Posted on 10/08/2001 5:30:32 AM PDT by Maceman
Officials: Anthrax Shown in Co-Worker
Monday, October 08, 2001 |
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BOCA RATON, Fla. A co-worker of the man who died last week from anthrax also has tested positive for the disease and the building where both worked was closed after the bacterium was detected there.
The latest case, a man whose name was not immediately made public, was in stable condition Monday at an unidentified hospital, according to both the Florida and North Carolina health departments.
A nasal swab from the patient tested positive for the anthrax bacterium, said Tim O'Conner, regional spokesman for Florida's health department. It was not yet clear if anthrax had only infiltrated his nose, spread to his lungs or if he had a full-blown case of the disease.
The man's co-worker, Bob Stevens, died on Friday, the first person in 25 years in the United States to have died from a rare inhaled form of anthrax.
News that Stevens had contracted the disease set off fears of bio-terrorism, especially when it was revealed that Middle Eastern men were believed to have recently visited an airfield about 40 miles from Stevens' home in Lantana and asked questions about crop-dusters.
O'Conner said there is no evidence that either man was a victim of terrorism. ``That would take a turn in the investigation,'' he said. ``It's a different aspect, we were thinking more of environmental sources.''
Stevens, 63, was a photo editor at the supermarket tabloid The Sun. Environmental tests performed at the Sun's offices in Boca Raton detected the anthrax bacteria, said O'Conner.
The Sun's offices have been shuttered and law enforcement, local and state health and CDC officials were to take additional samples from the building on Monday, O'Conner said.
About 300 people who work in the building are being contacted by the Sun and instructed not come to work Monday and undergo antibiotic treatment to prevent the disease.
The FBI was helping in the search for the source of the bacterium, said Miami FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela. But ``the current risk of anthrax is extremely low,'' O'Conner said.
It was unclear when the final tests would tell whether or not the second man has full-blown anthrax. The bacterium normally has an incubation period of up to seven days, but could take up to 60 days to develop, O'Conner said.
``We're waiting for additional testing to see if it will become a confirmed case of anthrax or not,'' said Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. ``I realize for the public this is going to be a very slight distinction.''
Michael Kahane, vice president and general counsel of American Media Inc., which publishes the Sun and two other tabloids, the Globe and the National Enquirer, confirmed the company closed its Boca Raton building at the request of state health officials.
``We are cooperating with the department of health and all other governmental agencies investigating this matter,'' he said Monday. ``Obviously our first concern is the health and well-being of our employees and their families.''
Only 18 inhalation cases in the United States were documented in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. State records show the last anthrax case in Florida was in 1974.
Officials believe Stevens contracted anthrax naturally in Florida. The disease can be contracted from farm animals or soil, though the bacterium is not normally found among wildlife or livestock in the state. Stevens was described as an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and gardening.
County medical examiners are looking over any unexplained deaths, but have not found any cases connected to anthrax. Veterinarians have been told to be on alert for animals who might have the disease, but none have turned up.
Health officials are checking intensive care units of area hospitals to check records going back 30 days for suspicious cases. They should be finished Monday, said O'Conner.
Health officials last week described the case as an isolated one and not a biological attack. But the news set off fears of bio-terrorism, particularly because the suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta rented planes four times in August at a flight school at Palm Beach County Park Airport, according to Marian Smith, owner of Palm Beach Flight Training. Stevens home is within a mile of the airport.
PHOTOGRAPHERS are on the road shooting pics. Photo EDITORS sit at a DESK and twiddle with computer graphics to edit for publication photos that the photographers BRING to them.
Only among those that pay attention and see the discrepancies. Most of the sheeple are willing to let the "free" press decide what is important.
I was thinking about that, too, and I seem to remember some homegrown nuts that were busted with anthrax about....5, 6 years ago in Las Vegas? I can't remember how they got it, but they managed it somehow.
This forum is worth more than it's weight in gold here because at least we are brainstorming with the information, not hiding it like the press.
Greg
But the article clearly states that they found the anthrax bacterium "in the building" where both worked.
So, do they have farm animals in that building, or is someone blowing smoke?
Point #1: 15 of the 19 terrorist lived in Palm Beach County.
Point #2: A number of them inquired about crop-dusters and even rented regular planes on four different dates in August (August 17, 18, 20 and 22).
Point #3: If they inquired about crop-dusters, it is logical to conclude that they had the "stuff". After all, why inquire.
Point #4: If they were going to "check-out" on September 11, 2001 and they have the stuff, and are evil and diabolical, they probably would use it even if the distribuiton method is of low "effectiveness".
Point #5: The mathematical odds of two people getting anthrax "naturally" from the same area that the terrorist lived, like the Soviet style press in the South Florida area reported over the weekend, is astronamical (18 cases in 100 years, none in 25 years, 280,000,000 people in the country, millions of square miles af U.S. area). You would have a better case of winning the lottery in every state lottery on the same weekend simulataneously.
Point #6: The South Florida area, especially Boca Raton, has the second highest per capita Jewish population in the country. The first, New York City.
Connect the dots, Folks. God Bless and be safe.
staged, contrived, smoke & mirrors, i.d.'s, regulation, surveillance, publicity, circulation. I can't be knowin
it is fo real. is this simply what it seems or not what it seems? guess we'll have to see how they spin it.
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