Fla. Man Dies From Anthrax

[jijaji 0]

Fla. Man Dies From Anthrax

By Amanda Riddle

Associated Press Writer

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001; 5:23 p.m. EDT

 

LANTANA, Fla. –– A 63-year-old Florida man died Friday after contracting the inhaled form of anthrax, an extremely rare and lethal disease that could be a weapon in the hands of terrorists. Investigators have said there is no evidence he was the victim of a terrorist attack.

 

Bob Stevens, a photo editor at the supermarket tabloid The Sun, was the first person in the United States in a quarter-century to contract the inhaled form of anthrax.

 

Stevens died at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis after antibiotics failed against the infection, Dr. Jean Malecki said.

 

Federal and state health investigators investigators have emphasized that the disease is not contagious and that no other cases have been reported. But both the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Inhalational anthrax generally occurs after an incubation period of 1 to 6 days (14). During the Sverdlovsk outbreak, however, spontaneous cases appeared to arise as late as 43 days after the assumed release date (7). Such late cases are unexplained but have potentially serious implications for postexposure management of victims of aerosol exposure. After the incubation period, a nonspecific flulike illness ensues, characterized by fever, myalgia, headache, a nonproductive cough, and mild chest discomfort. A brief intervening period of improvement sometimes follows 1 to 3 days of these prodromal symptoms, but rapid deterioration follows; this second phase is marked by high fever, dyspnea, stridor, cyanosis, and shock. In many cases, chest wall edema and hemorrhagic meningitis (present in up to 50% of cases [15]) may be seen late in the course of disease. Chest radiographs may show pleural effusions and a widened mediastinum, although true pneumonitis is not typically present. Blood smears in the later stages of illness may contain the characteristic gram-positive spore-forming bacilli. Death is universal in untreated cases and may occur in as many as 95% of treated cases if therapy is begun more than 48 hours after the onset of symptoms.

 

[jijaji 0]

The 1st case in 25 years in this country....interesting timing!

 

AND in FLORIDA..!

 

Watch OUT...!

 

jijaji

 

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STAND AND FIGHT

 

[This message has been edited by jijaji (edited 10-05-2001).]

[Guest guest]

<h4>Anthrax Case Puzzles Investigators - No Other Cases Found, Source Remains a Mystery</h4>

 

 

LANTANA, Fla. (AP) - Relatives of a Florida man who contracted a fatal case of anthrax are being given antibiotics as a precaution and the man's co-workers have been tested and cleared, health authorities said Saturday.

 

Investigators are awaiting test results from soil and other specimens as they try to learn how 63-year-old Bob Stevens contracted the rare and extremely lethal inhaled form of the disease. He died Friday.

 

More than 50 health and law enforcement officials have fanned out across Palm Beach County to track his movements over the past two months and look for other possible cases.

 

"We have a long chronology of common activities we need to pursue," state epidemiologist Dr. Steven Wiersma said Saturday. "We don't have any really hot leads at this time."

 

No other cases of anthrax have been reported in the area. Wiersma said several of Stevens' co-workers at the supermarket tabloid The Sun have been tested, but results were negative. Also, as a precaution, close family members are being treated with antibiotics.

 

Officials have said there is no evidence that Stevens was the victim of terrorism. Wiersma said tests of Stevens' blood further confirmed that belief because the anthrax in the sample responded to penicillin. Anthrax developed by some countries as a biological weapon could be resistant to the antibiotic, he said.

 

The Sept. 11 hijackings have put many people on edge about a bioterrorism threat.

 

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.

 

Officials are also investigating in North Carolina, where Stevens visited last month, but said the disease also is rare among animals in that state.

 

Investigators have cast a wide net in their search in Florida.

 

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.

 

Investigators also are visiting restaurants, parks and other locations he frequented or even visited casually, Wiersma said.

 

Samples have been sent to labs in Miami or Jacksonville or to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Results could take days.

 

Only 18 inhalation cases in the United States were documented in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. The last anthrax case in Florida was in 1974, according to the state health department.

 

Stevens lived on the same street in this quiet West Palm Beach suburb for 23 years. He and his wife raised their four children, now adults, and British-born Stevens - who became a U.S. citizen - raised his American flag on holidays.

 

As word of his death spread through the community Friday evening, a worker at a nearly nursery school stopped by his home to drop off cards made by preschool children.

 

Stevens loved fishing, neighbors said, and would take his next-door-neighbor's 10-year-old boy fishing twice a month.

 

"It just seems like a horrible dream that you can't wake up from," said neighbor Mary Crandell, whose granddaughter had taken drawing lessons from Stevens for years.

 

"She's really outgoing and I contribute that to him," Crandell said. "He always had time for her."

 

AP-ES-10-06-01 1429EDT

 

[Guest guest]

<h3>Anthrax Shown in Co-Worker</h3>

 

 

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.

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[Gauracandra 1]

Ok, this is getting weird. Keep us updated Random.

 

Gauracandra

 

[This message has been edited by Gauracandra (edited 10-08-2001).]

[Guest guest]

What had been a public-health probe in Florida is now a criminal investigation

 

The possibility that a photo editor for the weekly tabloid The Sun was killed in a bioterrorism attack took on a new sense of urgency today after Florida public-health officials disclosed that a nose swab taken from a 73-year-old hospitalized co-worker contained the rare bacteria spore that induces Anthrax, an often-fatal illness.

 

PUBLIC-HEALTH OFFICIALS confirmed that Ernesto Blanco, a 73-year-old Cuban American who works in the mailroom of American Media office building in Boca Raton tested as having been exposed to Anthrax. Blanco was admitted to a Miami hospital last week with symptoms of pneumonia. On Friday, Bob Stevens, a photo editor at The Sun, died from disease.

 

What had been described as a public-health probe instantly became a criminal investigation as FBI agents on Sunday evening sealed off the office building, which houses the offices of most of the country?s supermarket tabloids including The National Enquirer, The Star, The Globe, News of the World and others. Employees and visitors to the building were ordered to undergo medical tests. Grim-faced state officials who had initially tried to downplay speculation late last week that Stevens? demise might have been caused by foul play didn?t sound so sure at a Monday afternoon press conference. ?We can?t speculate as to the source of this particular anthrax germ,? said acting Florida Secretary of Health Dr. John Agwunobi, who confirmed earlier reports that anthrax spores had been found on the computer keyboard at Bob Stevens? desk. Other officials went further. ?We have to assume that a human element was involved,? concluded Florida Health Department director of disease control Dr. Landis Crockett.

 

 

<center></center>

 

 

NEWSWEEK has learned that the FBI is aggressively trying to locate a summer intern from nearby Florida Atlantic University in connection with the investigation. The intern, who sources said came from a Middle Eastern country, had sent an e-mail to all employees that a top American Media official described as ?peculiar.? The email thanked company employees for the help he gave them, but then contained language suggesting that he wasn?t saying ?goodbye.? Another company official recalled the email as having ?a sense of foreboding? and referring to a ?surprise? or ?something that he left behind.? Said the official, ?it was weird.?

 

Sources at American Media said the FBI has asked company employees about any ?enemies? the company or its papers might have. Given the content of the weekly tabloids, ?that list would go on forever,? joked one employee. Alarmed workers say they are urgently trying to recall receiving suspicious or unusual letters and packages. Several are focusing on a letter that arrived at the company about a week before the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. It was described by sources as a ?weird love letter to Jennifer Lopez??similar, outwardly, to the types of mail the tabloids often get. But inside the oddly-worded letter was what was described as a ?soapy, powdery substance? and in the pile of that a cheap Star of David charm. The letter, per routine, was taken in by the joint mailroom of the company. Employees said the letter was handled both by Stevens and by Blanco.

 

By late Monday afternoon, Boca Raton fire rescue vehicles and unmarked trucks and vans had descended on the American Media office building and investigators in white germproof suits were combing the ramp leading into the underground parking lot. Earlier in the day, hundreds of office workers filled out four-page forms at the Delray Beach health center asking them questions about their medical history, any recent unusual events that had occurred inside the building and whether they had visited the mail room and a photo library frequented by Blanco and Stevens.

 

The office workers were issued 15-day supplies of the antibiotic Cipro that doctors prescribe in cases of Anthrax exposure. A skittish golf pro who works at a course adjacent to the premises of the American Media headquarters looked on warily from a distance as law enforcement officials swarmed around the building this morning. ?I?m very concerned, and I?m going to give my lessons on the far side of the course,? said Broken Sound Golf Course instructor Michael Meredith. ?I?m going to try to stay as far away as possible.? He was not alone in voicing such sentiments on a day when the specter of bio-terrorism suddenly loomed large over the placid suburbs of Palm Beach County.

 

 

[Guest guest]

<h1>#3</h1>

 

An anthrax scare gripped the nation yesterday as a third employee of a supermarket tabloid was said to be exposed - and the FBI probed frightening reports of an odd e-mail from a departing intern about "a little present" that he left behind.

 

The FBI announced it had taken over the investigation as a possible criminal - or terrorist - attack.

 

Three employees of American Media, which publishes The National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids out of Boca Raton, Fla., told The Post that the FBI wants to question a summer intern who left the company recently after sending out an e-mail to employees saying thank you and "I left you all a little present."

 

A top executive at the company said the intern was believed to be from Sudan and was on an exchange program at a local college.

 

At the time, no one thought anything of the intern's e-mail, but in the wake of the anthrax scare, employees are now concerned, they said.

 

The FBI is also investigating a strangely worded letter received by the company that contained a "soapy, powdery substance" in the shape of a Star of David, Newsweek has reported. The letter was handled by two of the people who contracted anthrax, the magazine said.

 

All employees and people who were in the building in the last 60 days were told to take antibiotics for the next two months to fight off infection.

 

They were also asked for all their computer passwords so investigators could probe their hard drives.

 

One employee, 63-year-old photo editor Bob Stevens, died last week of inhalation anthrax, while a second, identified by sources as mailroom worker Ernesto Blanco, was found to have a small amount of anthrax in his nose.

 

David Pecker, the president of American Media, told The Post that a woman librarian at the office building already being treated for pneumonia tested positive for anthrax exposure, in addition to the other two cases.

 

Florida health officials said late yesterday that only two people had come into contact with the bacteria.

 

Health experts say it is extremely unlikely that such a transmission - two men working in separate areas in an office building - could be accidental.

 

"You have to really, really reach to come up with a scenario where this is unintentional," said Professor Thomas Johnson, the director of the Division of Respiratory Therapy at Long Island University.

 

The building where the staffers worked - which houses The Globe, The Sun, The Star, The National Enquirer, and Weekly World News - was ordered sealed yesterday.

 

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Boca Raton case "could become a clear criminal investigation" as the feds dig deeper.

 

Officials cautioned they have no evidence to suggest a criminal or terrorist act - but they aren't taking any chances.

 

"We don't have enough information to know whether this could be related to terrorism or not," Ashcroft said.

 

Officials did not consider foul play in Stevens' death until a test swab on the nostrils of another employee, presumably Blanco, turned up the anthrax bacteria.

 

Officials said the mailroom worker has not contracted any symptoms of the disease - a very important and encouraging sign.

 

Hundreds of frightened workers lined up at a Palm Beach County health facility to get tested for the bacteria and receive antibiotics.

 

Part of their fear stems from news accounts that terror ringleader Mohamed Atta took flying lessons about a mile from Stevens' Lantana, Fla., home. Atta and some of the other hijackers also lived in Florida cities not far from American Media.

 

"To tell you the truth, I'm terrified," said Globe reporter Felicia Levine.

 

"We're in an area surrounded by the terrorists, and this is a coincidence? The name of our company is American Media. I'm scared."

 

Health officials tried to reassure the company and the community, saying there was no public health threat.

 

"The risk is low," said Dr. John Agwunobi, Florida secretary of health.

 

Pecker said all the publications had shifted to temporary locations in a rush to put out their next editions, which went to press yesterday.

 

Employees were also asked to fill out questionnaires explaining how often they came into contact with the photo or mailroom areas, and if they've noticed anything unusual around the building since Sept. 11.

 

Meanwhile, in New York, Mayor Giuliani said there's no reason to fear an outbreak - but that area hospitals are on the lookout for possible symptoms.

 

"Given the events of the last four weeks, we now monitor that even more carefully," he said.