Anthrax:  Dead Crewman Might Have Been Smuggling Anthrax

A Egyptian man who died on a ship bound for Canada might have been poisoned by anthrax in a suitcase he was carrying, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today (see GSN, April 28).

Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim boarded a bauxite carrier in Brazil April 11.  He told shipmates that he was to deliver a suitcase to someone in Canada, but that he had opened the suitcase.  He said he felt sick, and he died that night while vomiting blood, according to the Inquirer.

Authorities are waiting for blood tests to determine the cause of Ibrahim’s death, but an aide to Brazilian Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos yesterday said there was a “strong suspicion” Ibrahim was carrying anthrax.

An autopsy in Brazil discovered that bacteria destroyed Ibrahim’s internal organs.

“The bacteria colonies were similar to anthrax,” said Luiz Malcher, head of the Renato Chavez Forensic Sciences Center in Belem, Brazil.  “If it isn’t anthrax, it is an extremely virulent bacteria,” he added (McCaffrey/Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29).

A Canadian official, however, cautioned against jumping to any conclusions before test results are known.

“I can assure you we’ve discovered no threat to Canada, criminally or terrorism-wise,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Dan Tanner said yesterday.  “Right now, it’s just a story,” he said.

The ship, the Wadi al-Arab, remained in quarantine eight kilometers offshore of Halifax (Barry Dorey, Halifax Herald, April 29).

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Anthrax:  Canadian Officials Waiting for Test Results

Canadian authorities are searching for traces of anthrax in samples from a ship held in quarantine off the coast of Nova Scotia, the Globe and Mail reported Saturday (see GSN, April 25).

Results are expected late today or tomorrow, according to Tracey Taweel, a Health Canada spokeswoman.

A team of six investigators, dressed in protective suits, spent five hours taking swabs from the living quarters on the Wadi al-Arab.  The team also interviewed the 30 members of the crew.

“It’s just what we expected.  Everyone is in extremely good health,” Taweel said.

The ship was quarantined and placed under 1000-meter exclusion zone after it was discovered that the death of the ship’s chief officer might have been caused by anthrax.

“We’re in a bit of a holding pattern at this point,” she said.  “We just have to wait until we hear back from the lab about the results,” she added (Globe and Mail, April 26).

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Anthrax:  Suspicious Death Spurs Canada to Quarantine Brazilian Ship

Canadian public health officials yesterday quarantined a cargo ship from Brazil off the port of Halifax because of concerns that a crewmember onboard may have died from exposure to anthrax.

Brazilian public health officials had warned Canadian officials that a crewmember onboard the ship had died and that the possible cause of death was anthrax.  Canadian officials said the cause of death is still unknown (Agence France-Presse, April 24).

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United States:  Postal Facility Reopens After Powder Scare

A Tacoma, Wash., mail distribution facility has reopened after a suspicious powder discovered there yesterday was determined to be nontoxic, the Tacoma News Tribune reported today (see GSN, April 22).

The facility reopened after its postage-due area, where the powder was discovered, was cleaned.  Tests are expected to continue today on the powder and samples have been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further review (Stacey Mulick, News Tribune, April 23).

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Smallpox:  U.S. Health Officials Prepare to Expand Vaccination Effort

U.S. public health officials are preparing to begin the second phase of the U.S. smallpox vaccination campaign, which calls for vaccinating of up to 10 million emergency responders, USA Today reported today (see GSN, April 22).

There are concerns, however, that the expanded vaccination effort will suffer the same low interest shown by U.S. health care workers in the first phase of the program, according to USA Today.  While public health officials initially thought that up to 500,000 health care workers would have volunteer to be vaccinated by early this year, so far only 32,644 have done so.

“Based on what we’ve seen from the health care community, at this point you would expect a tepid response from the first responders,” said Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for Los Angeles County.  “We are prepared to proceed with the program but haven’t had a lot of inquiries from people asking us to get this done as soon as possible,” he said.

In addition to expanding the smallpox vaccination program, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department may issue new guidelines as early as today that would urge state and local health departments to increase their response capabilities for chemical and nuclear attacks.

The goal of the new guidelines is “to enhance the capacity to respond to public health threats posed by terrorist events,” said Michael Sage, deputy director of the CDC’s Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response.  “It won’t happen overnight.  We’re just at the beginning of the preparedness efforts from a national level,” he said (Anita Manning, USA Today, April 23).

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