Anthrax: More at U.S. State Dept. Mail Facility

Investigators are searching a State Department offsite mail facility for a possible anthrax-tainted letter in storage there (see GSN, Oct. 26), government officials said yesterday.  Traces of anthrax were found in several locations throughout the Sterling, Virginia, facility, according to the Washington Post.

Out of 55 samples taken from the Sterling facility, eight came back positive, said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.  Two mail-sorting machines each had one positive test, while a third sorting machine had three positives.  The relatively high-levels of contamination at the facility might mean an anthrax-tainted letter directly passed through the facility, Boucher said.  “It’s not the only way you can put this together, but it’s certainly the one that seems most probable to us,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jeffrey Koplan said yesterday.

Investigators are going through bags upon bags of mail that were sealed and set aside when the Sterling facility was closed in October, after a worker was hospitalized with what later was diagnosed as inhalation anthrax, officials said.  If a letter was found, it would be the fourth piece of mail containing anthrax spores.  “We presume that … if the letter had reached its intended recipient, that it would have been reported by now, either as a white powder letter or somebody getting sick,” Boucher said.  “So because it has been three weeks, we have to assume that we stopped it … we have to presume that we will be able to find whatever it is as we go through the mail in our system” (Weiss/Pianin, Washington Post, Nov. 14).

The CDC said it believed that the Sterling worker’s inhalation anthrax had to be caused by direct exposure to an anthrax-tainted letter, instead of just traces of anthrax left on a letter that had come into contact with a tainted one.  “We have said for quite a while that one of the potential explanations for the inhalation anthrax case was that there was an unrecognized additional letter that went through that system,” said CDC epidemiologist Stephen Ostroff (Barbara Isaacs, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 14).

Other Washington Anthrax Developments

There were reports yesterday of a fake anthrax letter found on the desk of a U.S. Capitol Police officer, according to the Washington Times.  The officer has been suspended and accused of leaving the fake letter, with a powdery substance, at his post at the Cannon House of Representatives Office Building.  “He’s been accused of this, and he’s suspended without pay, but he hasn’t been charged with anything yet,” said Jim Forbes, a spokesman for U.S. House Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio).

The powder found with the letter was not hazardous, but the Capitol Police was taking the situation very seriously, said spokesman Lt. Dan Nichols.  If convicted of a hoax, the officer could face up to five years in prison and up to $3 million in fines (Guy Taylor, Washington Times, Nov. 14).    

Eight mail facilities at Howard University were cleaned yesterday after traces of anthrax had previously been found in the university’s main mailroom (see GSN, Nov. 13), according to university officials.  Separate follow-up testing of the eight facilities are ongoing, and results are due back by Saturday.  Howard’s campus still remains open, Howard spokeswoman Sheila Harvey said (CNN.com, Nov. 13).

Anthrax Investigation Continues

The FBI’s leading theory in the anthrax investigation is that the recent incidents are the work of one or more extremists living in the United States (see GSN, Nov. 1), instead of foreign terrorists, Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said yesterday. 

“I think, early on in the discussion about weaponized anthrax, there was a feeling this could have very well been a foreign country or a terrorist state,” Ridge said.  “I think now, based on all of the analysis that they’ve done with this, that they can no longer exclude the possibility of a sophisticated microbiologist with equipment available in this country” (Weiss/Pianin, Washington Post).

FBI agents, accompanied by hazardous materials teams, executed search warrants today at the homes of two Pakistani men in Chester, Pennsylvania, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi did not say if officials thought anthrax or other chemical or biological agents might be in the houses.  “This is a young investigation, a new investigation,” Vizi said.  “We do not know where it’s going to take us.”  Although FBI agents were seen moving about the houses without protective clothing, a Hazmat team did later enter one of the houses, the Inquirer reported (Ralph Vigoda, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 14).

Washington Anthrax Victim’s Family Files Lawsuit

The son of a Washington postal worker who died from inhalation anthrax (see GSN, Oct. 23) has filed suit against Kaiser Permanente in Maryland.  The suit charges that Kaiser Permanente’s doctors failed to recognize and treat Thomas Morris’s anthrax symptoms, according the Wall Street Journal.

Morris went to the Kaiser facility on Oct. 18, complaining of chest constriction, difficulty in breathing and aches, according to the suit.  Morris told the doctor he thought he might have been exposed to anthrax at work because a woman at the postal facility where he worked came upon an envelope filled with powder, according to the suit, which charges that Morris’s doctor sent him home with directions to take Tylenol.

Kaiser plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit,” said spokeswoman Susan Whyte.  Two Washington postal workers who survived bouts of inhalation anthrax had been treated by Kaiser doctors as well, Whyte said (Barbara Martinez, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 14). 

Mail at Tainted New Jersey Facility to be Sanitized

Mail kept at the anthrax-tainted Hamilton postal facility, outside of Trenton, New Jersey, will be irradiated this week to kill any bacteria, postal officials said yesterday.  The Hamilton center remains closed and mail is being diverted to other facilities, according to the Associated Press (Lori Hinnant, Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 14).

Anthrax Derails SATs

U.S. high school students will get the chance to retake the SATs or receive a refund, because of delays in scoring tests due to the anthrax scare, the College Board, which administers the tests, said yesterday.

Mail delays may have held up nearly 8,000 out of 550,000 exams, the College Board said.  Students may retake the test free of charge on Dec. 1, the next scheduled test date, College Board spokesman John Hamill said.  Several makeup tests are planned for December (Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 14).

A Fine Boxcar of Fish … Or Is It?

Interpol detectives in Europe and South America searched Monday for the person responsible for a note in a railway car of powdered fish arriving in Russia that said it was delivered “with regards from bin Laden,” according to ITAR-Tass. 

Workers unloading the car in Kaliningrad found the note, halted work and sent part of the powdered fish for testing, ITAR-Tass reported (European Internet Network, Nov. 13).  

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International Response: U.S. and Russia Cooperate

U.S and Russian Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin agreed to cooperate against the emerging threat of terrorists using biological weapons, according to a joint statement released by the White House today. 

“At Shanghai, we resolved to enhance cooperation in combating new terrorist threats, including those involving weapons of mass destruction,” Bush and Putin said in the statement.

The two countries agreed to work together on countering the threat of bioterrorism and on related health measures, such as prevention and treatment. The United States and Russia also confirmed their strong commitment to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and agreed to work together to enhance the security of biological materials and expertise that could be used by terrorists (White House release, Nov. 13).

Several U.S. Cabinet Departments, such as the departments of State, Defense and Health and Human Services, have programs with Russia to prevent the proliferation of biological weapons, according to a White House fact sheet.  Those programs aim to increase security for biological warfare materials, dismantle infrastructure that is not needed for peaceful biological research efforts and collaborate research on biodefenses (White House release, Nov. 13).

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Smallpox: Russians Develop Vaccine Pill

Several Russian scientists plan to begin tests on a tablet form of a smallpox vaccine—instead of an injection form—next year, said Anatoliy Vorobev of the Moscow Medical Academy, Interfax reported Saturday.

Vorobev added that he believed all Russians should be vaccinated against smallpox to prevent disaster if terrorists released the virus on an unprotected population, although he acknowledged the vaccine could have serious side effects, including death.

Meanwhile, Russian Health Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Zharov said nationwide vaccination is out of the question, according to Interfax (Interfax, Nov. 10 in FBIS-SOV, Nov. 13).

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Anthrax: More Spores in Washington

Traces of anthrax have been found once again in Washington, this time in the offices of three U.S. senators and at a mailroom at Howard University, health officials said yesterday.  Meanwhile, new anthrax prevention measures have come under some criticism, according to reports.

Investigators found anthrax spores in the offices of Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), officials said yesterday, bringing the total number of tainted senators’ offices to 11 (see GSN, Nov. 12).  The trace amounts pose no health risks and require no further testing or treatment for staff members or office visitors, said Capitol Physician John Eisold.

The latest findings of anthrax were not unexpected, said Capitol Police spokesman Lt. Dan Nichols.  Letters delivered to other offices in the Hart Senate Office Building may have been contaminated by an anthrax-tainted letter mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) last month, according to investigators.  Alternatively, Nichols said, “We have not ruled out the possibility of another piece of mail [containing anthrax],” (Alan Fram, Associated Press/Miami Herald, Nov. 13).  

The main mailroom at Howard University also tested positive for traces of anthrax, causing the university to close eight mail sorting facilities for additional testing, according to the Washington Post. One positive test result was found out of 54 samples taken in the mailroom, according to the Post.  “We don’t see this as a big disruption,” said Howard University spokeswoman Donna Brock.  “We aren’t closing the university tomorrow.”

Howard’s mailroom is the first nongovernmental facility to test positive for anthrax after receiving mail from the contaminated Brentwood Road postal facility.  The findings, however, did not suggest widespread contamination, officials said.  The traces of anthrax at Howard do not pose a threat to the university community, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said.  “They are following CDC regular guidelines,” said CDC spokeswoman Cynthia Glocker.  “This is considered a low-risk event” (Avram Goldstein, Washington Post, Nov. 13).

CDC Antibiotics Guidelines Criticized

Health officials criticized the new anthrax guidelines released by the CDC last week, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today. 

According to the new guidelines, doctors should only prescribe antibiotics to prevent inhalation anthrax and not to treat the less-fatal skin anthrax.  Any person who may have been exposed to anthrax in the air should take preventive antibiotic treatment, but should stop if further tests indicate the individual was not exposed.

The new CDC guidelines are not stringent enough, said Thom Mayer, head of emergency medicine at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, which treated two Washington postal workers who survived inhalation anthrax.  “It seems to me the CDC is saying, ‘We’re in enemy territory, but until the point man gets shot, there’s no enemy,’” Mayer said.

“We don’t know how much anthrax is risky,” said Luciana Borio, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University.  “Unless you have the data to say otherwise, I think you have to say it’s better to be safe than sorry” (Marie McCullough, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 13).

Anthrax Vaccine Protested

About 40 demonstrators protested against the U.S. military’s anthrax vaccination program over the weekend outside the Michigan headquarters of BioPort Corp (see GSN, Nov. 12), which is the only U.S. manufacturer of the vaccine.  Protestors also demonstrated outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan.

The Defense Department and BioPort are ignoring signs of illness in many of the 500,000 troops who have been inoculated, protestors said.  The vaccine is linked to medical complaints such as chronic fatigue, memory loss and bone and joint pain, according to the protestors.  They said that the Pentagon has not done enough to investigate the vaccine’s long-term effects.

“Something is wrong with the vaccine,” said Steve Robinson with the National Gulf War Resource Center.  “You don’t have to be a scientist to figure it out.”

BioPort Medical Director Tom Waytes said 18 studies have shown that the anthrax vaccine is safe.  An independent panel of physicians has examined over 1,500 claims of adverse reactions to the vaccine, according to Waytes. The panel found no pattern suggesting that the anthrax vaccine caused more adverse reactions than any other vaccine, Waytes said (Associated Press/Washington Times, Nov. 13). 

Washington Postal Workers Become Case Study

The National Institutes of Health and the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at Johns Hopkins have published a case study that examines the deaths of two Washington postal workers from inhalation anthrax (see GSN, Oct. 23), Johns Hopkins announced in a press release yesterday. 

“Hopefully, this case report will help other frontline health care providers who may be dealing with anthrax patients in the future,” said Johns Hopkins specialist Borio, the case study’s lead author.

The case study shows how difficult it can be for doctors to accurately distinguish anthrax from other diseases with similar systems, the release said.  “None of the doctors who treated these patients suspected anthrax until they heard reports of other sick postal workers from the news media,” Borio said.  “These cases emphasize the importance of developing more rapid lines of communication between medicine and public health.  Clinicians need information to make a proper diagnosis and provide timely treatment for their patients” (Johns Hopkins release, Nov. 12).

Pakistan All Clear

There have been no positive tests for cases of anthrax in Pakistan (see GSN, Nov. 6), Pakistani Health Minister Abdul Malik Kansi said yesterday.  The Pakistani National Institutes of Health had tested close to 100 samples and found no positive cases, Kansi said. 

Kansi said he disagreed with the findings of the Agha Khan Hospital, which had confirmed two positive cases.  “I respect the Agha Khan Hospital, which is a very prestigious institution, but despite its report, not a single person has been found to be suffering with anthrax,” Kansi said.  The hospital had bypassed regular protocol by not sending its samples to the NIH, Kansi said, and he asked hospital administrators to do so as soon as possible.

The Pakistani interior and health ministries had set up special units to trace the source of letters containing suspected anthrax spores, Kansi said.  “Those who are sending letters filled with powder should behave as they are making dirty jokes,” he said.  “We have also asked the provincial governments to take anthrax incidents seriously” (Dawn, Nov. 13).

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Smallpox: Europe Orders Vaccines

Several European countries have concluded contracts for smallpox vaccines with Berna-Biotech, a Swiss company that has maintained large stocks of the vaccine since it was the main supplier for the World Health Organization’s campaign to eradicate smallpox worldwide, which ended in 1979, the company announced yesterday.  The contracts were worth at least $92 million. 

The United States has also been negotiating with various drug companies to order 250 million smallpox vaccine doses (see GSN, Nov. 8).  The WHO recommended last month against mass inoculations (see GSN, Oct. 26) but suggested governments acquire enough vaccine doses to contain a smallpox outbreak (Associated Press, Nov. 12).

Smallpox Treatment

Meanwhile, scientists could possibly produce a drug—which currently does not exist—to treat smallpox within a year or two, said David Sherman of the University of Minnesota, one of three scientists with a $2.5 million U.S. grant to develop the drug, although he cautioned the drug would not be available next year. 

Sherman said he and his colleagues thought they had discovered an enzyme the smallpox virus requires to reproduce.  The enzyme “is a perfect target for a drug.  If you can make a drug that … inactivates it, you’re going to stop the virus in its tracks,” he said (TB & Outbreaks Week, Nov. 13).

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Anthrax:  More Congressional Offices Contaminated

Anthrax spores were found in the offices of four more members of Congress over the weekend, officials said.  Two Washington postal workers infected with inhalation anthrax were released from the hospital Friday, according to the Washington Post.

Small traces of spores were found in the offices of Senators Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Representative Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).  The offices were in the Hart Senate Office Building and Longworth House Office Building, which had both previously tested positive for anthrax (see GSN, Oct.16).

Cummings’s office in the Longworth building was likely contaminated by workers trying to eliminate spores that had been found in a neighboring office, officials said.  Steps were being taking to prevent such accidents, Capitol Police spokesman Lt. Dan Nichols said.

The chances of staff members in those offices contracting anthrax was low because the concentration of spores was so small, health officials said, and added that staff members did not need to take antibiotics.  “We have been reassured that the medical risk is virtually zero,” said Feinstein spokesman Howard Gantman.  “Yet needless to say, we are concerned, and we will all be very watchful of each other’s medical conditions” (Justin Blum, Washington Post, Nov. 11).

Two Washington postal workers who had been hospitalized for three weeks with inhalation anthrax (see GSN, Oct. 23) were sent home Friday, according to the Washington Post.  Doctors said they do not yet know if the postal workers will suffer any long-term physical limitations from anthrax. 

Advances in drug therapies and critical care have helped to improve the chances of recovering from inhalation anthrax, said Naaz Fatteh, an infectious disease specialist who treated one of the postal workers.  “Somebody who [arrived] with a disease that was thought to be almost uniformly fatal went home yesterday in pretty good shape,” Fatteh said (Goldstein/Lenhart, Washington Post, Nov. 10). 

Nguyen Might Be the Key

Finding out how Kathy Nguyen, a New York woman who was the fourth to die from inhalation anthrax (see GSN, Oct. 31), contracted the disease might help to find out who was responsible, investigators said.  Nguyen is “an outlier who doesn’t fit the pattern,” said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Stephen Ostroff.  “And very often the outliers are the ones that solve the problem.”

There are two hypotheses into Nguyen’s case, according to the Washington Post.  One is that she was anthrax-prone and contracted the disease by inhaling a tiny amount of spores from a contaminated letter intended for someone else.  The other is that she became infected after an encounter with the person or persons responsible for the anthrax incidents.

Investigators said they are interviewing Nguyen’s friends, acquaintances and anyone else who saw her in the last half of October, in an attempt to determine where she might have become infected.  They have taken Nguyen’s MetroCard to find out what trips she recently took, but a coworker had lent her the card, so not all of the trips on it were Nguyen’s, the Post reported.  Investigators are also monitoring subway workers for an increase in sick days, because if Nguyen became infected in the subway, the disease might be spreading, according to the Post.

“Basically were focusing on everything that happened to her from Oct. 15 on,” an FBI source said.  “We’re trying to reconstruct the two weeks before she died” (Gugliotta/White, Washington Post, Nov. 11).   

FBI Releases Profile

The FBI released last week a profile of the person who might be responsible for the anthrax incidents.  The profile describes someone who is a loner, according to Time. If they live with someone they likely have an area off-limits to anyone else.  They likely have a scientific background, and while they avoid confrontation, they have a deep-seated anger.  Starting Sept. 11, they became intensely preoccupied, but seemingly not with news of the terrorist attacks, Time reported.

The profile was created by James Fitzgerald of the FBI Academy’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, who said he did not think suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is behind the anthrax incidents.  References to Allah and Israel in the anthrax-tainted letters do not resemble those in letters from al-Qaeda terrorists, according to Fitzgerald.  Instead, the man responsible likely used the Sept. 11 attacks as a cover, Fitzgerald said.  “He’s an opportunist.”

Fitzgerald said that whoever was responsible for the anthrax incidents might be finished, since he has proven his skill at making bioweapons and has vented his anger.  “He has accomplished what he wanted to accomplish,” Fitzgerald said (Michael Lemonick, Time, Nov. 12).  

New Jersey/New York

A postal facility in Trenton, New Jersey, was cleaned this weekend after traces of anthrax were found, according to the Associated Press.  Out of 19 samples taken from the postal facility, one came back positive.  The CDC was retesting the positive sample, said New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services spokesman Dennis McGowan.  “Because this test was taking so long, they decided to go ahead and clean,” McGowan said (Associated Press/New York Times, Nov. 12). 

Tiny amounts of anthrax had been found in three other postal facilities that act as “feeders” for the Hamilton Township postal center, which handled the anthrax-tainted letters, officials said.  None of the postal facilities were ordered to close, according to the New York Times.

New York health officials were investigating whether or not a New Yorker editorial assistant has been infected with anthrax late September, said a New Yorker spokeswoman.  The editorial assistant had developed a skin lesion, but tests done at the time did not confirm anthrax, the Times reported.  Tests completed last night also came back negative, the New York City Health Department said (Jane Fritsch, New York Times, Nov. 10).   

Anthrax Defenses

BioPort Corp., the only U.S. company that makes the anthrax vaccine, will not be ready for a federal inspection until mid-December (see GSN, Nov. 1), according to the New York Times.  BioPort officials said they had finished cleaning their laboratory Thursday and would need several more weeks to work up to production.

“We are taking all the prudent and precautionary steps to be ready for a very rigorous inspection by the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] while being sure that we can be back in production quickly if need be, said BioPort President Robert Kramer.  “It’s a balancing act.”

The FDA has criticized BioPort in the past for the sterility of its process for decanting the anthrax vaccines into 10-dose vials, according to the Times.  BioPort now plans to ship the vaccine to Hollister-Stier Laboratories, which will decant it into the vials before shipping it back to BioPort, the Times reported.

BioPort will work up to full production of the vaccine over the next several weeks to prepare for another inspection, Kramer said.  If it passes, BioPort will ask the FDA to approve the use of 600,000 vaccines already prepared by Hollister-Stier last summer, he said.  Earlier vaccines decanted by BioPort would be administered only under the FDA’s program for new drugs, which requires strict medical supervision, according to the Times (Keith Bradsher, New York Times, Nov. 12).  

The biotechnology firm NanoBio has recently created a nontoxic agent that can kill most viruses and bacteria, including anthrax, according to Fortune.  The agent is soybean oil floating in water with nontoxic detergents, Fortune reported.  “It can be rubbed on the skin, eaten, or put into liquids like orange juice,” said NanoBio Chief Executive Officer Ted Annis.  “I can even put it in my hot tub.”

NanoBio’s agent is made using an anti-microbial nanoemulsion, which forms bubbles at the nanometer level, according to Fortune.  A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.  These bubbles, stabilized by the detergents, bombard the lipid layers around bacteria or viruses, which destroy them.  NanoBio’s agent stimulates an anthrax spore into germinating into an active bacterium, according to Fortune.  As the spore germinates, it forms the lipid layer, which the nanoemulsion attacks.  Within a few hours, the bacterium is dead.

NanoBio said it hopes to get $5 million in emergency funding to conduct new tests and to start contracting out the manufacturing of the agent.  If the agent wins fast-track regulatory approval, it could be available to the public and military for use on buildings, and even on the skin, within six months, Fortune reported.

“Our future isn’t going to be in government applications.  A lot of what we’re doing for the government is going to be done at cost,” said NanoBio chief scientist James Baker.  “Our future is going to be with all the commercial customers that we can’t let drop off while we’re dealing with this other stuff” (Julie Creswell, Fortune, Nov. 12).  

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Anthrax:  Bin Laden Denies Involvement

Suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden denied involvement in the recent U.S. anthrax incidents in an interview reported in a Pakistani newspaper yesterday. 

When asked if he was involved, “[bin Laden] laughed and said we don’t know anything about it,” wrote Hamid Mir, editor of Urdu-language newspaper Ausaf, who conducted the interview with bin Laden. 

Bin Laden said he did have nuclear and chemical weapons (see related GSN story, today) and might use them in response to U.S. attacks, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.  Bin Laden told Mir he believed the United States was using chemical weapons in Afghanistan because “bodies of mujahideen found from a site in Kabul had turned all black” (Andrew Marshall, Reuters/Yahoo News, Nov. 11).

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