Why the Anthrax Scare Isn't As Bad As You May Think

By Jessica Reaves Friday, Oct. 19, 2001

FBI Director Robert Mueller speaks to reporters

ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

For everyone worried about anthrax, a little perspective, please. There are some reasons to be nervous about the admittedly deadly germ — about seven of them, to be exact. That's how many people have contracted the disease. Conversely, there are "thousands and thousands" of reasons not to let anthrax anxiety take over our lives. That's the number of people who've been tested for anthrax, according to Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, who gave a press conference Thursday in hopes of calming public nerves. Take comfort in the numbers: Seven out of many thousands leaves the rest of us with pretty good odds of never, ever contracting the disease.

Even in the highly unlikely case that you are diagnosed with anthrax, you have an extraordinarily good chance of surviving with nary a scratch to show for it. The majority of people diagnosed these days have cutaneous anthrax, which is very easy to treat and has never proven fatal in modern times. Inhalation, or pulmonary anthrax, is a bit scarier, but given the right antibiotic (of which there is plenty) you're still looking at better-than-good odds of survival.

Unfortunately, all the common sense in the world can't seem to stop the juggernaut of anthrax anxiety. And the need for calm is real — in New York, thousands of nervous people are flooding 911 lines and hospitals, worried that they might have been exposed to anthrax. They most likely haven't, and public health officials are worried this will further tax an already strained health system. And overuse of Cipro and other antibiotics could help breed newer, antibiotic-resistant strains of anthrax. It didn't help matters when the governor of New York, George Pataki, announced he was popping Cipro, even though he'd never even been tested for exposure to anthrax.

The media, including your favorite Website right here, have some responsibility in this — it is news, after all, and there hasn't been much new out of Afghanistan (still waiting for bin Laden to answer those CNN questions). But remember, unless you're a network anchor, a U.S. senator who gets on television a lot, an author who's written a lot about bioterrorism and been on Oprah, or a postal worker who handles suspicious letters without wearing gloves, the odds are very, very small that you may have even come into contact with those virulent spores.

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The latest rundown:

The FBI has identified a New Jersey mailbox as the site where the anthrax-laced letters were posted.

Officials now believe the anthrax found in Florida, New York City and Washington are from the same source. This contradicts earlier reports that the spores discovered in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle were "weapons-grade," or professionally prepared. More good news from Capitol Hill: New tests show three of the 31 staffers originally thought to have been exposed to anthrax were actually not exposed.

An employee at the New York Post tests positive for cutaneous anthrax, is back at work and "doing fine."

The FBI is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of the people responsible for the anthrax mailings.

A CBS news employee, who works with anchor Dan Rather, has tested positive for cutaneous anthrax. She is expected to recover completely.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert sounded a note of alarm when he told reporters there may be reason to suspect the spores from the Daschle letter infiltrated the ventilation system in the lawmakers' office buildings. The House has shut down until October 23rd, and the Senate will close early on Friday so the buildings can be tested.

Anthrax spores were found in the Manhattan offices of New York Governor George Pataki. The Governor and affected staff members are taking Cipro as a precaution against infection. There was no word as to whether anyone was exposed to the bacteria.

The seven-month-old son of an ABC news producer is reportedly doing "very well" after being diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax. The boy, who visited the ABC newsroom late last month, is taking antibiotics, as are all ABC news employees who work in or around the newsroom.

American Media Inc. employee Ernesto Blanco, 73, who earlier in the month was found to have anthrax spores in his nasal passages, was diagnosed Monday with inhaled anthrax. His condition is reported as "good." Blanco is a co-worker of photo editor Robert Stevens, who died last month after opening a letter laced with anthrax. Stevens remains the sole casualty from the disease.

In Ottawa, a section of the Canadian Parliament was temporarily closed off after an anthrax threat was reported; 35 government employees were taken to detoxification units following the scare.

The European front: After anthrax scares or threats, a train was evacuated in Italy, eleven Poles were sent to hospital for observation and three Czechs were sprayed with disinfectant. A dozen people in France are undergoing tests after one of them opened a "suspicious" piece of mail.

Around the world: Israeli security agents are testing a substance found on a cargo plane; Brazil's defense minister grounded a Lufthansa plane after officials found a suspicious powder on board; the US consul in Sydney, Australia was evacuated after a staff member found a letter with a "chemical residue." In Kenya, two suspicious letters mailed from the U.S. have tested negative for anthrax.

Who's behind the letters?

In the U.S., everyone from HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to President Bush calls the anthrax-laced letters "acts of terrorism," but it's not yet clear where the blame lies. Asked whether he believes the letters are traceable to Osama bin Laden, President Bush replied, "I wouldn't put it past him." If the threat is coming from al-Qaeda or bin Laden, the operatives are far-flung: While at least one of the contaminated letters was postmarked in Malaysia, others were sent from Trenton, New Jersey and Boca Raton, Florida.

Other indicators seem to point to troublemakers within: More than 150 threatening letters to Planned Parenthood clinics strikes some law enforcement officials as a classic "copycat" crime, although at this point no one is willing to rule out a wider connection.