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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: And the Antrhax begins... | ||||
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| IkeaBoy P.L.F. Portugese Liberation Front- Liberating Status' everywhere from the Tyranny of Portugal I will die a traitor's death | posted on 10-04-2001 @ 7:14 PM |    | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Sep. 00  | Fla. Man Hospitalized With Anthrax The Associated Press Oct 4 2001 6:07PM WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A businessman has been hospitalized in Florida with inhalation anthrax, an extremely rare and lethal disease mentioned as a possible biological weapon. U.S. health officials said there was no evidence of terrorism but promised ``a very intense investigation.'' ``There's no need for people to fear they are at risk, whether in Florida or North Carolina or elsewhere,'' said Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. ``There is absolutely no need for panic.'' The unidentified, 63-year-old Lantana, Fla., man checked into a Lake Worth hospital on Tuesday after a visit to North Carolina and was reported to be gravely ill. Anthrax has been developed by some countries as a possible biological weapon. But the disease can be contracted naturally; the bacterial spores can be found in soil and are often carried by livestock. Officials said the Florida victim is an avid outdoorsman. The most recent previous U.S. case of anthrax was earlier this year in Texas. But that case was the skin form of the disease, not inhalation anthrax, an especially lethal and rare form in which the disease settles in the lungs. ``We will develop a very intense investigation of this case,'' Koplan said in an interview. ``We are in a period of heightened risk and concern in this country. It's our responsibility to make sure people know what is going on and we control it as quickly as possible.'' Koplin said CDC investigators had been dispatched to both Florida and North Carolina. The FBI is also investigating. ``We will be checking on a day-by-day basis where he was, what he did, where he stayed, and looking for risks,'' Koplan said. But the CDC already has canvassed hospitals and health departments in those states and found no one else with similar symptoms, the CDC chief said. ``There's no person-to-person spread of this disease. Individuals in contact with this sick person wouldn't have caught it from him,'' Koplan said. ``There is no evidence of other cases within the communities this gentleman has been in.'' Koplan said the patient has no digestive symptoms that would indicate the anthrax came from drinking contaminated water, and no skin symptoms from direct contact with the germ. But as for the possibility that he got anthrax from deliberately contaminated air, Koplan said: ``We are aggressively investigating this case.'' Fears that terrorists may have been planning an airborne chemical or biological attack were raised last month when it learned that a group of Middle Eastern men - including one of the hijackers in the attack on the World Trade Center - had been asking a lot of questions about a crop-duster at an airfield in Belle Glade, which is about 40 miles inland from Lantana. Because of those fears, the government grounded all crop-dusters across the country for a few days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The men who visited the Belle Glade airfield had asked employees of a fertilizer company about the range of the airplane, how much it could haul in chemicals, how difficult it was to fly and how much fuel it could carry. In most cases, anthrax occurs as a result of skin contact with infected animals. Inhalation anthrax, which results from breathing the spores, is exceptionally rare. The last reported U.S. case was in 1976. Koplin said the disease may actually be more common but goes undetected. The latest case may have come to health officials' attention only because of heightened concern about its use as a possible weapon of mass destruction. ``What might have been tossed off as an undetermined bacterium was sent on to a state lab, where people recently received training in detecting anthrax,'' he said. ``It is a possible answer, which is an improved detection system.'' Dr. Larry Bush, an infectious-disease specialist at JFK Memorial Hospital in Fort Worth, said the man was currently on a ventilator. ``He's critically ill. Hopefully he'll respond to treatment,'' Bush said. Anthrax causes pneumonia, and patients are treated with antibiotics. There is also a vaccine to prevent the spread of the disease, but it is available only to the military now. During the 20th century, only 18 cases of inhaled anthrax have been reported in the United States, the most recent in 1976. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that President Bush had been notified of the anthrax case by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. He said the Health and Human Services Department has been working on plans for years in case of an outbreak, and ``a series of protections have been put into place.''  "I didn't realize how tragic it [the WTC attack] was until the celebrities told me"- Ron Bennington | ||||
| o&aswallow | posted on 10-04-2001 @ 7:22 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | Gah Dammit Ikea, knock it off. This was posted in GD and by all indications this is an isolated inncident. Some old tool visiting a backwoods farm in North Carolina. Probably drank some contaminated pond water where cows shit. Rumor spreading plays into terrorisim. Just like everyone concluded this morning that terrorists blew up a Russian airliner. The damn Russians shot it down themselves, fools. If we need to panic, everyone will know about it, and Ikea wont be your source.  Who want's to play Afghan Bingo? B1 - B52 - A10 - F15 BINGO! - Buh-bye Mother F'er Oh and kissy-pie huggy-poo The Froy thing. American Patriot, Pennsylvania resident, but original NYC listener. This message was edited by o&aswallow on 10-4-01 @ 7:30 PM | ||||
The sky is blue | posted on 10-04-2001 @ 7:24 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Oct. 00 | On behalf of all residents of Manhattan I think I speak for all of us when I say: Fuck you Ikea for your misleading title  Wanna be the coolest kid on your block? Get an 'I love Froy t-shirt!' Add it to your sig today! Email me at fezoanda@hotmail.com | ||||
| IkeaBoy P.L.F. Portugese Liberation Front- Liberating Status' everywhere from the Tyranny of Portugal I will die a traitor's death | posted on 10-04-2001 @ 7:39 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Sep. 00 | sorry "I didn't realize how tragic it [the WTC attack] was until the celebrities told me"- Ron Bennington | ||||
Displaying 1-4 of 4 messages in this thread. |