials (which have been considered by various nations for use in war), with their associated disease symptoms:
Bacillus Anthracis: anthrax is a disease producing bacteria identified by the Department of Defense in The Conduct of the Persian Gulf War: Final Report to Contress, as being a major component in the Iraqi biological warfare program.
Anthrax is an often fatal infectious disease due to ingestion of spores. It begins abruptly with high fever, difficulty in breathing, and chest pain. The disease eventually results in septicemia (blood poisoning), and the mortality is high. Once septicemia is advanced, antibiotic therapy may prove useless, probably because the exotoxins remain, despite the death of the bacteria.
.......
[Here is a list of shipments from the U.S. to Iraq of Anthrax. I'm wondering if a Freeper could determine which of these agents might tag to export from Iowa?]
Date : May 2, 1986 Sent To : Ministry of Higher Education Materials Shipped:
1. Bacillus Anthracis Cohn (ATCC 10) Batch # 08-20-82 (2 each) Class III pathogen
....
12. Bacillus Anthracis (ATCC 14185) Batch #01-14-80 (3 each) G.G. Wright (Fort Detrick) V770-NP1-R. Bovine Anthrax Class III pathogen
13. Bacillus Anthracis (ATCC 14578) Batch #01-06-78 (2 each) Class III pathogen
....
Date : September 29, 1988 Sent To : Ministry of Trade Materials Shipped:
1. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 240) Batch # 05-14-63 (3 each) Class III pathogen
2. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 938) Batch # 1963 (3 each) Class III pathogen
.....
5. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 8705) Batch # 06-27-62 (3 each) Class III pathogen
....
8. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 11966) Batch #05-05-70 (3 each) Class III pathogen
....
Supposition: U.S. labs shipment to Iraq for research. Iraq mass produces and provides tech or samples to Bin Laden (reports last month said Iraq sold biological tech to Bin Laden's group which hid missiles and warheads with bio/chem materials in Yemen and them manufacturered it in Sudan). Bin Laden, always willing to share gives it back to U.S. (couldn't get crop duster so used U.S. mail)?
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