Anthrax Shown in Co-Worker

Fox News ^ | October 8, 2001 | Unknown

[VoodooEconomist]

The first case of Anthrax in twenty-five years just happens to occur after the events of 9/11. Sorry, I ain't buying that story. Can you say Panic Management? What else is the government going to say? Does anyone really think they will admit the truth ... at least before it has been contained?

[blam]

"An easy dump of a mason jar's worth out the pilot vent window on a Cesssna or Piper plane......... "

Because this bacteria has a long incubation period, why not let the USPS distribute all over the country, huh. Just infect a few large regional distribution points and it could be spread all over the country by our own postal service.

[Servant of the Nine]

It might be difficult to produce large amounts of Anthrax spores in a civilized nation, but in some place like Iraq, all you have to do is pick a prison, infect the population, and then package the bodies in a filtered chamber to collect the spores. It's much easier when you don't have to worry about losing potency over multiple generations, or preparing an artificial medium to grow it in..

So9

[francisandbeans]

WTF?!?!?

I thought they were swabbing everybody. He just happanned to be in the hospital? They haven't swabbed the entire staff yet?

[itsahoot]

I never believed the official story on hantuvirus.

I remember when we had a large sheep kill in Montana, or Utah, I think. Government lied repeatedly before finally taking responsibility. Oh well let's us move along, nothing to see here, just an unfortunate tragedy. This happened 30 or more years ago.

[cinFLA]

I have found out through very reliable local sources (employee who used to work there) that a package was mailed to the Stephens guy. The anthrax was found primarily on his desk and in the mail room. It now appears someone mailed the virus to the offices. The place is now not only crawling with anthrax it is swarmed with health officials and the FBI. Will let you guys know of any more information I get.

If this were true, why would they have not detected it immediately and closed the offices?

[LarryLied]

They haven't swabbed the entire staff yet?

Apparently not. Most all the information so far comes from a press release issued by the Palm Beach County Emergency Center last night. Local news reported that employees who thought they had flu-like symptoms be tested for anthrax. I image by the end of the day, everyone is going to want a test however.

[dogbyte12]

I thought they were swabbing everybody. He just happanned to be in the hospital? They haven't swabbed the entire staff yet?

They are going to swab the entire staff... NOW. This guy checked himself into the hospital due to illness. What illness, we do not know. NOW, they plan on swabbing and giving anti-biotics to everybody else. So, whatever this guy is ill with, they wanted to take a culture from his nose, not as a grand thing, but just due to his illness in general.

Bet this AP update doesn't get the play it deserves. HE CHECKED HIMSELF IN. Wasn't CDC running routine tests on fellow employees.

[Ozymandias Ghost]

Heard on MSNBC about 15 minutes ago that CDC has now confirmed this new case is anthrax (Previous announcements had been from FL State authorities).

Still not clear if they are confirming that the new patient has active anthrax (or what type if so) or whether they are just confiming the presence of anthrax bacteria from the nasal swab (which would be an indicator of pulmonary ["inhaled"] anthrax as I understand it).

[fatrat]

"just happened to be in hospital and they took a nasal swab" this sounds very fishy. i would think that the cdc investigation ,once anthrax was confirmed last thursday or friday, would have very definitely included nasal swabs of all of the guy's co-workers and his family members.

[Servant of the Nine]

If you want to spread terror, a few scattered cases of Anthrax will do very nicely. You don't have to kill many people before our economy grinds to a halt. People will be afraid to leave the house.
I suspect the media and the government are putting on a full-court press to try and suppress panic here.

And that explains why they would hit a Tabloid Publisher. No way the Government will be able to keep it quiet with those people involved. Whatever the story is, it will be front page of all three of their tabloids.

So9

[TrueBeliever9]

BUMP

[Henk]

It's not a virus for crying out loud.

[dubyagee]

Hialeah-AP) -- Eight people from two homes are being treated after receiving manila envelopes containing a mysterious white powder. The F-B-I says preliminary tests on the powder show it does NOT contain any chemical or biological toxins. But more tests are being done to make sure. The first envelope was discovered Saturday. Jacinto Perez was going through his mail when he opened a business-size envelope containing the powder. He and others in the house later developed low-grade fevers after arriving at Palm Springs General Hospital. All have been released. On Sunday, about six blocks away, Pedro Rodriguez was throwing out an unopened envelope when he heard a popping sound and saw a white powder trickle out. He later felt a burning sensation on his arm. He and his family are under observation.

If this had happened at any time before 9/11 the media would have immediately investigated any connections between this and the anthrax case. To this point I've not seen the two even closely related. Maybe if it seemed they were at least investigating, we wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions.

[riri]

Tommy Thompson's press conference last week was a sham....

Tommy Thompson didn´t even look like he was telling the truth. I said to my husband at the time "He is lying and he looks pretty uncomfortable about it"....

[tophat9000]

Occam's razor folks. They are finding anthrax in the office. If he was the source, what are the chances it spread to the office but not his home, it spread to co-workers, but not to his wife and kids.

Well sense all the cases so far worked at a "newspaper", it could be ,if these people all worked the field, they may have gone to a common site doing a story and came in contact with anthrax there.

And considering a large troop of "Osama A hole's" were based in the local area it could have been an easy local story and they stumble on to a terrorists anthrax stores with out knowing it.

[FITZ]

Of course gram stain is micro 101 but there are many sources of potential error in that test. It's an easy test but one of the most error prone tests in clinical labs. Even the culture characteristics can affect the way the bacteria take up the stain.

[flamefront]

Let me try again -- Do you presume Stevens on his death bed did not fess up?

[freedomcrusader]

If he was the source, what are the chances it spread to the office but not his home, it spread to co-workers, but not to his wife and kids.

Anthrax is not contagious. Therefore, it doesn't spread to anyone. It's all about exposure to spores. So, the chances are 100% that if the exposure were to spores at the office, his coworkers would get it but not his family.

[LRoggy]

Everyone keeps talking about the location of Lantana to the terrorists locations, but no one is pointing out that this quarantined building is only two miles away from the Boca Executive Airport. I hope the FBI is looking closely at that! The flight pattern from the south of the airport is directly over my condo's head and the airport is located next to Florida Atlantic University, a large school with a large foreign enrollment. We have a significant Jewish population and are a very wealthy city; it would make a significant target.