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ANTHRAX, ANIMAL SKIN - USA (CONNECTICUT) (02)
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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[1]
Date: Sept 6, 2007
Source: NewsTimesLive.com
<http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1186570626&source=big_barker>
Published: Sept 6, 2007, 6:07am
Anthrax hits Danbury
-----------------------
Diagnosis of 2 residents raises fears, closes part of Route 37
The revelation Wednesday [5 Spp 2007] that 2 residents had contracted
anthrax raised concerns throughout the city and shut down one major
thoroughfare for more than 24 hours. Numerous city, state and federal
health, law enforcement and governmental officials joined forces to
deal with the issue, and Danbury municipal and school officials
alerted residents to the problem. In a press conference Wednesday
afternoon, officials tried to calm possible fears about the spread of
anthrax by emphasizing that the type of anthrax contracted by the
residents is not a communicable disease.
In a subsequent, hastily called press conference at 10 p.m.
Wednesday, state officials said they were preparing to take samples
from a house, a shed and some soil along Padanaram Road to see
whether any contamination had occurred. Officials said they
considered contamination unlikely and said they expected to make that
determination by midnight Wednesday. If officials do discover
contamination, they said, a cleanup would likely take several days.
According to officials, two city residents contracted cutaneous
anthrax -- a form of anthrax that develops under the skin -- last
month after working with imported animal hides used to make African drums.
The state Department of Public Health made the diagnosis official
Tuesday. They are reportedly the first cases of cutaneous anthrax in
the state in almost 40 years. That news forced the city to reroute
traffic off the heavily traveled Padanaram Road from Jeanette to
Stacey roads throughout most of the day, as city, state and federal
officials investigated the matter and removed hides from a barn used
as a workshop at 69 Padanaram Road. City and state officials refused
to give the names of the patients [one of whom is an African drummer
and drum maker.]
An emergency response team from the state Department of Environmental
Protection [DEP] was preparing to enter the property late Wednesday to take
samples from inside the house, from a shed and from the soil. "If there is
serious contamination outside the shed, that will be a longer process,
possibly a matter of several days," said Mike Nalipinksi of the federal
Environmental Protection Agency. But that was a worst-case scenario,
he said, and officials last night played down the possibility. "We've erred
on the side of safety and caution," Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said.
The EPA had earlier notified five surrounding neighbors there would be a lot
of light and noise in the area throughout the night and that they should consider
seeking other quarters to escape the commotion. Fifteen residents of six
neighboring homes were evacuated, and Padanaram Road will stay closed at
least until noon Thursday, Boughton said. "This was not done as a health issue,''
Boughton's chief of staff, Michael McLachlan said. "It was done as a courtesy.''
At a press conference at City Hall Wednesday, staff from Danbury Hospital and
the state Department of Public Health emphasized the cases pose no health risk
to the general public. Anthrax is not a communicable disease --
it doesn't spread from one person to the next like tuberculosis or influenza, they
said. Officials noted that the two people who contracted the disease are getting
antibiotics and are recovering completely.
"Our message to the public is: If you were not working with these hides, you are
not at risk,'' said Dr. Patrick Broderick, chairman of the hospital's department of
emergency medicine. Simply going to a concert where African drums are played,
or going to a class to play them, poses no risk to anyone.
However, Broderick said area doctors, unsure what to do, began referring patients
to the Danbury Hospital emergency department Wednesday. "We received dozens
and dozens of calls,'' he said. "We call them 'the walking well.''' City residents
learned of the situation from news reports. The city also used its reverse 911 system
to alert residents to the case. Mayor Boughton said that in doing this, the city was
simply following proper protocols for dealing with anthrax-related cases. After
learning Tuesday the two people had tested positive for anthrax , Boughton said
the city informed the state police and the FBI.
On Wednesday morning, police, fire and health officials gathered en masse at the
North Street Shopping Plaza. By 10 a.m., they'd sealed off a stretch of Padanaram
Road between Jeanette and Stacey roads, closing the road to all traffic. While it's
unlikely any spores from the site could get into passing cars, Boughton said, the
city did this as an extra precaution.
Dr. James Hadler, chief epidemiologist with the state Department of Public Health,
said the hides in the Danbury case were either goat or cattle hides, probably imported
from Africa. Hadler said the state Health Department would zero in on about a dozen
hides, seeing if they can find anthrax on them. He also said the state will be working
with federal officials to see if hides from the same shipment are circulating elsewhere
in the United States.
Cutaneous anthrax is rare, with only one or two people being infected with anthrax
in the United States every years, Hadler said. The state Department of Public Health
said the last cutaneous anthrax case in Connecticut occurred in 1968, pointing out
that it's a difficult disease to get. While inhaled anthrax, which affects the lungs, is
more deadly, most of the few anthrax cases in the United States are cutaneous
anthrax, in which the bacteria gets into the body in a small cut or abrasion, gets
under the skin and manifests itself as a black-scabbed sore.
Dr. Gary Schleiter, chief of the infectious disease department at Danbury Hospital,
said that even without any medication, 80 percent of cutaneous anthrax patients
recover on their own. The two patients in Danbury were otherwise healthy. "It's not
painful,'' he said of the sores. "But it's not pretty.'' [Very true. MHJ] But the bacteria
can spread, causing swollen lymph nodes, fever, nausea and vomiting. With modern
antibiotics, Schleiter said, the cure for cutaneous anthrax is practically 100 percent.
Therefore, there's no reason for people to worry about getting the disease or to take
anything to prevent it. "There's no need for anyone to get prophylactic antibiotics
unless they were in the workplace where the drums were made,'' said Broderick of
the emergency department.
(Byline: Robert Miller)
Anthrax Timeline
EARLY TO MID-AUGUST: A Danbury man develops a sore with a black scab on his arm.
LATE AUGUST: A relative develops a similar, smaller sore and scab.
LAST WEEK: They are examined at Danbury Hospital, and bacteria specimens are taken
from the two sores. Both test negative for anthrax. Danbury Hospital sends tissue
samples to the state Department of Public Health for DNA tests. Both come back
positive for anthrax.
TUESDAY [Sept 4]: Danbury city officials learn of the positive tests. Following operating
protocols, the city alerts the state police and the FBI.
WEDNESDAY [Sept 5]: City officials close a section of Padanaram Road to inspect the
home of the patients. They find animal hides used for making drums and rule out
terrorism. State health workers remove the hides for testing.
Officials expect to open Padanaram Road at noon today.
[Patently this took time to develop. There are various links at the bottom of this page.
One of the more informative for those of us not living in Danbury is:
<http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1186570588&source=related_stories>
- Mod MHJ]
***
[2]
Date: 6 Sept 2007
Source: Eyewitness News, WFSB.com
<http://www.wfsb.com/news/14057298/detail.html>
Anthrax Found In Barn, Home
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Roads Remain Closed Around Drummer's House
Crews found more anthrax contamination in the Danbury home and barn where
two members of a family contracted cutaneous anthrax, state environmental
officials said.
Initially, officials planned to reopen Padanaram Road at noon, but it remains
closed indefinitely as crews donned protected gear to go inside the house.
"The house is of concern because there was one positive (sample) found in the
house. We are gathering more for testing today," DEP representative Peter Zack
said. The family members work with animal hides used to make African drums.
They each have been treated for skin spots that looked like scabs.
DEP officials stressed that the public is not at risk because the cutaneous form
of anthrax is not contagious. "Coming in contact with one of these individuals,
you are not at risk," said Dr. Patrick Broderick, chairman of Danbury Hospital's
department of emergency medicine. "Coming in contact with a drum, which was
made by this individual, you are not at risk. Coming in contact with a drum of
spools, where these drums were used, you are not at risk."
"I feel as though I'm completely safe," said Lisa Ackerly, a neighbor. "(It's) just a
little bit of inconvenience for everybody."
Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection said they found f
ive samples of anthrax in the barn where the drums were made and another on a
door leading to the barn.
Crews transported the hides that likely infected the drummer and another family
member to a state lab. DEP officials confiscated a dozen goat and cow hides from
a shed in the back yard, where most of the spores were found. Authorities said
they believe the drummer and another relative contracted the cutaneous anthrax
in the shed while using the animal skins to make drums. Officials said they believe
the musician may have then dragged the dust inside his house. "It was right at the
rear entrance," Zack said. "The person who was working on the skins entered the
house through that location, and that's probably why the house is positive."
DR. James Hadler, a chief epidemiologist said that the two family members may
have not contracted inhalation anthrax, a far more serious illness, because they
wore masks while working on the hids. He said that no one in the country has
ever contracted any form of anthrax from just handling or playing an African drum.
Authorities returned to the house on Thursday to develop a plan to get rid of the
contamination, a process that could take days.
[We have now seen a number of these events of close parallel similarity. As the
contamination did not go further than the back door, this probably reflects large
particle contamination of the drummer's working clothes. This should not be
dismissed because there have been outbreaks where wives' washing their
husband's clothes have got infected. And, as my colleague Ken Waldrup pointed
out, one must wonder how Customs allowed these hides to be imported but
presumably sun-dried hides must be perceived by the bureaucrats as presenting
no risk to livestock (e.g., from FMDv and other pathogens). Connecticut, like the
rest of New England, ceased to have anthrax when the mills shut down and hair
and hides were no longer being imported from enzootic countries; the washing
waters would have been contaminated and infected herds & flocks downstream.
While West African hides are in the news these days, in the past there have been
similar events with imported Haitian goat hides, drums and similar hide-covered
souvenir objects. - Mod MHJ]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
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[see also:
Anthrax, animal skin - USA (CT) 20070905.2930
Anthrax, human - UK (Scotland) 20070312.0877
2006
----
Anthrax, human - UK (Scotland) (04) 20061122.3326
Anthrax, human - UK (Scotland) (03) 20061012.2926
Anthrax, human, fatal - UK (Scotland)(02) 20060824.2391
Anthrax, human, fatal - UK (Scotland) 20060816.2294
Anthrax, inhalation, human - USA (PA,NY) (03) 20060227.0634
Anthrax, inhalational, human - USA (PA,NY) (02) 20060223.0586
Anthrax, inhalation, human - USA (PA, NY) ex Cote d'Ivoire 20060222.0574
...............................................wp/mhj/jw
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