Anthrax Facts and Fiction:
"We have Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself"
I am not sure that President Roosevelt’s words have-ever rung truer than they do with regard to the current climate around the perceived threat of Anthrax and Bioterrorism. The Anthrax bacterium is very difficult to distribute and it is very difficult to intentionally infect an individual. It requires that the bacterium be suspended in the air in adequate doses so that it be deeply inhaled or the bacteria must gain access to a break in the skin such as a cut or an abrasion.
As an information resource, I have included the website for the Center for Disease Control Information printout on Anthrax http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/anthrax_g.htm answering such questions as: What is Anthrax? How is it spread? And how is it diagnosed? It is important to recall that the spores of Anthrax exist in the soil and in nature. It is entirely possible that many of us who enjoy out-of-doors activities and gardening may well have already been exposed to some of these spores. Finally, the likelihood and threat of disease even in these trying times remains exceedingly small.
"67,000 AMERICANS DIED LAST YEAR FROM THE FLU OR PNEUMONIA, 1 (ONE) AMERICAN HAS DIED SO FAR THIS YEAR FROM ANTHRAX".
Individuals who have legitimate reason to suspect that they have been exposed to Anthrax need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis with appropriate diagnostic tests and appropriate treatment. For the rest of us, routine so-called "prophylactic" antibiotic treatment and routine nasal cultures are uniformly discouraged as not only having little or no value but having well defined downside risks. Statistically speaking, routine culturing of the nasal passages of many individuals at little risk of exposure will inevitably fail to recognize the rare person who has an active infection (a false negative test) and also has a potential of creating "false positive results," that is, identifying people as having "the disease" while being perfectly healthy. Since there has never been cause for routine Anthrax screening, the probability of identifying a "false positive" or "false negative" test result is not known. The nasal swabs that we have heard so much about are being used for epidemiological studies. They are also being used in large-scale evaluations of known exposure scenes as part of a criminal investigation.
At our client companies, people responsible for opening the mail should review the United States Postal Service recommendations regarding what to do if you receive an Anthrax threat. The website address is: http://www.usps.gov/news/2001/press/pr01_1010tips.htm. You need to maintain an increased awareness regarding some mail items that may not look typical or usual for your company. The Postal Service recommends that if you have an unusual or suspicious letter or parcel, Do Not Attempt to Open It; Isolate That Piece of Mail, and Notify the Authorities. If an individual suspects an exposed to Anthrax via the mail, he or she should isolate the area, wash and change clothing as soon as practical and be properly evaluated by a medical team after having properly notified the authorities.
Remember: THE POSTAL SERVICE DELIVERS APPROXIMATELY 208 BILLION PIECES OF MAIL PER YEAR. THERE HAVE BEEN FEWER THAN 10 CONFIRMED INCIDENTS OF ANTHRAX BACTERIA BEING SENT THROUGH THE MAIL AT THIS TIME.
Sincerely,
Jerry Berke, M.D., M.P.H., FACOEM
Medical Director, Health Resources
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