Anthrax
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Mystery Man
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The latest news report says there are only 2. I don't know where BadKarma is getting his information from....
TN_Vixen
Rear Window
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lavy, it's true. Only 2 people in FL have been diagnosed with Anthrax. However, the entire business has been forced to undergo nose and throat swabs and have been given antibiotics on the off chance that everyone in the company was exposed to the virus.
1/2 of FL is running to their doctor to get a prescription for antibiotics.
Did you see the coverage last night about how the vaccine for anthrax is practically debilitating?
1/2 of FL is running to their doctor to get a prescription for antibiotics.
Did you see the coverage last night about how the vaccine for anthrax is practically debilitating?
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Mystery Man
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damn
be careful beckbabe!
Although I don't really know what to say.....just hope you'll be ok...
be careful beckbabe!
Although I don't really know what to say.....just hope you'll be ok...
Thank you Ask For More. 
I wish I knew how to be careful. I'm more worried about my kids than me.
I keep thinking about that letter. A paper envelope doesn't seem like much protection to me. What about all the other mail that envelope touched, and all the postal workers who touched it on it's way to Boca? The plane the letter flew in? Am I wrong about how contagious this is?
I wish I knew how to be careful. I'm more worried about my kids than me. I keep thinking about that letter. A paper envelope doesn't seem like much protection to me. What about all the other mail that envelope touched, and all the postal workers who touched it on it's way to Boca? The plane the letter flew in? Am I wrong about how contagious this is?
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Mystery Man
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There don't seem to be many details released about this anthrax spore so far....I'm really confused about it at the moment.
Purple Haze
Literally Stimulated
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Obtaining Anthrax Is Hard, but Not Impossible
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Just as growing a particularly exotic species of plant takes the right seed, growing an anthrax culture that is virulent enough to kill people requires just the right seed stock.
Experts said yesterday that the bacterial seeds for the anthrax spores that killed one man in Florida and infected another could have come — in decreasing order of likelihood — from nature, from a scientific germ bank or from one of the world's clandestine programs that make germ weapons.
The germ that causes anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, lives in the soil worldwide and sometimes infects animals and people. Weapons experts said such natural outbreaks are a main way that a terrorist might obtain starter germs, or seed stock. With luck and determination in getting the starter germ, it would be fairly easy to grow billions of offspring to make a crude weapon.
But anthrax can also be obtained from germ banks, scientific supply houses that supply tissue cultures and organisms to researchers and others.
More than 1,500 germ banks worldwide maintain a million or so strains of microorganisms, many deadly. Hospitals order them to check the accuracy of diagnostic procedures, and scientists and doctors use them to investigate new therapies.
In recent years, the United States has tightened up access to such banks and their hazardous germs, making it hard if not impossible for terrorists to obtain pathogens from establishments in this country.
Dr. Raymond H. Cypess, president of the American Type Culture Collection in Manassas, Va., the world's largest germ bank, said his company since 1997 had not shipped to scientists any human pathogens that could be made into weapons — including anthrax.
But American experts said the global network of germ banks was far less cautious, with credential checks and shipment rules uneven or rudimentary. The World Federation for Culture Collections, an organization of germ banks, has 472 members registered in 61 countries. Forty-six members offer anthrax free or for sale in exchange for other organisms.
Each country sets its own rules on what pathogens may be shipped, to whom and with what safety procedures.
"It all depends on the country," an American expert said on condition of anonymity. "There's little or no coordination" of rules and procedures meant to keep dangerous germs out of terrorist hands.
Experts said a final, if unlikely, source of a virulent stain of anthrax would be one of the world's clandestine programs that made germ weapons. Iraq, for instance, is known to have made anthrax weapons before the 1991 Persian Gulf war and is suspected of having them today.
At least 82 countries have reported anthrax in animals, and thousands of human cases occur each year, most in developing countries. The disease has plagued North America for centuries, infecting animals and people with decreasing frequency in recent years.
But a terrorist who sought to use germs from one of these outbreaks to kill people would have to find a virulent strain.
"There are many variations on the theme of anthrax," said William C. Patrick III, a maker of germ weapons for the United States before President Richard M. Nixon renounced them in 1969.
Over the ages, Mr. Patrick said, nature has evolved dozens of different anthrax strains, or subspecies. Some are deadlier than others.
"We went through 22 or 23 of them, a large number, before we got the right one," Mr. Patrick said of America's development of the best strain of anthrax for making lethal weapons.
In the early 1990's the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo repeatedly tried to make and use anthrax weapons, but it failed, in large part because it did not obtain a lethal strain. One of its tactics was to obtain the germs from nature.
Mr. Patrick said the drawback of that approach was that the terrorist would have to do extensive testing of the germs for virulence by infecting such animals as mice, hamsters, rabbits and dogs.
"The probability of going out in nature and getting a virulent strain on the first try would be about 50-50," he said. Failure, he added, would require another round or two of disease finding, field collecting and virulence testing.
"You'd pick the one that killed the most species with the lowest dose," he said, "and that takes facilities" and hard work.
Mr. Patrick said that if the Florida anthrax turned out to be a professional strain — one that has been developed into a biological weapon — then the people who spread it "have connections to a much better source of material than if they were out in the field messing around."
Experts said fewer than a half dozen strains of highly virulent anthrax had been turned into professional weapons around the globe, and that scientific detectives might eventually be able to tell if clandestine programs or some other source accounted for the Florida death.
ProMED, a news service of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, reported on Monday that the disease recently struck in Canada, killing cattle last month in Saskatchewan's first anthrax outbreak since 1994.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/10/science/10GERM.html
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Just as growing a particularly exotic species of plant takes the right seed, growing an anthrax culture that is virulent enough to kill people requires just the right seed stock.
Experts said yesterday that the bacterial seeds for the anthrax spores that killed one man in Florida and infected another could have come — in decreasing order of likelihood — from nature, from a scientific germ bank or from one of the world's clandestine programs that make germ weapons.
The germ that causes anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, lives in the soil worldwide and sometimes infects animals and people. Weapons experts said such natural outbreaks are a main way that a terrorist might obtain starter germs, or seed stock. With luck and determination in getting the starter germ, it would be fairly easy to grow billions of offspring to make a crude weapon.
But anthrax can also be obtained from germ banks, scientific supply houses that supply tissue cultures and organisms to researchers and others.
More than 1,500 germ banks worldwide maintain a million or so strains of microorganisms, many deadly. Hospitals order them to check the accuracy of diagnostic procedures, and scientists and doctors use them to investigate new therapies.
In recent years, the United States has tightened up access to such banks and their hazardous germs, making it hard if not impossible for terrorists to obtain pathogens from establishments in this country.
Dr. Raymond H. Cypess, president of the American Type Culture Collection in Manassas, Va., the world's largest germ bank, said his company since 1997 had not shipped to scientists any human pathogens that could be made into weapons — including anthrax.
But American experts said the global network of germ banks was far less cautious, with credential checks and shipment rules uneven or rudimentary. The World Federation for Culture Collections, an organization of germ banks, has 472 members registered in 61 countries. Forty-six members offer anthrax free or for sale in exchange for other organisms.
Each country sets its own rules on what pathogens may be shipped, to whom and with what safety procedures.
"It all depends on the country," an American expert said on condition of anonymity. "There's little or no coordination" of rules and procedures meant to keep dangerous germs out of terrorist hands.
Experts said a final, if unlikely, source of a virulent stain of anthrax would be one of the world's clandestine programs that made germ weapons. Iraq, for instance, is known to have made anthrax weapons before the 1991 Persian Gulf war and is suspected of having them today.
At least 82 countries have reported anthrax in animals, and thousands of human cases occur each year, most in developing countries. The disease has plagued North America for centuries, infecting animals and people with decreasing frequency in recent years.
But a terrorist who sought to use germs from one of these outbreaks to kill people would have to find a virulent strain.
"There are many variations on the theme of anthrax," said William C. Patrick III, a maker of germ weapons for the United States before President Richard M. Nixon renounced them in 1969.
Over the ages, Mr. Patrick said, nature has evolved dozens of different anthrax strains, or subspecies. Some are deadlier than others.
"We went through 22 or 23 of them, a large number, before we got the right one," Mr. Patrick said of America's development of the best strain of anthrax for making lethal weapons.
In the early 1990's the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo repeatedly tried to make and use anthrax weapons, but it failed, in large part because it did not obtain a lethal strain. One of its tactics was to obtain the germs from nature.
Mr. Patrick said the drawback of that approach was that the terrorist would have to do extensive testing of the germs for virulence by infecting such animals as mice, hamsters, rabbits and dogs.
"The probability of going out in nature and getting a virulent strain on the first try would be about 50-50," he said. Failure, he added, would require another round or two of disease finding, field collecting and virulence testing.
"You'd pick the one that killed the most species with the lowest dose," he said, "and that takes facilities" and hard work.
Mr. Patrick said that if the Florida anthrax turned out to be a professional strain — one that has been developed into a biological weapon — then the people who spread it "have connections to a much better source of material than if they were out in the field messing around."
Experts said fewer than a half dozen strains of highly virulent anthrax had been turned into professional weapons around the globe, and that scientific detectives might eventually be able to tell if clandestine programs or some other source accounted for the Florida death.
ProMED, a news service of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, reported on Monday that the disease recently struck in Canada, killing cattle last month in Saskatchewan's first anthrax outbreak since 1994.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/10/science/10GERM.html
christophe
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to beck babe
hi beck babe just read your post and i can see your concern for you and your loved ones... i work in the medical field so i can impart to you some info regarding anthrax.
it is a bacteria not a virus.
incubation period is roughly 3-5 days
initial symptoms are usually akin to flu like symptoms such as cough congestion aches and pains fever.
it is treatable and the antibiotics. they utilize include penicillin and cipro, both of which are generally well tolerated and have few side effects.
ive found that sometimes misinformation can incite panic so i hope this info will be of benifit to you...remember if you have any questions or concerns call your doctor immediatley. and the last i heard as of 10-9-01 2 people have been diagnosed. they worked in an office i believe it was for a tabloid...the sun or globe.
best wishes....
hi beck babe just read your post and i can see your concern for you and your loved ones... i work in the medical field so i can impart to you some info regarding anthrax.
it is a bacteria not a virus.
incubation period is roughly 3-5 days
initial symptoms are usually akin to flu like symptoms such as cough congestion aches and pains fever.
it is treatable and the antibiotics. they utilize include penicillin and cipro, both of which are generally well tolerated and have few side effects.
ive found that sometimes misinformation can incite panic so i hope this info will be of benifit to you...remember if you have any questions or concerns call your doctor immediatley. and the last i heard as of 10-9-01 2 people have been diagnosed. they worked in an office i believe it was for a tabloid...the sun or globe.
best wishes....
Purple Haze
Literally Stimulated
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- 19,290
Answers to Some Anthrax Questions
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:58 p.m. ET
Anthrax can be an insidious and efficient killer. Its spores can survive for decades. If inhaled, they can kill in a matter of two or three days, doing its worst damage with symptoms that seem no worse than a cold.
The military considers anthrax to be the most serious of all biological threats. But to be so dangerous, anthrax must be ``weaponized,'' manufactured in the form of fine spores that can be breathed deep into the lungs.
Here are answers to questions most often asked about this microbe.
Q: What does anthrax look like?
A: In its most destructive form -- an aerosol sprayed into the air -- it is invisible and odorless. Anthrax spores can only be seen through a microscope that magnifies 50 to 100 times. Scientists say it can be stored in bulk as a powder, liquid or paste.
Q: Would I know if I breathed anthrax?
A: No.
Q: If anthrax is on the ground, can I get it from kicking up dust?
A: Probably not. The spores tend to clump together, so even if inhaled, they do not get deep into the lungs.
Q: How much anthrax does it take to make someone sick?
A: Roughly 10,000 spores.
Q: Where do anthrax spores come from?
A: Anthrax bacteria live in the blood of animals. When an animal dies, the bacteria form spores, which are released.
Q: What happens when a person breathes them?
A: The spores become lodged in the lungs. There, they are picked up by immune-system cells called macrophages, which carry them to the lymph nodes. On the way, the spores mature into bacteria.
Q: How do they make people sick?
A: The bacteria multiply in the lymph nodes and then enter the bloodstream. They produce a poison that causes the immune system to produce lethal doses of chemicals that are ordinarily useful to the body.
Q: What are the symptoms?
A: At first, they seem like a cold or flu: fever, ache and nonproductive cough. Plummeting blood pressure, swelling, hemorrhaging and other catastrophic symptoms soon follow.
Q: How quickly does it kill?
A: Typically within three days of the start of symptoms.
Q: How soon do symptoms start once people breathe the spores?
A: Usually around 10 days, but up to six weeks.
Q: Can it be treated?
A: It can be treated with antibiotics, such as Cipro or doxycycline, if given before symptoms start. Treatment usually fails once symptoms set in, since it does no good to kill the bacteria once they make large amounts of toxin.
Q. Isn't there a vaccine to prevent it?
A. The only vaccine is in limited supply and is now only available to the military.
Q: Are there other forms of anthrax disease?
A: Yes. By far the most common is anthrax on the skin, which forms inflamed bumps. It can be fatal but usually goes away on its own. This form most often infects people who handle livestock.
Q: How can anthrax spores be killed?
A: They can live for many years in the ground and resist drying, heat and ultraviolet light. They can be killed with a mixture of bleach and water or with vaporized formaldehyde.
Q: Where would someone get anthrax?
A: Anthrax is grown and maintained in cell cultures that are kept by research labs. It is not sold or otherwise legally distributed. Theoretically, anthrax could be isolated and grown from the remains of an animal that died of anthrax or from nearby soil. Several countries have produced large quantities of anthrax as weapons.
Q: How long has anthrax been around?
A: Anthrax is thought to have been one of the Egyptian plagues at the time of Moses. The ancient Romans recorded cases.
Q: How does it get its name?
A: It comes from the Greek word for coal. It's called this because of the black scab it leaves on the skin.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:58 p.m. ET
Anthrax can be an insidious and efficient killer. Its spores can survive for decades. If inhaled, they can kill in a matter of two or three days, doing its worst damage with symptoms that seem no worse than a cold.
The military considers anthrax to be the most serious of all biological threats. But to be so dangerous, anthrax must be ``weaponized,'' manufactured in the form of fine spores that can be breathed deep into the lungs.
Here are answers to questions most often asked about this microbe.
Q: What does anthrax look like?
A: In its most destructive form -- an aerosol sprayed into the air -- it is invisible and odorless. Anthrax spores can only be seen through a microscope that magnifies 50 to 100 times. Scientists say it can be stored in bulk as a powder, liquid or paste.
Q: Would I know if I breathed anthrax?
A: No.
Q: If anthrax is on the ground, can I get it from kicking up dust?
A: Probably not. The spores tend to clump together, so even if inhaled, they do not get deep into the lungs.
Q: How much anthrax does it take to make someone sick?
A: Roughly 10,000 spores.
Q: Where do anthrax spores come from?
A: Anthrax bacteria live in the blood of animals. When an animal dies, the bacteria form spores, which are released.
Q: What happens when a person breathes them?
A: The spores become lodged in the lungs. There, they are picked up by immune-system cells called macrophages, which carry them to the lymph nodes. On the way, the spores mature into bacteria.
Q: How do they make people sick?
A: The bacteria multiply in the lymph nodes and then enter the bloodstream. They produce a poison that causes the immune system to produce lethal doses of chemicals that are ordinarily useful to the body.
Q: What are the symptoms?
A: At first, they seem like a cold or flu: fever, ache and nonproductive cough. Plummeting blood pressure, swelling, hemorrhaging and other catastrophic symptoms soon follow.
Q: How quickly does it kill?
A: Typically within three days of the start of symptoms.
Q: How soon do symptoms start once people breathe the spores?
A: Usually around 10 days, but up to six weeks.
Q: Can it be treated?
A: It can be treated with antibiotics, such as Cipro or doxycycline, if given before symptoms start. Treatment usually fails once symptoms set in, since it does no good to kill the bacteria once they make large amounts of toxin.
Q. Isn't there a vaccine to prevent it?
A. The only vaccine is in limited supply and is now only available to the military.
Q: Are there other forms of anthrax disease?
A: Yes. By far the most common is anthrax on the skin, which forms inflamed bumps. It can be fatal but usually goes away on its own. This form most often infects people who handle livestock.
Q: How can anthrax spores be killed?
A: They can live for many years in the ground and resist drying, heat and ultraviolet light. They can be killed with a mixture of bleach and water or with vaporized formaldehyde.
Q: Where would someone get anthrax?
A: Anthrax is grown and maintained in cell cultures that are kept by research labs. It is not sold or otherwise legally distributed. Theoretically, anthrax could be isolated and grown from the remains of an animal that died of anthrax or from nearby soil. Several countries have produced large quantities of anthrax as weapons.
Q: How long has anthrax been around?
A: Anthrax is thought to have been one of the Egyptian plagues at the time of Moses. The ancient Romans recorded cases.
Q: How does it get its name?
A: It comes from the Greek word for coal. It's called this because of the black scab it leaves on the skin.
christophe
back by popular demand
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to beckbabe
well sometimes preventitive medicine is a great hting but for that i would call your doctor......if your have any symptoms definitely
well sometimes preventitive medicine is a great hting but for that i would call your doctor......if your have any symptoms definitely
beckbabe said:Thank you Ask For More.
I keep thinking about that letter. A paper envelope doesn't seem like much protection to me. What about all the other mail that envelope touched, and all the postal workers who touched it on it's way to Boca? The plane the letter flew in? Am I wrong about how contagious this is?
What letter? What are you talking about?
If people are worried about taking the anthrax shots, how do you think those in the military who had no choice felt about it?
BlondeBeauty
Princess Charming
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Don't know all the details, but...
According to "Extra", an office building in Florida, America Media, Inc., has been hit with the anthrax virus. So far two people have been diagnosed. One man is dead. Investigators still aren't sure what happened, but supposedly one employee received an anonymous "love letter" that contained a white, powdery substance. This raises the new possibility of terrorists using the U.S. mail system to spread the disease.
However, people need to keep in mind three things.
Anthrax is spread by:
-skin contact
-ingestion
-inhalation
Panicking doesn't do any good. Just be careful.
According to "Extra", an office building in Florida, America Media, Inc., has been hit with the anthrax virus. So far two people have been diagnosed. One man is dead. Investigators still aren't sure what happened, but supposedly one employee received an anonymous "love letter" that contained a white, powdery substance. This raises the new possibility of terrorists using the U.S. mail system to spread the disease.
However, people need to keep in mind three things.
Anthrax is spread by:
-skin contact
-ingestion
-inhalation
Panicking doesn't do any good. Just be careful.
CelestialBody
Starlet of India
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2000
- Posts
- 7,904
http://www.msnbc.com/news/638169.asp
Here. No letter. Read. Rumors are dangerous.
This is too important to treat casually. We all have to be on guard from rumors and urban legends.
Here. No letter. Read. Rumors are dangerous.
This is too important to treat casually. We all have to be on guard from rumors and urban legends.
BlondeBeauty
Princess Charming
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CelestialBody
Starlet of India
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- Sep 30, 2000
- Posts
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I apologize for my ineloquence. I am multitasking at a frenetic pace, as usual. And when I'm afraid of saying something rude, I say less than perhaps I should.
The letter is a theory, and I feel we, as responsible citizens, should not repeat rumors, theories, and what-ifs.
The letter is a theory, and I feel we, as responsible citizens, should not repeat rumors, theories, and what-ifs.
Thumper
Literotica Guru
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- 4,184
Actually
BTW....*MUAH* April
This weapon of "mass destruction" can be even more insidious than a supposed nuclear device. A nuclear device would kill millions and most assuredly incite massive fear but it is unlikely to happen yet.
Anthrax, on the other hand, can accomplish the desires of a terorist in a most insidious way. And you may be witnessing it right now. Given our media's proficiency at "yards after the catch" (running with the story), all it would take is a few infections here and there across the nation to make everyone here feel vulnerable. Despite the attacks in NYC and Washington I do not feel much threatened by such actions. This is different. It wouldn't take much (effort or money) for a small group to travel the country by car and spread the spores at restaurants or hotels or even smoky bars...slip in and slip out. We would do he rest by second guessing every cough...every outbreak...
That is what they want....us to live in fear.
BTW....*MUAH* April
This weapon of "mass destruction" can be even more insidious than a supposed nuclear device. A nuclear device would kill millions and most assuredly incite massive fear but it is unlikely to happen yet.
Anthrax, on the other hand, can accomplish the desires of a terorist in a most insidious way. And you may be witnessing it right now. Given our media's proficiency at "yards after the catch" (running with the story), all it would take is a few infections here and there across the nation to make everyone here feel vulnerable. Despite the attacks in NYC and Washington I do not feel much threatened by such actions. This is different. It wouldn't take much (effort or money) for a small group to travel the country by car and spread the spores at restaurants or hotels or even smoky bars...slip in and slip out. We would do he rest by second guessing every cough...every outbreak...
That is what they want....us to live in fear.
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