The Florida man infected with pulmonary anthrax has died. Here, a CNN medical consultant comments on the case and the disease.
I think many would agree that it would be a strange coincidence that we’ve had our first case of inhaled anthrax in over 25 years, with everything else that’s going on. Having said that, it’s also important to keep in mind that the public health systems, along with medical hospitals, are very sensitive to this possible infection. Because of the fact that we’re really looking for it, it may be easier to find. To be more specific, some would argue that we did have more cases of anthrax over the last years, but they’re often named as unknowns, since anthrax was such an obscure possibility. We may see more cases, as our screening is heightened, but that won’t necessarily mean terrorism. The public health system deserves mention in this case, since they were able to find it, diagnose it, and treat it, despite the fact that no one has seen it in over a quarter of a century.
And “frantic laboratory work is underway in the US this weekend, as scientists try to find out how a 63-year-old man developed a rare form of anthrax. The tests should reveal whether the bacteria were left by a dead animal half a century ago, escaped from a laboratory – or even formed part of a terrorist attack that might claim more victims.”
Anthrax is primarily a disease of animals. Humans get it mainly from infected meat or wool. Bacteria from animal carcasses can also lurk as spores in the soil for decades.
But animal anthrax has been eradicated east of the Mississippi River in the US. The last cases in Florida were in 1956. The Florida man may have inhaled dust harbouring spores from a long-dead animal – or spores that strayed accidentally from anthrax research labs at Duke…
The Al-Qaeda group suspected of the 11 September terrorist attacks is allied to Iraq, and to Chechen rebels in the former Soviet Union. Iraq and the Soviet Union both developed anthrax weapons consisting of aerosolised spores that would cause pneumonic disease. New Scientist
And here‘s New Scientist‘s intelligent bioterrorism and bioweapons special report.
