[Dog Gone]

My wife is a medical technician in a laboratory at a Catholic hospital in Houston. Saturday night she identified what she thought was anthrax in a blood sample of a patient, except that it appeared to be gram negative, whatever that means. The patient is not responding to antibiotics. The hospital is extremely concerned and has contacted the CDC.

Last night, she tells me, four new patients were admitted with vaginal bleeding, a symptom often seen in anthrax patients. This is extremely unusual.

My wife is really on edge about all this, and I'm remaining very skeptical that there is any anthrax here at all. She might be seeing anthrax boogeymen everywhere. On the other hand, this is exactly how an outbreak would be first detected.

Take it for what it's worth.

[francisandbeans]

any connection between the four bleeding patients?

[NittanyLion]

*Gulp* Keep me informed, please. (By FReepmail, if you don't want to post it publicly)

[OWK]

Saturday night she identified what she thought was anthrax in a blood sample of a patient, except that it appeared to be gram negative, whatever that means.

If it's gram negative, then it isn't bacillus anthracis (Anthrax)

[MHT]

The anthrax outbreak also reminds me of the way that toxic shock syndrome first appeared in the early 80's. I also remember the onslaught of legionnaires' disease. This could be some new strain of something other disease with similar symptoms.

[francisandbeans]

this could be what your wife is seeing:

Lassa hemorrhagic fever: See full discussion of HFs (West Africa, including Nigeria): Lassa fever is caused by hantavirus. The incubation period ranges from 7-21 days. Presentation of Lassa fever varies. Common early symptoms are gradual onset of fever, malaise, headache, and abdominal pain. Other symptoms are conjunctivitis, facial swelling, sore throat, non-productive cough, retrosternal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, back pain, and myalgia. Respiratory rate, temperature, pulse rate are increased and blood pressure decreased. Neurological symptoms may also occur, including hearing loss, tremors, and encephalitis. Hemorrhagic manifestations (not usually evident) may include mucosal bleeding and, less frequently, conjunctival, gastrointestinal, or vaginal bleeding. Severe infections produce hemorrhagic manifestations, pleural effusions, and shock. Pregnant women are more likely to die than are others. Some degree of deafness occurs in about 30% of patients. Treatment is supportive and also includes ribavirin as discussed in the full discussion of hemorrhagic fevers.

Not to scare anyone...but the hantavirus is rumored to be bioweapon capable. It is far less deadly then anthrax. (5-10% range)

[harpseal]

Doug

Thanks for this info. Gram negative or gram positive is a means of identifying bacteria. Anthrax is gram positive meaning when dyed it shows a positive image. Microbiology is not my strong suit I realy on Mrs Harpseal's knowledge there. A gram negative anthrax would be a designer bug in her opinion.

Stay well - stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[Think free or die]

"My wife is a medical technician in a laboratory at a Catholic hospital in Houston. Saturday night she identified what she thought was anthrax in a blood sample of a patient, except that it appeared to be gram negative, whatever that means. The patient is not responding to antibiotics. The hospital is extremely concerned and has contacted the CDC."

It's been a few years since I worked in a lab, but I've gram stained a lot of hospital cultures. While I haven't worked with anthrax, I have stained its Bacillis cousins many times. There is no mistaking the staining characteristics - it's a strong positive. If it's coming up Gram negative, they're dealing with a different critter. There are MANY Gram-negative rods, including most intestinal flora.

[GWfan]

Anthrax is a gram positive rod. The vaginal bleeding could be due to a number of things, STD being the most common, CA, and other bacterial infections such as staph. She should know this.

[b4its2late]

With a 60 day incubation period, it is possible that there was some on those planes that hit the WTC and Pentagon and we may not know for 30 more days? Or can tests be done earlier? Could it have been incinerated? Anyone know?

[woofie]

I sent this on to a friend who works in the field (Bio terrorrism)

[no-s]

Regarding reporting to CDC as an indicator: My wife is an RN and says this is a standard for any disease or abnormal reaction, e.g. our daughter had a siezure after a vaccination and this was reported to the CDC.

Her take on this is to check the pathologists at the hospital - they will be the first to know.

[BearCub]

Saturday night she identified what she thought was anthrax in a blood sample of a patient, except that it appeared to be gram negative, whatever that means.

It means that it's not anthrax - anthrax is gram positive. It's a staining technique used to identify bacteria. Basically you swish the bacteria in a stain solution and rinse them off. If the stain 'sticks' after rinsing they are positive. By combining this technique with some others, you can positively identify any known bacteria.

-bc

[Fred]

All women?? Interesting, do they purchase and or read the Sun, Globe, or Enquirer????? Can this stuff be spread by an organic product such as newspaper??