47 Year Old Male Died of Anthrax

FOX News | 10/22/2001

[Merovingian]

47 year old male who went to the Southern Maryland Hospital and died 6 hours later did die of Anthrax...preliminary tests now show.

[cgbg]

How come it's the postal workers, and NOT the recipients of the mail ??????

When a piece of mail goes through the Post Office it goes through a postal sorting machine (anyone want to admit they are a postal worker and explain the process in more detail?) and my understanding is that the machine jostles, shakes, and perhaps squeezes the mail a little.

That would be enough to release highly refined (known to everybody except the FBI as weapons grade) anthrax into the air of the Post Office where air filters can send it all over the place (well, you get the idea).

If a recipient of the letter did not open it or shake it or drop it then their exposure would be less.

[Merovingian]

LOL Check this out:Link

[willyone]

There are huge financial connections between the ruling elites that must be protected. That is why there is so much foot dragging. The big shots running the show have alot to lose financially if they actually get serious. I know it's depressing but that's the way things are. Maybe we need to start electing less well connected people to national office. When the common man was running things they seemed to have less trouble taking action that would protect the nation. It did not seem to bother Ike a whole lot to round up the wetbacks and deport them. Of course now Ca. would be short half its population as would many other areas of the country if this were done. We have really enabled the tail to be able to wag the dog. I wonder if it is really possible for us to take the actions that may be necessary to protect ourselves.

[willyone]

You're the one who sounds panicked. Shut your own damn mouth and get out there and open your mail. Now take a deep breath. Anyway last I heard it was diagnosed as anthrax. I have driven through Clinton and it appeared pretty rural and was a ways from DC proper. So what gives?

[willyone]

How about bringing in 71 virgin sows and telling them that these are the only virgins they will ever see if they don't start talking. I know it is cruel to the pigs but desperate times call for sacrifice by all.

[willyone]

Yup. No doubt a new gun control bill would be rammed through to show that we are serious about dealing with these lawbreakers. Same old morons different crisis.

[FITZ]

The people who died in the past two days were most likely infected long before last week.

That's a very good point. With cold and flu season, who would expect that their cough was from anthrax? I have a feeling we are only now seeing the tip of the iceberg.

[FITZ]

Fred the Postal Worker receives 250 times the exposure of any other person involved in handling the envelopes.

I wonder if this would have been intentional. I can see how the post office would be where inhalational anthrax would be most likely because of the way the letters are dumped out and sorted.

[smorgle]

Also heard two details on one of the news channels today. Mail does get squeezed in the sorting process, and at least one of the suspect letters wasn't sealed but was closed loosely with tape ----> lots of spores spreading in the air. Air blowers are used to clean dust from the machines ---> more flying spores. At Brentwood, the blowers are being replaced with vacuums asap.

[Merovingian]

Interesting..I don't know, but I just keep thinking something is missing here..

[mountaineer]

How about next time you respond without twisting my words? Your idiotic comment was about on a par with "do you still beat your wife?"

[copycat]

...I am very very perplexed about this, though..How come it's the postal workers, and NOT the recipients of the mail ???????

Postal Workers were exposed several DAYS BEFORE those who later received the mail. Give it time. I hear 13 of the 31 tested in Herr Daschle's office tested positive.

[smorgle]

Yeah, sump'm's weird. From the press conference today I'd say either the people in charge screwed up big time, or else things didn't develop according to the model and they're spooked. I did read on another thread that one of the postal workers who died today switched doctors and hospitals , and continuity of care was lost. Maybe there's a fear of unjust blame in that case.

[Merovingian]

Hmmm. Is that the 13 that Dr Walks was referring to today??

[copycat]

I thought I heard Ridge say it(13 of 31 Capital workers test positive), but it could have been earlier when I first heard the "two dead" news.

In any case, I heard it on the radio, but it was NOT the lead...it was quietly slipped in there with a bunch of other info.

[Merovingian]

Now I remember, Dr Walks said that the 13 included the 2 dead.

[Palladin]

Last week, I heard on the news that Hastert's family had received a letter at their house, in his home state. That was why he was so anxious to close down business and get home. It was only mentioned the once, and I never heard it again. Does anyone know if this was rumor or fact?

[cajungirl]

I'm getting the anthrax cases, the lung ones, confused. If these two today who died worked in the sorting area or courrier area, were they swabbed? Weren't they aware they were at risk? Was a decision made not to swab and test them or was it just ignored. I gotta say the FBI, CDC and all of those guys are working way way over time and Tom Ridge has been in place like three weeks. All the carping seems unnecessary. Plus the paranoia. I think there is true confusion with breaking stuff so fast, so many people to test, so many leads that it is overwhelming. No way were we ready for this and to keep a force at the level it took to respond quickly would have cost alot and noone was willing to pay for it in the last ten years. And we had bill clinton in there undermining all of them.

[dbbeebs]

You're right, I missed the intent of your post. We can be positively persuasive.