The second postal worker began feeling ill on October 17. The 55 year-old male visited a primary care doctor complaining of weakness, muscle aches, and fever. The man was diagnosed with a viral infection, but the symptoms persisted. By October 21, the postal worker was admitted to the hospital. Once again, doctors suspected inhalational anthrax after hearing media reports of similar cases. Doctors treated the man with antibiotics, but he died after 13 hours. The next day, his blood culture came back positive Bacillus anthracis.
These cases also demonstrate the urgent need for better disease detection capacities in the public health and clinical communities. This should be a priority in our strategy to improve response to biological attacks and other outbreaks, explains Dr. Borio.
It is important to note that the nasal swab of the first postal worker to die from inhalational anthrax was negative, underscoring that the nasal swab cannot be used as a clinical diagnostic test.
Our report demonstrates the need for rapid diagnostic tests to distinguish an early anthrax infection from other diseases with similar symptoms. More research is needed in this area and should be a high priority on a national research agenda to respond to threats of bioterrorism, says co-author Thomas Inglesby, M.D., deputy director of Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies and assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Dr. Borio says that the rapid release of this information to the medical community was only possible because of the collaboration of several groups, such as the doctors and nurses from Greater Southeast Community Hospital, Southern Maryland Hospital Cent
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Contact: Tim Parsons or Ming Tai
paffairs@jhsph.edu
410-955-6878
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
12-Nov-2001