Iowa Anthrax Infection Confirmed in 3rd Person Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [In the Roosting Chickens Dept. the anthrax strain has now indeed been identified as the Ames strain (for Ames, Iowa) -- homegrown US Biowar, as American as corn on the cob. What goes around comes around... And the tabloid rags have a real horror story to report for a change, and they can't even get into their building. War is hell, guys. However, let's watch out for deliberate disinfo and plants here... since according to Colombia Presbyterian Hospital experts, this very strain was sold to Iraq 30 years ago, making this just a tad too convenient for the next "Wanted Dead or Alive" phase of the Bush Idiot Crusade. ] source - The New York Times October 11, 2001 Florida Inquiry Finds Anthrax in Third Person By DANA CANEDY and JIM YARDLEY BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 10 - Federal officials announced tonight that a third person in South Florida had tested positive for exposure to anthrax and said forcefully that their efforts had become a criminal investigation. The latest exposed is a 35-year-old woman who works in the same building where two other people were exposed, one of whom died last week. The officials said they found traces of anthrax in the woman's nasal passage and that she was taking antibiotics. The officials withheld the woman's identity, saying they were doing so at her request. "There is another individual who has tested positive for the presence of this virus," said Guy Lewis, the United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida. "It is now a criminal investigation." The authorities said that there was "no indication" that the exposures were related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but would not rule out that possibility. Dr. John Agwunobi, Secretary for the Florida Department of Health sought to reassure the public that anthrax was not contagious and that the contamination appears to be limited to the headquarters of the American Media Inc., building here, where the three people worked. He said that health officials had so far tested nasal passages of 700 people and found only one that tested positive for anthrax. The announcement tonight significantly alters a weeks-long investigation that the authorities had initially characterized as primarily a health probe into isolated incidents. "We understand that this is a problem, and we will bring every resource we have to bear on this problem and I assure you we will solve it," Mr. Lewis said. The authorities said the woman did not exhibit the flu-like symptoms associated with Anthrax contamination. "She is on antibiotics and we will be working very closely with her," Dr. Agwunobi said. On Friday, Robert Stevens, 63, a layout editor for the Sun tabloid, one of American Media's publications, died after being diagnosed with Anthrax. Days later, spores were detected in the nasal cavity of Ernesto Blanco, a 73-year-old mail supervisor at the Sun. The authorities closed the American Media building on Monday, after the discovery of Mr. Blanco's exposure and of a spore of the bacteria on Mr. Stevens' computer keyboard. Officials have not yet said how the people became exposed to the anthrax nor have they concluded what the source was. The Miami Herald reported Wednesday that investigators had linked the anthrax to a strain that was harvested from Iowa in the 1950's, and NBC News reported Wednesday evening that the F.B.I. is beginning to conclude that the anthrax was stolen from a U.S. lab in Ames, Iowa. The reports led to speculation that the Florida germ it might be a highly virulent type of anthrax known as the Ames strain, which was discovered in Iowa and studied as a possible germ weapon by the American military before President Nixon renounced germ weapons in 1969. Kevin Teale, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said today that the Ames strain was discovered in the 1950's in at Iowa State University, in livestock that had died of anthrax. It has since been sent to laboratories across the world for research purposes. But scientists familiar with the investigation said the DNA of the Florida germ was not an exact match to any of the strains, or subspecies, of anthrax samples kept in the most complete anthrax collections, including the Ames strain. "The Florida isolate is similar to an isolate from Haiti, to one from Texas and to one from Iowa," said Dr. Martin E. Hugh-Jones of Louisiana State University, a leading anthrax expert who is advising scientists who are attempting to identify the strain. "It doesn't match exactly any of those three, but those are the three nearest to it. It's not the Ames strain, far from it," he said. Dr. Hugh-Jones said that if the bacteria involved in the Florida case did turn out to be in the Ames strain, "it could be from anywhere," because so many laboratories around the world have made use of the germ. Late last night, Dr. Richard Spertzel, who headed the U.N. biological inspection teams in Iraq and who is familiar with the investigation said he had been told by someone involved in the work that the Florida germ's DNA had yet to be matched exactly to any known anthrax strain. Scientists familiar with the federal investigation also said preliminary tests suggested the Florida strain was not one of the well-known strains used over the decades to make anthrax weapons. Dr. Scott Lillibridge, the chief adviser on bioterrorism to Tommy G. Thompson, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, testified in the House of Representatives today that the Florida strain is sensitive to penicillin and a variety of other drugs. "hat is not the hallmark of an engineered bioweapon," he said. All told, American researchers have accumulated 1,200 samples, or isolates, of anthrax from around the world. But only 400 or so of those samples have undergone DNA analysis that reveals their genetic signatures. So the DNA library that allows quick identification of unknown anthrax strains is fairly small compared to what has been so far collected. Scientists believe many more anthrax strains exist in the wild. They said it may take another year for the remaining 800 strains to undergo DNA analysis, and that this process might ultimately link the Florida germ to a sample in the collection. Each of the 1,200 isolates is tied to specific geographical places that have experienced disease outbreaks -- usually among grazing animals such as sheep, cows, goats, horses and bison, which pick up the deadly spores out of the soil. Scientists said knowing that the Florida strain resembled strains found in a particular geographical or institutional locations would help focus the search for the source of the Florida germs, but would not necessarily prove their provenance. Earlier today, Gov. Jeb Bush called Attorney General John Ashcroft, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and the director of the F.B.I. and requested that they send a high-ranking law enforcement official to coordinate the activities of agencies investigating the case. "People in South Florida are very, very concerned about what is going on in Lantana," said Mr. Bush, referring to the place where Mr. Stevens lived. But Gov. Bush continued to say that there was no cause for widespread alarm. " "The governor is concerned and wants to make sure someone of stature has a direct line with Washington," said Liz Hirst, a spokeswoman for the governor. Hector Pesquera, special agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s field office in Miami, said, that the authorities were still in the process of searching the building where all three of the people worked. Dr. Bradley Perkins of the Centers for Disease Control said heath officials had not yet established whether the strain of Anthrax was organically or man-made. He said testing to determine the exact strain could take weeks. Even with the announcement that another person had been exposed to anthrax, officials urged calm and noted that so far the exposure appears to be limited to the headquarters here of American Media. But with each additional positive test for Anthrax exposure, the employees who work in the building where it was discovered, as well as an already anxious South Florida residents, are growing increasingly concerned. Donnie Gilbert, a senior executive assistant at the Star who was tested but has not yet received her results. "I'm as bewildered as anybody else. All we can do is wait and see what happens." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcov-10.11.01-00:51:44-2094