Posted on 10/21/2001 10:34:13 AM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
A short primer on viral disease transmission. Many viral diseases are transmitted via fomites:
fomite
SYLLABICATION: fo·mite
PRONUNCIATION: fmt
NOUN: An inanimate object or substance that is capable of transmitting infectious organisms from one individual to another.
ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from New Latin fmits, pl. of Latin fmes, tinder, from fovre, to warm. See dhegwh- in Appendix I.
In other words, you touch something, get the virus on your hand, then touch you face, mouth, nose or other mucus membrane.
Candy wrappers would be a perfect fomite because the act of handling the candy wrapper occurs immediately before the contact with the mouth.
In other words, no need to inject anything.
Just a light dusting of smallpox virus in the form or a powder. If done correctly it would be undetectable.
And unlike anthrax, which requires thousands of huge bacterial spores be inhaled into the lungs, relatively few microscopic smallpox viruses would be required. And nasal exposure would be sufficient to cause full blown infection, whereas nasal exposure with anthrax is relatively harmless.
No trick or treating for my kids this year.
News/Current Events
Source: Bergen NJ Record
Published: October 20, 2001 Author: MITCHEL MADDUX and PETER POCHNA
Posted on 10/20/01 11:17 PM Eastern by spycatcher
"We have been advised and we are looking into the incident of a gentleman buying large quantities of candy," said Sandra Carroll, an FBI spokeswoman in Newark.
Carroll declined to identify the purchaser, but indicated that he is in federal custody for immigration law reasons not related to the purchase of the candy.
"I cannot comment on INS detainees," Carroll said.
Carroll said it would be premature to draw conclusions about the purchaser's intent for the candy, which agents had not found by Friday night. She declined to describe the candy.
"We have no evidence or information for us to suspect there is any reason to cancel scheduled events," Carroll said when asked if the FBI had concerns about the safety of Halloween. "However, the public is encouraged to remain alert but calm."
Hackensack police took a report from Costco about the candy purchase at the Hackensack store at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday. The police then contacted the FBI.
"They told us to stay out of it," said Hackensack Police Chief Charles "Ken" Zisa.
Zisa said the FBI had already learned about the purchase. A local Costco manager had reported the incident to corporate headquarters, near Seattle, and had sent a videotape from a store security camera, Zisa said.
An official at Costco's corporate headquarters said Friday night that no one was available to comment on the matter. Another Costco official, who declined to be identified, said such large purchases from the chain of wholesale grocery and household goods stores are not uncommon.
Kerry Gill, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Newark, said he could not discuss the case because of confidentiality policies.
News/Current Events
Source: snopes.com
Published: Oct 20 Author: Snopes.com
Posted on 10/20/01 6:26 PM Eastern by earaiak
No kneejerking allowed. So far it hasn't been unsubstantiated. Check out the snopes site for more info: The Candy Man
I feel the same way. Not in the mood for Halloween this year.
To find all articles tagged or indexed using
Anthrax_Scare_List
Go here:
and then click the Anthrax_Scare_List topic to initiate the search! !
BigIron (Ya Big Baby)
Life is a matter of odds. If you get out of bed in the morning, you're risking your life. As a matter of fact, if you don't get out of bed, you are risking your life. The odds of the attack happening to any given person are quite a bit smaller than winning the Powerball lottery.
So, rather than getting hysterical, let your kids go out and enjoy Halloween!
Sometime in the interim, they must have stopped.
Perhaps they realized the jig was up on the poison the candy idea, and that Middle Eastern types with lots of candy was not a good idea, so they were taking it back...never mind. ;)
At what age were most kids vaccinated for small pox? I'm trying to remember if my older kids were vaccinated or not, but my memory fails me.
Buying tens of thousands of dollars of candy in cash is unusual.
The FBI is holding one of the buyers.
Don't know what this is, but it isn't nothing.
As toddlers, I believe.
However, tonight I saw and heard on CBS 60 minutes with Ed Bradley, a CBS replay of excerpts of the video taped message and now I know for certain Zihwari said just what I quoted and as I had remebered it.
Also Sadam Hussein and Bin Laden (who are working together to train 200 AlQaeda terrorists to dissiminate biological and chemical weapons) have openly called for revenge for the deaths of children they claimed were killed in Iraq in the Gulf War and in Afghanistan during the US cruise missile attack. I doubt their claims. Their children were not targeted by the US and very few children were likely even killed by accident. But Bin Laden and Sadam Hussein may be using their false claims as justification, an excuse, to use biological or chemical weapons against America's children.
Children are America's future which Laden and Zihwari want to destroy. The children could be attacked at schools, nurseries, day care centers, Sunday schools, church, on Halloween, on playgrounds, in shopping malls,etc. But a relatively small number of children could be affected unless the terrorists find a way to widely dissiminate a biolocical or chemical weapon that children would be vulerable to.
Small pox could be put on candy wrappers or even sprayed in aerosol form (from crop dusters or helicopters) as a mist. What makes children a serious target for small pox is that most children in the US have not been vaccinated for small pox since the late 1970s or early 1980s and there is only a small supply of vaccine on hand currently in the US. The vaccine can help an infected child recover if given within three days of exposure, otherwise there is no cure and the mortality rate is high, 30-50%. I am not sure if it is also harmful to fetuses even if the mother has immunity.
AlQaeda terrorists who handle and spread small pox would be protected if they have been vaccinated. A world outbreak would be devestating even to Arab nations and their children via contagion, so the terrorists may not use small pox unless their populations are vaccinated.
Small pox is so virulent and contagious that only a few small pox virus particles need to land on a victim for them to be infected. This is what makes small pox an even more effective than anthrax as a bioterror weapon, the fact that it can be sprayed more easily, is contagious and requires a lower concentration for infection. Airborne anthrax may take several thousand spores to enter the lungs before a victim develops the disease. Only a very few small pox virus particles need to come in contact with any mucous membrane for an infection to occur.
Sadly there are also probably other biological and chemical weapons besides small pox which could be used against America's children. And there still is the possibility that the terrorists would use an airplane, a gasoline tanker, a toxic chemical truck,a truck bomb,radioactive waste... to single out large concentrations of children at schools etc.
Stay alert and on guard 24/7 for our children.
And I would imagine that most store owners will look to see if the candy looks like it has been unwrapped. If it hasn't, it goes back on the shelf.
Never mind, of course, that a tiny need may have been inserted into the bag, dusting the interior with a small amount of smallpox, after which the bag was shaken. The smallpox would then coat the unwrapped candy. UUUGHHHHH
True, school organization buy large amounts of candy to resell. The largest quantities, however, probably wouldn't amount to more than a few thousand dollars.
Do these folks fit the profile of PTA volunteer, or booster team fundraiser?
Please see reply #196 vice #166.
Sorry for the error.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.