Posted on 04/28/2003 10:28:14 AM PDT by Shermy
BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - A crew member of an Egyptian merchant ship has died in northern Brazil, almost certainly from anthrax, after opening a suitcase suspected of containing the substance which he was taking to Canada.
A spokesman for Brazilian federal police in the Amazon state of Para said on Monday an autopsy of the Egyptian man, whom he named as Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim, showed that he had died after vomiting, internal bleeding and multiple organ failure.
"He was the victim of anthrax," said Castro, adding that police were 90 percent certain that Ibrahim had died of anthrax.
Ibrahim died in the hotel were he was staying on April 11. Several health workers who found his body were taken to a hospital after becoming ill but are now out of danger.
Ibrahim had traveled to Brazil from Cairo to join his ship, the Wabi Alaras, which loaded bauxite in the Amazon to take to Canada.
"We imagine that this is about bioterrorism and Brazil was just used as a point of transfer," said Castro.
Ibrahim died before his ship sailed to Canada, where it was quarantined by authorities last week.
Canada was alerted about the ship through Interpol.
Castro said Ibrahim had been given the suitcase in Cairo by an unidentified person and was due to deliver it to somebody in Canada. But he doubted Ibrahim knew what the content of the bag was otherwise he most likely would not have opened it.
"He opened it because he was curious," Castro said.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, five people died in still-unsolved anthrax mailings.
Did I say that?
NO I didn't.
Wake up.
The LAST reported case in the US was not from 'handling hides' (you MISSED this posting earlier because you were napping):
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/anthrax/disease_rec.html
The last case of inhalational anthrax in the United States, before 2001, was in 1976 in California. A home craftsman died of the disease. He was exposed through his work with yarn; Bacillus anthracis was isolated from some of the imported yarns used by the patient.
Original post date by yours truly: 10/9/01
http://www.anthrax.osd.mil/Site_Files/articles/INDEXjournals_editorials/NEJMATXReview%5Creview.htm Inhalational AnthraxInhalational anthrax is rare, usually occurring after the inhalation of pathogenic endospores from contaminated animal hides or products.
Before the introduction of hygienic measures in the 1960s, including vaccination, workers in goathair mills, for example, were regularly exposed to high concentrations of viable anthrax spores.
Nevertheless, for reasons that are not understood, few cases of inhalational anthrax occurred among them. 49-51 When dispersed in the atmosphere as an aerosol, anthrax spores can present a respiratory hazard even far downwind from the point of release, as demonstrated by animal tests on Gruin-ard Island in the United Kingdom, 52-55 and by an accidental release from a military biologic facility in the city of Sverdlovsk in the former Soviet Union. 2,56-58
Inhalational anthrax is usually fatal, even with aggressive antimicrobial therapy. It appears that only about one fifth of those who contracted inhalational anthrax in Sverdlovsk recovered. 2 Anthrax spores are about 1 to 2 µm in diameter, a size that is optimal for inhalation and deposition in the alveolar spaces. 51,59-61
Although the lung is the initial site of contact, inhalational anthrax is not considered a true pneumonia.
In most but not all cases, there is no infection in the lungs. 58,62 Rather, the endospores are engulfed by alveolar macrophages and transported by them to the mediastinal and peribronchial lymph nodes, with the spores germinating en route.
Anthrax bacilli multiply in the lymph nodes, causing hemorrhagic mediastinitis, and spread throughout the body in the blood. 43,62
Data from the Sverdlovsk outbreak indicate a modal incubation time of approximately 10 days for inhalational anthrax. However, the onset of symptoms occurred up to six weeks after the reported date of exposure. 2,57
Such long incubation times presumably reflect the ability of viable anthrax spores to remain in the lungs for many days. 51,63,64 Longer incubation periods may be associated with smaller inocula.
The initial symptoms most often reported are fever, nonproductive cough, myalgia, and malaise, resembling those of a viral upper respiratory tract infection. Early in the course of the disease, chest radiographs show a widened mediastinum, which is evidence of hemorrhagic mediastinitis, and marked pleural effusions.
After one to three days, the disease takes a fulminant course with dyspnea, strident cough, and chills, culminating in death. 34,59
In Sverdlovsk, the mean time between the onset of symptoms and death was 3 days (range, 1 to 10). Although accompanying evidence of clinical signs of pneumonia in these cases is lacking, some of the autopsies from the Sverdlovsk outbreak showed a focus of necrotizing hemorrhagic pneumonitis, possibly at the portal of infection. 58
Submucosal hemorrhages occurred in the trachea and bronchi, with hemorrhage and necrosis of peribronchial lymph nodes. Hemorrhagic mediastinal lymph nodes represent the primary lesion; however, gastrointestinal and leptomeningeal lesions are the result of hematogenous spread. There may be wide individual variation in susceptibility to inhalational anthrax, as suggested by experimental studies in nonhuman primates and by the absence of persons younger than 24 years among the 66 deaths reported in the Sverdlovsk outbreak. 2,51,57
Yes, and this time lets make it a deeper shade of red, perhaps Burnt Umber
It is just my unsubstantiated ill informed opinion that the majority of the SARS cases are either a milder form or viral pnuemonia. There is no test that can be relied upon to diagnose SARS according to the WHO's guidlines. It is diagnosed symptomatically.
The strain this guy had was a nightmare. Everybody this guy touched died as far as I know. They also became "super spreaders".
It is all a moot point now. The mini epidemics he spawned are stopped except in China.
P.s. I am not going to China anytime soon and the forced quarantine of the guy in New York makes me think our government is serious.
It's confusing, "fog of journalism" I call it. Anyway, if he really has anthrax, maybe from some other place, not the luggage.
Just speculating. :)
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