[tickledpink]

I just saw where the baby son of an ABC news producer has tested positive for skin anthrax. Also, there is an article on CNN about smallpox (not to say that there is an outbreak, but just talking about the disease in general).

I also saw a news cast where a pharmacist in Florida treated Atta for rough, red hands which he said looked like it was exposure. Of course, they investigated to see if Atta or 2 other men that were also going there had been inquiring about Cipro (antibiotic for anthrax) and found that they had not. The pharmacist suggested a cream to relieve his symptoms. My first thought: If Atta was going on a suicide mission, depending on the date that he asked for advice, he wouldn't have inquired about a cure for anthrax. Why would he need it?

Anyway, this is from charlotte.com:


Posted at 11:09 p.m. EDT Monday, October 15, 2001

Suspicious powder at Charlotte office
Officials say anthrax unlikely; tests continue

By SCOTT DODD HEATHER VOGELL ROBERT F. MOORE
Staff Writers
Charlotte firefighters evacuated an office building near downtown for more than an hour Monday and sent a white powder to Raleigh for further study after a field test designed to spot anthrax showed signs of bacteria.

Though they won't know for three days, authorities stressed that it's unlikely the powder found at 521 E. Morehead St. actually contained anthrax or another biological agent. Officials said the field test is 50 percent accurate at best; a benign bacteria could trigger a positive result.

Police, firefighters and FBI agents have investigated dozens of powders and packages throughout Charlotte in the past few days. Firefighters said this was the first time initial tests detected a bacteria.

Similar scenes have played out across the Carolinas and the world since Friday, when an NBC News employee in New York tested positive for anthrax following earlier exposures in Florida.

Most scares have been unfounded. But thousands of office workers and airline passengers have seen their buildings emptied and planes grounded as piles of sugar and talcum powder have led to fears of a biological attack.

Dozens of government workers in Australia were hosed down Monday after their office received a letter containing white powder, and German officials were investigating a powdery substance found in the mailroom of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's offices.

Police and health officials across the Carolinas have received hundreds of phone calls in the past week from people worried about anthrax.

"In some cases they found sugar. In some cases, they found flour," said Renee Hoffman, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. "In one case they found where a construction worker tracked concrete dust into a building."

In Gastonia, the fire department received 10 to 12 hazardous material calls this weekend. Most concerned unusual mail, and a few involved suspicious powder. Union County Sheriff Frank McGuirt said his office in recent days has investigated two reports from residents worried about pieces of mail. Authorities in both counties believe fears of anthrax in these cases are unfounded.

Police in Charlotte set up a special unit last week to screen anthrax-related calls. They've already handled more than 120, including a report of a sponge in a mailbox with a powdery substance on it and a suspicious envelope from Daytona Beach, Fla.

Charlotte FBI agents have sent at least six envelopes or packages to a lab in Raleigh for analysis in the last week.

Hazardous materials teams have been to 38 incidents in Charlotte since Friday - about three times the normal volume. Other incidents Monday included a suspicious letter at the First Union offices uptown and a smudge on an elevator at Duke Energy's headquarters.

The Charlotte Fire Department is doubling the number of available hazardous materials firefighters to 16, Chief Luther Fincher said Monday, so they can respond to anthrax scares 24 hours a day.

The first possible positive test for bacteria came Monday, when employees at the five-story Morehead Place across from the Central YMCA noticed a white powder that looked like flour in an ashtray behind their building. A hazardous materials team tested the powder, which was also seen by the back door to the lobby and an elevator.

Firefighters set off the alarm to evacuate about 70 people from the building, which houses about 30 businesses, including law firms, federal offices and mortgage companies. Local Republican leader Thomas J. Ashcraft's law firm has an office there, as does the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Shaken office workers gathered in front of the building Monday afternoon to hear briefings from emergency authorities. Some asked whether they should be taking antibiotics, and a few were close to tears. One woman afraid of infecting her pets asked what to do with her shoes.

Jittery employees were told not to take precautions or seek treatment.

Tony Bateman, the fire department's hazardous materials coordinator, said there would be enough time - and medicine - to treat anyone if the substance turned out to be harmful.

Meantime, he said, there was no need to take antibiotics and advised employees to wash their shoes and clothing if they were concerned. He advised using cleaners such as antibacterial soap or bleach.

Jim Elting, a system manager for building tenant Ceridian Corp., said he saw the powder just past 9 a.m. Most was in the ashtray, but some was near the lobby's back door and in an elevator. It looked moist.

"At first I thought it might (be) talcum powder," he said. "I thought somebody may have been playing a joke."

Firefighters compared the field test they used to a home pregnancy test - quick and easy, but not foolproof. "It's more likely to be wrong that it is to be right," said Bateman.

Experts said more accurate field testing kits are available, although they may be more expensive. One manufactured by Alexeter Technologies in Wheeling, Ill. went on the market in February.

Chief Fincher said he was unaware that more accurate field tests existed, but would have his staff look into it.

The SMART Ticket tests employed in Charlotte were provided by the Department of Defense during anti-terrorism training about two years ago, Fincher said.

The fire department had about 10 kits on hand for training. They were first used in the field this weekend and quickly ran out. The hazardous materials team obtained more from the N.C. Emergency Management Agency.

Agency spokesman Tom Ditt said other counties have requested more test kits, as well, but he had not heard of any shortages.

"If we need them, we can have them ordered very quickly," he said.

Bateman said the Charlotte Fire Department is running low on test kits again, but can obtain more from the state and military, if necessary.

It will be up to the state health lab in Raleigh to determine if the substance found in Charlotte on Monday was indeed anthrax or any other threat. Once a questionable substance arrives at the lab, it goes through a series of tests that can confirm or rule out anthrax.

The process takes two or three days, partly because the sample must first be grown in a cell culture, which takes about 18 hours, before microbiologists can examine it under a microscope. Multiple tests are used to be sure of the result.

Bateman said the circumstances in which the powder was found make it unlikely to be anthrax. "This doesn't fit any kind of threatening profile," he said. "None."

Firefighters took the ashtray, although they didn't try to remove all the powder from the building. "We are not a cleanup company," Bateman said.

In the meantime, employees were allowed to return to their offices and told not to worry, although several chose to go home Monday afternoon.

Public heath officials stressed that people shouldn't panic over the scares.

"There's been a lot of hype and hysteria," said Dr. Kelly McKee, head of the communicable disease branch at the N.C. state health lab. Worrying about anthrax, he said, "is a little bit like being afraid you're going to be hit by a meteor."

Staff writers Karen Garloch and Mark Johnson contributed to this report.