Posted on 02/22/2006 12:48:00 PM PST by TrebleRebel
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago
NEW YORK - A New York City man has been hospitalized with a case of anthrax that a federal law enforcement official said may have been contracted from animal skins during a visit to Africa.
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The infection appeared to be accidental, and authorities did not believe it was related to terrorism, the official said.
The man traveled recently to the west coast of Africa and became ill shortly after his return, said a federal law enforcement official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
It was not clear how the man came into contact with the deadly substance, but aides to Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was related to his job as a drummer and that federal and city officials traced the exposure to New York City after the man became ill in Pennsylvania.
Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly were expected to discuss the case at a City Hall news conference. Aides to the mayor said the man was recovering in a hospital in Sayre, Pa.
Weeks after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the nation was on high alert as anthrax-laced letters surfaced in several places, including New York City. NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, two U.S. senators and the offices of the New York Post were among the targets.
The anthrax attacks killed five people across the country and sickened 17. Investigators have not determined who was responsible.
Exactly my first thought!
I remember the Boca Raton building case very well as I was living only one mile from that building.
The first story out was the man had gone hunting and drinking water may have been the cause.
NYC...the home of infected animal skins and live poultry markets that could harbor bird flu. Ain't multiculturalism grand? But the mayor won't allow smoking, of course, because it might kill someone in 40 years.
Paging Dr. Steven Hatfill, Dr. Steven Hatfill, please report to the nearest FBI field office, stat. We hear that you're a "person of interest" and have some bloodhounds that want to give you the once-over.
Exactly, don't let anyone else claim credit!!
ON THE NET...
TGoogle - News - Search Term: "ANTHRAX"
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=anthrax&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d
AMA-ASSN.org: "ANTHRAX: Frequently Asked Questions"
Snippet: "What is anthrax?
Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax most commonly occurs in grazing animals (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, antelopes, and other herbivores). Anthrax infection of humans can occur following contact with B. anthracis spores present in infected animals or on contaminated animal products. Alternatively, infection can also occur following the intentional release of anthrax spores as a biological weapon."
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6631.html
CDC.gov: "ANTHRAX"
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/anthrax/index.asp
Why not "inhalation"? Folks who work in wool carding operations are at high risk of inhaling anthrax spores all the time.
It happens. A woman in the town I used to live in contracted anthrax from some wool she had imported from somewhere in the middle east. She was a spinner and weaver.
This was way back in the 1970s. Very sad. She was a nice lady and a friend.
I guess the spores were there in the wool.
"Dubai-u's fault."
LOL! I was going to ask if the Anthrax came in though a port, but your response is much more concise and entertaining!
what's all the hoopla about a singing group?
http://www.anthrax.com/
It was from Pakistan, IIRC. It was rough spun and dyed wool that was very cheap, in gorgeous colors. I was a weaver back then and we had severe warnings in the trades, shops, shows and at classes against buying or using this wool.
It's too bad he somehow avoided the much more easily acquired and easily treated cutaneous anthrax and instead got only the much more difficult to acquire and much more lethal inhalational version. The cutaneous anthrax, with its much shorter incubation period and tell-tale signs would have cued drs. long before the respiratory symptoms began. On the other hand, maybe he did have cutaneous first and it's just not been reported?
Looks like an accident:hides from Africa (where they've had serious anthrax problems for the last year.)
With data, there's no need to think:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/guillemin-anthrax.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
For example, in one report of 117 cases of "woolsorter's disease" (as anthrax has been called since early industrial times), strung out over more than two decades, from 1933 to 1955, there was only one (fatal) case of inhalation anthrax; the rest were cutaneous. Other scattered fatal cases of inhalation anthrax were reported in the United States during this same time period: a football player who may have contracted the disease from playing-field soil, a San Francisco woman who beat bongo drums made of infected skin, a construction worker who handled contaminated felt, and several gardeners whose infection was traced to contaminated bone meal fertilizer. In the best-researched incident, in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1957, inhalation anthrax killed four woolen-mill workers. In the same year, a man and woman living near a Philadelphia tannery also died of inhalation anthrax.
CDC Confirms Inhalation Anthrax Case
Terrorism Not Suspected; Patient Had Handled Animal Hides
By Todd Zwillich
WebMD Medical News
Feb. 22, 2006 -- Federal health officials have confirmed that anthrax bacteria caused the respiratory illness of a 44-year-old New York man.
CDC scientists said bacteria isolated from the man, who is listed in fair condition in a Pennsylvania hospital, is Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax.
"We did confirm the results from the laboratories in Pennsylvania," Lisa Rotz, MD, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC, told reporters.
Anthrax Source
Investigators have not confirmed the source of the anthrax that infected the man. But officials in New York and at the CDC suspect animal hides that he reportedly transported to New York from the Ivory Coast.
Anthrax is usually seen in livestock such as cattle, goats, and sheep. It is common in many parts of Africa. Rotz said interviews with the man indicated that he handled and scraped the hides while preparing them for use in drum making.
The scraping "is a scenario that could aerosolize any spores on the hides," she said.
Investigators have not yet tested the hides and could not confirm on Wednesday that they were the source of the man's infection.
"That's a leading hypothesis at this time," she said. "We go into these investigations with an open mind."
Inhalation Anthrax
Inhalation anthrax is caused when a person inhales anthrax spores. The disease is sometimes fatal, but can be treated with antibiotics; it is not communicable from person to person. If it is confirmed that the man contracted anthrax from animal hides it would be the first known case of naturally occurring inhalation anthrax in the U.S. since 1976.
Holtz said health officials have no reason to suspect a man-made cause such as terrorism for the disease.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference Wednesday afternoon that city officials suspect the case is isolated and naturally occurring.
Five people died and several others were sickened in the fall of 2001 when anthrax spores were sent through the mail to several Capitol Hill offices and media outlets. That case has never been solved.
According to reports Wednesday, the man first entered the hospital about a week before Pennsylvania health officials and doctors suspected anthrax. Diagnosing the disease can be difficult because its symptoms, including lung inflammation and respiratory distress, mirror those of several more common diseases.
Still, such a weeklong lag time to diagnose anthrax could be problematic if the disease is again used as a weapon.
"We are definitely reviewing the sequence of events here to see if there's anything we can do to speed up the process," Rotz said.
Turning on the news this morning, it's patently obvious that there's nothing else going on in the world :(
bump
At least nothing else the MSM is covering. Whatever happened to Saddam's tapes that they were suppose to be going through?
I can't find any news on that.
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