Second Anthrax victim in same location; building shut down.

Your title scared me. But then I read in the body that the second man was exposed, but does not yet have anthrax. Still, with the incubation period being up to 45 days, maybe he will contract it.

I wonder if they can detec the bacteria during the incubation period.

I also wonder why this is happening now.

 

this is NOT a coincidence.
Anthrax just doesn't show up one day and decide to infect a building in Florida.

There must be a connection between the hijackers (the ones that lived in Florida) and this incident. I sure hope (I'm sure they are?) the FBI and other agencies involved start taking a look at the locations where the rest of the hijackers lived... I'd hate to start seeing cases of Anthrax pop up in the those towns where the hijackers lived.

these are scary times...


rH

 

Unfortunately rockHEAD, I am leaning towards agreeing with you. Anthrax doesn't just show up in a commercial building one day.....especially the non-contagious pulmonary variety.

THAT BUILDING'S AIR CONDITIONING UNITS NEED TO BE CHECKED OUT ASAP.

This is frightening. Truly frightening.

 

I wouldn't call it stupid. Don't be so hard on yourself! I have heard the very same thing from the press, citing this guy as another "victim" of the disease.

I am doing some research on the disease, but have found nothing so far on the particulars you mentioned.

 

When the first WTC building was hit, many wondered if it was just an accident. When the second was hit, we knew it wasn't.

When the first guy got anthrax, we assumed (or hoped) it was coincidental. Sure there had only been 25 cases in the last century in the US...sure we hadn't had a case here in 25 years...but maybe, hopefully, it was just coincidence. Now that a second man has anthrax spores in his nose, I don't know how any reasonable statistician could suggest this is coincidence in the wake of Sept 11th.

In all seriousness...I'm not trying to minister to anyone here...and I'm not trying to be alarmist. But we've seen how fragile human life is recently. We're all a little tenative. I hope that you'll get your hearts right with God...or at least be open to Him in some way. I hope that doesn't sound preachy (though I regret feeling I have to apologize for making this suggestion)...but life is precious, and you just don't know.

 

This could be nothing....but then again, I never thought I would see what happened on 9-11.

The Feds are all over this now, hopefully it will be an isolated, freak case or something.

 

A co-worker of the Florida man who died of anthrax last week has tested positive for the extremely rare disease that experts say could be used as a biological warfare agent, officials said October 8, 2001. Boca Raton police stand guard at the entrance to American Media Inc., the company which publishes the supermarket tabloid 'The Sun', and where both men were employed. The building was closed and was to be examined by health and law enforcement personnel. (Colin Braley/Reuters)


if you ask me, those people casually standing in front of that building should be wearing some sort of respirators or chemical protection gear. It amazes me how non-chalant they are just standing there.

rH

 

Also interesting is the text on the building, "American Media." If you were a terrorist, would it or would it not spurn some sort of negativity and maybe even seem appealing to attack?

The Sun is a tabloid based out of that building, and I imagine other tabloids or media types are based in that building.

It is also in the immediate area that Mohammed Atta was living and attending flight lessons supposedly.

 

Given the general American attitude towards those tabloids, this could very well be a terrorist's sick joke...

 

My girlie just called me and said she heard on the radio that through samples collected in the building, the spores collected are deemed "lab generated." In other words, it isn't a naturally occurring bacteria, it had to be produced in a lab.

This is all too weird, and horrifying if true. I have not heard anything confirmed on CNN or MSNBC about it yet. When I do, I will post it.

 

I find it strange that they would just infect that particular building. And I'm not doubting what you and your girl say HOOP-T, but I just wonder if the part about it being laboratory generated is jumping the gun by the radio station or something. It seems strange that scientist would and could confirm this so soon after discovering it.

 

I personally found it odd that the first victim apparently didn't respond to the antibiotics. Natural anthrax is usually treatable. Lab-designed strains (for bacteriological warfare) are usually made antibiotic-resistant...

But if this is an attack, it appears that they didn't disperse it very well.

 

treeman wrote: "But if this is an attack, it appears that they didn't disperse it very well."

What do you mean? Would you have rather have seen a more widespread outbreak?

I bet in the next few days we start hearing about more people in that building affected and with an incubation period of up to 45 days, more people in other locations could be affected as well.

I'm ill to my stomach...

rH

 

Hey, I am in the same boat my friend. It may be false reports from the radio, and I take those usually with a grain of salt until I can confirm it. But the signs are scary....truly.

Plus the fact that this is literally just a few miles from where Atta was operating is even more frightening.

From what I have read, the anthrax bacterium is often hard to effectively disperse, due to it needing to find a "host," if you will, quickly. Even if dispersed by a crop duster, it would have to be directly dumped in close proximity to people. A stiff breeze is really all it would take to dillute it, and render it mostly ineffective.

But if dispersed in air ducts or AC units, it could in fact get to people quickly.

At any rate, why they picked that building I do not know, other than it being an American media outlet.

 

Man, this definitely could cause widespread panic in the US...

 

I see what you mean HOOP. This is strange. It's kind of scary, but weird at the same time. I'm starting to get the feeling that they were only able to get a small amount, so what they are doing is dispersing it in small, unusual places, that way people start thinking "My god if they infected that place they could infect any place"! That's just my gut feeling, that it's more of an intimidation and mindgames then possible widespread infections.

 

Just watched the statments a the press conference form the Fl. Dept. of Health, and they had nothing to say but an investigation is being conducted. Blah blah blah, all PC answers telling us nothing.

My firm belief is this:
That anthrax came from somewhere, and had to be brought into the building. It cannot be blown in by the air, a breeze pretty much dillutes it and it cannot live. It had to be brought in somehow in a contained environment, and then let loose.

It isn't contagious, so it wasn't spread that way.

How on earth did it get there? Who put it there, and why?

There is a quote from a senior law enforcement official I found:
‘The FBI has been unable to find a source or cause of the anthrax, but this kind of situation points to terrorism or criminal intent because it’s so rare to have two people working in the same building who have inhaled anthrax bacteria.’
— SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL

 

Uh oh.

How could a mass quanity of Anthrax "spores" be transferred into the US?