Posted on 10/17/2001 7:47:05 AM PDT by maquiladora
Anthrax may be in the Senate ventilation system, according to a Senate speaker.
More than 20 staff working for one of America's most powerful politicians have already been contaminated by powder sent in a letter.
US government sources said the anthrax powder sent to Senator Tom Daschle's Capitol Hill office was weapons-grade, and thus almost certainly produced by experts.
Preliminary tests on the powder sent to Mr Daschle, leader of the US Senate, indicated it had been refined for easy airborne dispersal, the sources said.
And, as a purified form ideal for use as a chemical weapon, it was also more likely the powder was produced in a military laboratory.
Weapons-grade anthrax must be clinically refined to a specific size, making it small enough to be sprayed efficiently, but not so small as to be immediately exhaled by its targets. Larger particles land on the skin and produce a less dangerous form of anthrax infection.
Anthrax is not contagious and a person must come into direct contact with the bacterium to be infected.
Hundreds of people working in the Senate have been taking precautionary antibiotics. And security officials closed an entire wing of the eight-storey Senate office building as testing continued.
Mr Daschle said the letter sent to his office contained "a very potent form of anthrax that clearly was produced by someone who knew what he or she was doing".
Anthrax powder has also been sent to NBC Nightly News anchorman Tom Brokaw in New York. The powder infected his assistant, Erin O'Connor, 38.
The Daschle and Brokaw letters were written by a nearly identical hand and were both posted from Trenton, New Jersey, on September 18. They both contained anti-American, anti-Israeli and pro-Islamic statements.
One man has already been killed after contracting the disease at a newspaper office in Boca Raton in Florida.
sw
Yes, it's the tip of the iceberg, the thin edge of the wedge, as anthrax takes a while to show up, apparently. But it still is treatable if caught early enough, while our smallpox vaccine supplies are pretty low right now.
They're working at St. Louis U on diluting the existing stock (of 15 million doses), which seems to be just as effective when diluted 10 or more times, but this is a weak spot in our defense. And smallpox can be treated by giving the vaccine even if someone has had the disease for 3 or 4 days, but we just don't have enough vaccine yet.
We have plenty of doxycycline and not as much cipro to treat the anthrax, but smallpox will present a problem...at least until the supplies are built up again.
Who we think it is right now is not important. The first think we need to do is stop the spread and distribution of the disease. All the potential perps must be rounded up and controlled. I see no point in sending the bastards home to fight us somewhere else.
We can go back to them for paybacks soon enough. Pick your favorite megaton for delivery.
You mean, battle, don't you?
I watched the hearings this mornings. They went out of their way to indicate that they did not yet know if it was "weapons" grade.
They are saying pulmonary Anthrax is 100% fatal. And this guy had no symptoms before he was tested. I'm sorry but I think a lot of people are going to die from this stuff.
Yep, I'm afraid so too...I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Yes, the inhalation type is pretty much fatal in all cases...I wonder how many of those who are exposed now will go on to this form?
Seriously, anyone who has been on Capitol Hill recently should get checked. It's probably nothing, but better safe than sorry.
If it's the weapons-grade stuff (which they're saying the stuff in the Daschle letter was), it's almost certainly a government. NOW can we knock off Shoeshine Boy?
Do we have any left?
You need to calm down a little. The writer said nothing to warrent that.
You need to calm down a little. The writer said nothing to warrent that.
ONLY IF UNTREATED.
When treated with antibiotics in a timely fashion, pulmonary anthrax is nearly 100% NON-fatal.
And this guy had no symptoms before he was tested. I'm sorry but I think a lot of people are going to die from this stuff.
Stop spreading hysteria, you're only helping the terrorists.
No, it is not.
Your husband is right. And, we sit here and twiddle our thumbs when mass deportations should be under way. How stupid.
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