Medill News Service article - Published: Oct. 9, 2001

Area officials preparing for bioterror

By Patrick Cooper
Medill News Service

CHICAGO -- As federal officials investigate a fatal case of anthrax in south Florida, searching for a possible connection to terrorism, officials in the Chicago area are playing down the chances for a biological attack here but have their response plans ready -- just in case.

The FBI is seriously examining how anthrax, a common animal disease that typically kills humans who inhale the bacterium, got into the offices of American Media Inc., the Boca Raton, Fla.,-based publisher of several supermarket tabloid newspapers.

At the company, one man died, and another was hospitalized after doctors found anthrax in his nose. Investigators searching the building also found anthrax in the computer keyboard of the man who died, 63-year-old Robert Stevens.

Hundreds of frightened co-workers and residents of surrounding neighborhoods spent hours in line to be tested and receive preventive antibiotics. In Chicago and Cook County, officials say they are ready to handle a similar situation if it arises.

At a press conference Tuesday morning, Chicago Fire Commissioner James Joyce said the chance of an attack was minimal. "Sarin [nerve] gas and anthrax, those are very difficult products to introduce to the public," he said. "We want to be careful that we don't exaggerate the possibilities of this thing."

But law enforcement and public health officials are still moving ahead in preparations for such an event. In an interview, Dr. Karen Scott, Cook County's director of public health, said she has asked hospitals and health care providers to "be on heightened alert."

Scott said her office keeps in constant communication with the county's hospitals, maintaining databases and exchanging information regarding infectious and communicable diseases.

If county hospitals needed to handle an anthrax case or outbreak, Scott said the county has "small amounts" of drugs for treatment and can be quickly air-shipped more. "If a local agency has difficulty in obtaining any more, we let the state health department know. They have access to the stockpile."

While Scott has asked hospital staffs to watch for certain symptoms, she said the public at-large should "not overreact, but pay attention" to news reports and health advisories.

"When we had the problem with the cyanide in the Tylenol, that was one of the issues, how do you get the information out to everybody," she said, referring to the pain reliever's 1982 poisoning that killed seven people in the Chicago area. "On something like this, we'd be working close to law enforcement."

Officials from the Chicago Department of Public Health did not return phone calls Tuesday.

Since Sept. 11, federal and local leaders have commented repeatedly that the threat of anthrax or biological attacks is still just a threat. Investigators have ruled out environmental causes in the Florida death, but they have not yet linked the case to any criminal act.

Anthrax is common in animals but rare in humans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The former Soviet Union experienced the last major outbreak of the disease in 1979 when anthrax spores were accidentally released from a biological warfare laboratory. At least 79 people in nearby villages were infected after inhaling the spores, and, according to federal reports, 68 died.

Stevens, photo editor at The Sun tabloid, had inhaled anthrax, the most deadly way of acquiring the disease. While first symptoms of inhalation resemble the common cold, lung problems come on quickly, and victims usually die within days of becoming ill. Stevens's case was the first of anthrax inhalation in the United States since 1976.

Military analysts fear the use of anthrax as a biological weapon because the gas is colorless, odorless and deadly. And while anthrax occurs naturally in the environment, making such a weapon is complicated. As many as 8,000-10,000 spores must be administered in concentrated doses to be potentially fatal.

The disease can also be acquired through skin cuts or by eating contaminated beef. These cases are more common and less fatal, according to the CDC. Infections through cuts, which account for about 95 percent of anthrax cases, can be treated easily with antibiotics. The infections can be fatal, however, if left untreated.

If victims eat tainted meat, CDC estimates show intestinal anthrax kills in 25 to 60 percent of cases.

A vaccine for the disease is produced, but it is scarce. The vaccine is often used on scientists working with the disease, workers who handle at-risk animal products and U.S. military stationed in areas where biological warfare is possible. It is not available to the general public.

Antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin, can be used to treat less serious cases of anthrax. These kind of antibiotics were given to American Media workers and neighbors.

But while these people near the scene flocked to receive the drugs, officials at drug store chains said on Tuesday that they had not seen much of an increase in consumer demand for the drugs, commercially available in forms such as Bayer's Cipro.

Jewel/Osco spokeswoman Karen Ramos said her chain had analyzed its prescription data since Sept. 11 but not seen any rise in Cipro prescriptions. "I'm not getting any evidence that we have seen an increase."

Also, with the oncoming cough and cold season, Ramos said it would be difficult to link any increase in the near future to anthrax worries. Cipro can be used to treat respiratory infections.

At Walgreens, spokeswoman Carol Hively said the Deerfield-based corporation had been tracking the antibiotics in their warehouses and talking to store pharmacists during the last several weeks, but had not seen any widespread consumer move to get the drugs.

"So far there hasn't been much reaction," Hively said. The only exception was "a little bit of an increase" in South Florida, the region where the death occurred.

CVS pharmacies, which only recently began expansion into Chicago, saw slight increases in all of their stores since Sept. 11, particularly in New York, according to a company spokesman. The chain's stores are mostly located in the eastern and Midwestern United States.