FEDS FEAR KILLER DELIVERED SPORES

New York Post ^ | 11/23/01 | MURRAY WEISS

[Fred25]

I have been researching professors and scientists who work with anthrax in the U.S. and I’ve found it is a surprising number. I would guess that 200 people or more have access to anthrax at major university labs.

Do a Google search and try “microbiology university anthrax” as key words. Also try “Harvard microbiology anthrax”. This stuff isn’t as rare as the government has claimed.

Princeton has a high-tech microbiology lab, anthrax researchers, and it’s only 10 miles from Trenton.

[The Raven]

Oh my gosh.....universities!!!..it's a left wing terrorist at work. Clever deception, however -- mailing the anthrax to left wingers.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The feds believe the first wave consisted of a low-grade form of anthrax being mailed to news organizations in mid-September."

I thought they had decided that the mailed anthrax was VERY HIGH GRADE, not "low grade". Jeez--these turkeys couldn't find their butts if they were sitting on both hands.

[Fred25]

Take a look at this 1999 article from Princeton (just 10 miles from Trenton). Apparently a former Russian anthrax expert is now working somewhere in the U.S.

ANTHRAX “EXPERTS” INSIDE U.S.

[Miss Marple]

That is a very interesting article, especially the part where he says that President Clinton believes it will happen sooner rather than later (1999, as you say). THAT sure made me pause!

Is this definitely the same strain as Daschle's ? I am getting a bit confused, and although I have seen that alluded to here, I also see that they are testing the soil around the home, which it seems to me they wouldn't be doing if they knew the strain.

[Kevin Curry]

I think you are correct. Anthrax occurs naturally around us an possibly was just taken for pneumonia.

That is the simplest, most elegant, and likely explanation at this point. It doesn't mean terrorists aren't behind this, but in the absence of more concrete evidence pointing to terrorists, anthrax misdiagnosed as pneumonia (or some other pulmonary disease) is arguably the better explanation.

[Fred25]

I’ve read that a single anthrax spore is only about 1 micron long, and about 10,000 to 17,000 is enough to cause an inhalation infection. I think this amount is just a tiny speck. It probably wouldn’t even be noticed by the eye. It would look like a tiny speck of dust or smaller.

I’ve calculated that 17,000 anthrax spores, end to end, would be about a half inch long, but side by side and clumped together, all of them would be just a tiny speck.

[Fred25]

Kevin, I’ve suspected that a couple of these cases are “natural”, except that all have occurred on the East coast, while anthrax contamination tests are being conducted all over the US now. If some of this is “natural”, we should see some random infections all over the US, especially in cattle country.

[thathamiltonwoman]

I thought Jim Henson died because his religion didn't allow him to take medicine. Wasn't he a Christian Scientist?

[Miss Marple]

I believe he died in a hospital in New York City. I have no idea about his religion or his medical treatment. Anyone who does, please feel free to chime in!!

[Miss Marple]

I believe all occurrences are from a common strain, including the lady in New York. What we don't know is the source of the variety that killed the Connecticut woman.

The strain in question is not a naturally occuring one.

Now, I could be confused, and will be the first to admit it. However, there is so MUCH confusion it is hard to know what to think.

[antivenom]

I think they are testing the new phase...the picked such an UNLIKLY person who may have SLIPPED thru the cracks...be diagnosed as an old lady who just died....no motive...just a death.

I believe we are seeing the next phase...if it worked on a random person in PODUNK...the USA has yet LINKED it back to the actually delivery method...they will use this method again and again in a larger arena...

I believe the 60 year old and 94 year old were guinea pigs...not so much for the see if it kills...BUT ON THE DELIVERY method.

They are waiting for cold and flu season...they will SPREAD this anthrax with the best tried and true method...mail isn't gonna work....but this new delivery method....hmmmm.

Maybe they will go to malls and spray the stuff...or on airplanes...BUT we all know the latest method is as deadly as the mail anthrax...except we don't know where it is coming from...and how to stop it.

[AuntB]

I have to wonder if there is a "common" mail drop box between the women and a terrorist. If a victim put a letter in a drop box that had just been used to drop off an anthrax letter and she peeked in as far as she could (I've seen old people do this....make sure it's down in the box)....those heavy pull down metal doors must cause a vacuum effect when they are opened and closed. Just a thought, can't come up with anything else. You would assume the authorities would be checking nearby drop boxes, but I've not heard it mentioned.

[okie01]

"I also am wondering about the possibility that anthrax has been responsible for many fatal cases of pneumonia in the elderly but no one thought to test for it."

Maybe. But that doesn't answer the question of how they would contract it.

Elderly people would be more susceptible to the bacillus -- requiring, say, 3,000 spores instead of 10,000 to administer a fatal dose.

But how and where do they inhale the 3,000 spores? Digging in the garden? Sniffing old sweaters? Yet, they seemingly never contract cutaneous anthrax, which is a.) easier to contract and b.) requires far less than 3,000 spores.

The argument that elderly cases of anthrax may have been misdiagnosed seems a possibility. But it doesn't seem to hold up under further examination, either.

[equus]

Hi, some of your ?'s have been answered (Daschle staffers put on antibiotics were protected; spores are 1-5 microns and paper in envelopes has tons of 100 micron openings invisible to our eyes). I think most of the postal workers were sorters because the sorting machines press the envelopes and create a sort of artificial wind for a few seconds, and so sent spores into the air right where the sorters were, whereas mail carriers are in a less dangerous 'profession' (remember this was called wool-sorters disease?)

For Leahy, the handwritten "1" in the zipcode was painstakingly written so the electronic reading apparatus mistook it for a "2", sending it to the state dept by mistake

American Media (Enquirer etc) may have been targetted because it was near Atta, his apt was rented by the wife of the editor, and it has the word "American", just like "American Airlines"

[Cynderbean]

A lot of viable theories here. What if it's a game to the person responsible? Catch me if you can, a wild goose chase.

If they really wanted to effect a mass of people they could get a job at a factory that makes flour, white-out, air freshener or those oil scent thingies that you plug into the wall and simply infect the product on the line before it even leaves the factory. They haven't done that,...so far.

I think the person doing this has his/her victims picked out for whatever reason and no matter how unrelated. The feds need to get paranoid and start thinking outside of the box.

[krunkygirl]

Yes!, maestro...I think that's a real possibility (I had to leave in a hurry last night -- didn't mean to be rude.)

[Palladin]

What about previous reports that Atta and his buddies were caught on surveillance cams in a Walmart in New England? They could have been traveling the area dusting shelves in the Wallies with anthrax. Is there a Walmart near Mrs. Lundgren's house, and did she shop there??

[proudofthesouth]

Where is the terror element in taking out two women?

That 2 anonymous citizens were infected. If it happened to them, the fear is that it could happen to anyone. Not just those in the government or media. (BTW, I not a "chicken little" about anthrax.)

[riri]

(I've seen old people do this....make sure it's down in the box)

Hmmmm...my neighbor does this with his mailbox. In fact, last week I jokingly said if he was going to stick his head in his mailbox like that, he´d better put a hazmat suit on!