Posted on 10/10/2001 5:09:20 PM PDT by newsperson999
now a criminal investagation...
But these news reports and press conferences are right out of a script of a bad movie. The local officials making fools of themselves while the deadly plot is unfolding.
I can hear the music beginning to build...
At lunch today they had free USA papers for diners to read. When I opened it up there was a picture of Condit. Makes me sick to see his face knowing how glad he probably is about the terrorists attack and his being out of the limelight.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
October 10, 2001, 05:30 PM
By AP Staff
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Federal authorities said Wednesday that a third person has been exposed to anthrax and the case has become the subject of a criminal investigation.
"There is another individual that has tested positive for presence of the virus," U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis at a news conference that included officials with the FBI, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state health department.
The 35-year-old woman, whose name wasn't released, has been hospitalized and is being treated with antibiotics. Her condition was immediately known.
Lewis said authorities are now conducting a criminal probe into the source of the anthrax, which killed a man last week and was found in the nasal passages of a co-worker.
Both men worked in the Boca Raton headquarters of American Media, a supermarket tabloid publisher.
Lewis said the investigation would attempt to determine how, when and why the bacteria got into the building.
The woman was one of more than 1,000 people who have been tested by health officials for presence of the dangerous bacterium. Most have recently been inside the AMI building.
Robert Stevens, 63, died Friday of inhaled anthrax, a rare and particularly lethal form of the disease. Mailroom co-worker Ernesto Blanco, 73, has been in a Miami hospital since Monday after he was found to have anthrax spores in his nose.
The title of this thread should be a clue. (completely inaccurate, no link, all caps, lots of exclaimation points)
Always keep extra cash in case the officials tell us to go shopping agian.
Yeah...sure VERN!
3rd person exposed to anthrax; case now criminal investigation
Houston Chronicle wire services
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Federal authorities said today that a third person has been exposed to anthrax and the case has become the subject of a criminal investigation.
"There is another individual that has tested positive for presence of the virus," U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis at a news conference that included officials with the FBI, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state health department.
The 35-year-old woman, whose name wasn't released, has been hospitalized and is being treated with antibiotics. Her condition was immediately known.
Lewis said authorities are now conducting a criminal probe into the source of the anthrax, which killed a man last week and was found in the nasal passages of a co-worker.
Both men worked in the Boca Raton headquarters of American Media, a supermarket tabloid publisher.
Lewis said the investigation would attempt to determine how, when and why the bacteria got into the building.
The woman was one of more than 1,000 people who have been tested by health officials for presence of the dangerous bacterium. Most have recently been inside the AMI building.
Robert Stevens, 63, died Friday of inhaled anthrax, a rare and particularly lethal form of the disease. Mailroom co-worker Ernesto Blanco, 73, has been in a Miami hospital since Monday after he was found to have anthrax spores in his nose.
The woman is also an employee of American Media and a nasal swab taken from her tested positive, officials said.
FBI agent Hector Pesquera said the anthrax contamination was limited to the building owned by American Media, which publishes six tabloids.
Pesquera said authorities had no evidence it was caused or created by a terrorist group and cautioned that "this is not a time for premature conclusions and inaccurate reporting."
Preliminary testing at federal labs on the anthrax that killed Stevens has found a possible match to a strain connected to an Iowa lab, a law enforcement official said Wednesday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said further testing to definitively make the match could take several days.
FBI investigators, donning white moon suits and gas masks, spent a third day collecting evidence in the newspaper offices of the two men whose exposure to anthrax has prompted heightened fear of bioterrorism across the country.
The search has turned up no further sign of anthrax in Stevens' office since traces were discovered on his computer keyboard.
"We understand that this is a problem, and we will bring every resource that we have to bear on this problem, and I assure you we will resolve it," Lewis said.
Pharmacists in Boca Raton said their supply of the antibiotic Cipro was running dangerously thin -- or in some cases out -- as worried residents asked their doctors to fill out prescriptions.
Company employees began undergoing blood testing on Wednesday at the company's Delray Beach offices, leaving with gauze bandages on their arms and small American flags in their hands.
The Palm Beach County Health Department ordered the building closed for 30 days on Wednesday, said Boca Raton Fire Department Lt. Frank Montilli.
Health officials have emphasized that there is no public health threat. Anthrax tests at Stevens' home were negative, said Dr. Jean Malecki, director of the Palm Beach Health Department.
Write your congress critters. Demand that all non citizen Muslims be deported NOW. This will make the FBI's job easier in watching the remaining ones. They (the 'citizen' Moslems) may have to go too however.
If my 'culturist' sentiments bother you .... ask yourself this: "Was that fat lady leafing through the Natl. Enquirer in the line in front of me today sending anthrax spoors into the air around me?"
All the terr needs to do is infiltrate the infrastructure of The Sun and sprinkle a few ounces of anthrax into ONE press run.
Mel tomes?
It's amazing how many people participate in these threads only to tell everyone how stupid they are for being concerned about this. As if we weren't at war with people we've suspected of cultivating the disease as a WMD for years. As if the terrorists didn't live in the area in question. As if anthrax spores are something that can be picked up at the local Wal Mart and dispersed by any lone nut with an axe to grind.
The level of ignorance/arrogance some of these people are willing to display in the interest of being "above the fray" is staggering.
What the F*** up, people. This is deadly serious stuff.
How will we know who the Muslims are?
I don't think anyone knows (but we may find out) what percentage of people found with nasal anthrax bacteria or spores come down with respiratory, or pulmonary anthrax. There can be a delay of up to two months between exposure to the spores and the development of lethal anthrax infection, as was documented in the Sverdlovsk bioweaponized anthrax accident in Russia.
Unlike some bacteria which cause disease (Staph aureus, Neisseria meningitidis) there is no such thing as a chronic asymptomatic nasal carrier of anthrax.
But once you get pulmonary symptoms with anthrax, there is a very very high mortality rate, even with treatment...90%
Tests on monkeys performed during the Gulf war found that 10% of monkeys even given post exposure antibiotics to anthrax exposure died after completing 30 days of treatment. Only monkeys who got vaccine and antibiotics for 30 days all survived exposure. The effectiveness of the antibiotics as exposure prophylaxis decreased after 24 hours, and all of these people have gone far longer than that before detection of the exposure. How all this applies to humans is not yet clear...this is just what they found using monkeys.
This information can be found in a newly released book, Germs, by Judith Miller, Stephen Engleburg, and William Broad. It is a good book on biowarfare, (except for their Barf chapter aka chapter about how great and smart Bill Clinton was.)
Bottom line...if you have anthrax found in your nose, you are, for all intents and purposes, dead man walking without treatment. Therefore, finding anthrax in your nose means you have anthrax and must be treated for it. These folks will probably get Cipro for 60 days, and they are not out of the woods for at least a month based on animal data.
How do we usually see it, if we ever see it? Usually in animals - primarily sheep or cattle. One of the first things you learn in infectious disease class in veterinary school is "if you are called out to post (autopsy) a dead cow and she has blood coming out her orifices (sorry)do NOT open her up right there in the field without getting a complete history and eliminating other causes of death. If you are unlucky enough to post her anyway and you find a 'blackberry jelly spleen,' you are in deep sh*t."
Does this mean we should all be apopletic over this - we shouldn't, just yet. However, the CDC and FBI should be and they are, so hold onto your undies and don't get 'em in a wad just yet.
Endeavor
You've been a member for all of seven whole days and you already feel empowered to council everyone on their posting habits? Oh, and by the way, welcome to FreeRepublic.
I beg your pardon? Mine are never in a wad....I find that disgusting.
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