Egyptian ship to be inspected (anthrax quarantine)

Canadian Press via Sun Media ^ | April 25, 2003 | Alicaon Auld

[Clive]

HALIFAX (CP) - An officer who died aboard a ship now quarantined off the coast of Nova Scotia had anthrax bacilli in his system, but Brazilian officials have yet to determine if the lethal bacteria caused his death.

A specialist with the Brazilian Health Department said Friday the bacilli were discovered in the unidentified man's body after he died while the ship was sailing in Brazilian waters. However, a conclusive autopsy report had yet to be completed.

"The bacilli of anthrax was found in his body," Carlos Lopes said in an interview from Brasilia, the capital of the South American country. He said it wasn't clear if the traces came from external sources or if they caused the death.

Lopes said the results of a second examination on the man were expected to be available Tuesday.

Canadian officials quarantined the Egyptian vessel about 10 kilometres off Halifax when it arrived early Friday, placing it under a one-kilometre exclusion zone off the mouth of the city's harbour.

The ship was headed to an Alcan Inc. smelter on the Saguenay River in Quebec, but was diverted to Nova Scotia after it was learned the man might have died from anthrax, an infection that normally afflicts cattle and sheep. It is transmissible to humans through anthrax spores, which killed several people in the United States following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Officials know very little about what happened to the man, said to be an officer in his 50s. It is thought he died two days after the Wadi Al Arab left a Brazilian port about two weeks ago.

Officials from Health Canada planned to go out to the 225-metre-long vessel on Saturday to conduct inspections and test for contamination. A team of infectious disease specialists was assembled in Halifax, preparing to take a coast guard vessel out to the ship.

The team, which includes an RCMP officer, a translator, environmental officers and a quarantine specialist, planned to interview the crew to determine what happened to their colleague, whose body was removed from the vessel last week in Brazil.

Team members will wear protective gear to prevent any exposure to potential communicable diseases, even though none of the up to 38 other crew members show signs of illness, Canadian officials said Friday.

Health Canada feared there might be something aboard the ship that infected the man. Tracey Taweel, a spokeswoman for the department, said the crew was co-operating and complying with the quarantine.

The ship, a 37,550-tonne carrier owned and operated by National Navigation of Egypt, left Brazil 10 days ago after picking up its cargo on the Amazon River.

The crewman died after the ship left one Brazilian port with a load of bauxite. The ship docked again at another port on the Amazon, where the man's body was removed and the vessel was sanitized.

Sources said the man travelled from the Middle East and stayed in a hotel in Brazil while he waited for the Wadi Al Arab to arrive. His body was returned to Egypt after the autopsy, a federal official said.

Dr. Douglas Sinclair, an emergency medicine specialist at the IWK Grace Hospital in Halifax, said the disease acts quickly and usually presents symptoms when it is too late to treat.

"Patients get very, very sick before it's recognized," he said, adding that it is not contagious. "It's fairly potent."

[Clive]

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[aristeides]

If anthrax bacilli were found in his body, and he died in a way consistent with anthrax poisoning, it's not very likely anything else killed him.

[Eva]

I wonder what happened to that ship that was quaruntined off British Columbia, where the man died of anthrax. I haven't heard anything about that.

[aristeides]

I never heard about that ship. Got a source or a link?

[FairOpinion]

Isn't this the same ship? This has been in the news for the past couple of days, with gradual updates.

[Ben Hecks]

Here's a previous thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/899771/posts

[lawdude]

"If anthrax bacilli were found in his body, and he died in a way consistent with anthrax poisoning, it's not very likely anything else killed him."

Many people die in this country every from anthrax. Especially people working with sheep and other farm critters.

[FairOpinion]

And an earlier article:

http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030424.wanth0424_3/BNStory/National

[aristeides]

That's about the same ship that is the subject of this thread. Eva says a ship was quarantined off British Columbia. Maybe she misremembered the name of the province.

[FairOpinion]

"Brazilians conducted a preliminary autopsy on the man’s body and believe that he died of an infectious disease, probably anthrax. The 38-year-old man, an Egyptian whose name has not been released, had reportedly travelled from the Middle East shortly before boarding the ship."

from http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030424.wanth0424_3/BNStory/National

[aristeides]

Many people die in this country every from anthrax.

I was under the impression deaths were quite rare.

[lawdude]

" I was under the impression deaths were quite rare."

You are right. That is 'cuz we can treat effectively. Doubt they had the med facilities on the ship.

[Dixie Mom]

Egyptian sailor had anthrax bacilli, but not clear if they caused death

HALIFAX (AP) _ An officer who died aboard a ship now quarantined off the coast of Nova Scotia had anthrax bacilli in his system, but Brazilian officials have yet to determine if the lethal bacteria caused his death.

A specialist with the Brazilian Health Department said Friday the bacilli were discovered in the unidentified man's body after he died while the ship was sailing in Brazilian waters. However, a conclusive autopsy report had yet to be completed.

"The bacilli of anthrax was found in his body," Carlos Lopes said in an interview from Brasilia, the capital of the South American country. He said it wasn't clear if the traces came from external sources or if they caused the death.

Lopes said the results of a second examination on the man were expected to be available Tuesday.

Canadian officials quarantined the Egyptian vessel about 10 kilometers off Halifax when it arrived early Friday, placing it under a one-kilometer exclusion zone off the mouth of the city's harbor.

The ship was headed to an Alcan Inc. smelter on the Saguenay River in Quebec, but was diverted to Nova Scotia after it was learned the man might have died from anthrax, an infection that normally afflicts cattle and sheep. It is transmissible to humans through anthrax spores, which killed several people in the United States following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Officials know very little about what happened to the man, said to be an officer in his 50s.

[aristeides]

If the guy really did have anthrax bacilli in him (and I understand they are very easy to recognize under a microscope,) and if he died in a way consistent with anthrax poisoning, it really does seem most unlikely that he died from some other cause.

[eno_]

It very much depends on whether he died of cutaneous or inhalation anthrax. Inhalation anthrax is very very rare. Unless he was hand carding goat wool in Pakistan, he was not at risk of inhalation anthrax - unless something odd is going on on that ship.

[Mitchell]

Questions, questions, and more questions.

I've been unable to locate any information on the ship's itinerary. I don't even know what ports it called on in Brazil. Where did it sail from, and where did it stop along the way?

At which Brazilian city did the infected person get on board? He's been described as an officer, and one reporter said he was the first mate. Is it common for a new first mate to board a ship in the middle of a voyage? Wasn't there a first mate on board already? This seems a bit strange to me, but I don't know -- maybe it's not really all that uncommon.

Did he have inhalation anthrax? This isn't spelled out, but there's no mention of the kind of sores one would see in cutaneous anthrax. On the other hand, there are really no specifics at all in terms of symptoms.

Also: What is the name of the person who died, and what is the name of the captain of the ship?

There are far more questions than answers here.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Search of anthrax ship delayed

"...Health Canada officials may not be able to board Friday a cargo ship whose first mate is believed to have died of anthrax, possibly leaving the vessel to bob in isolation off Chebucto Head until the weekend.

The Coast Guard is enforcing a 1,000-metre exclusion zone around the Egyptian-flagged ship, which sailed from Brazil after the body of its dead first mate was removed in the Amazon Delta.

“[The Brazilians] took whatever appropriate precautions public-health officials there would have required for them to carry on,” regional Health Canada director on the East Coast Bob Fowler told a hastily called press conference on Thursday. He said that he was not aware of any anthrax symptoms among the other crew — all of whom are Egyptian — but that inspectors would board the ship to search for any signs of contamination.

Health Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Tramble told globeandmail.com on Friday that plans for boarding the ship have been delayed by the vessel’s late arrival Thursday night and by the time necessary to assemble a suitable team..."

[The Great Satan]

Three mystery ships are tracked over suspected 'weapons' cargo

By Michael Harrison
The Independent
19 February 2003

Three giant cargo ships are being tracked by US and British intelligence on suspicion that they might be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Each with a deadweight of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes, the ships have been sailing around the world's oceans for the past three months while maintaining radio silence in clear violation of international maritime law, say authoritative shipping industry sources.

The vessels left port in late November, just a few days after UN weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix began their search for the alleged Iraqi arsenal on their return to the country.

Uncovering such a deadly cargo on board would give George Bush and Tony Blair the much sought-after "smoking gun" needed to justify an attack on Saddam Hussein's regime, in the face of massive public opposition to war.

The ships were chartered by a shipping agent based in Egypt and are flying under the flags of three different countries. The continued radio silence since they left port, in addition to the captains' failure to provide information on their cargoes or their destinations, is a clear breach of international maritime laws.