warning!!! be careful with you snail mail! ANTRAX WARNING

[booyah]

Breaking story:

Antrax belived to be delivered in the mail to NBC Employee, received skin infection(non transferable and comparably easily treated) after receiving suspisious letter...

check cnn for more info as it becomes available

[shartley]

[booyah]

shartly i disagree with you

I think warning people can be preventative and a skin infection can only be contracted through an open cut.

I'm not meaning to panic people, but if there is any chance of an average joe coming in contact with something like this it very easily could be from a junk mass mail that is so common these days

I dont want to panic people, just to inform them

-Booyah

[booyah]

to help anyone who is curious

One thing that has been asked by the nations health practioners is anyone showing unusual symptoms please have it checked. Here is some real information on antrax for those who would like to know. trying to inform, not scare

What are the symptoms of anthrax?
Symptoms of disease vary depending on how the disease was contracted, but symptoms usually occur within seven days.

Cutaneous: Most anthrax infections occur when the bacterium enters a cut or abrasion on the skin, such as when handling contaminated wool, hides, leather or hair products (especially goat hair) of infected animals. Skin infection begins as a raised itchy bump that resembles an insect bite but within 1-2 days develops into a vesicle and then a painless ulcer, usually 1-3 cm in diameter, with a characteristic black necrotic (dying) area in the center. Lymph glands in the adjacent area may swell. About 20% of untreated cases of cutaneous anthrax will result in death. Deaths are rare with appropriate antimicrobial therapy.

Inhalation: Initial symptoms may resemble a common cold. After several days, the symptoms may progress to severe breathing problems and shock. Inhalation anthrax usually results in death in 1-2 days after onset of the acute symptoms.

Intestinal: The intestinal disease form of anthrax may follow the consumption of contaminated meat and is characterized by an acute inflammation of the intestinal tract. Initial signs of nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, fever are followed by abdominal pain, vomiting of blood, and severe diarrhea. Intestinal anthrax results in death in 25% to 60% of cases.

How soon after infection do symptoms appear?
The incubation period is usually within seven days.

When and for how long is a person able to spread anthrax?
There are no reports of the disease spreading from human to human. Direct person-to-person spread of anthrax most likely does not occur.

from

http://www.aomc.org/ComDiseases/Anthrax.html

[shartley]

warning!!! be careful with you snail mail! ANTRAX WARNING

[Thordic]

I love mass hysteria...

[booyah]

my apologies about the " warning!!! be careful with you snail mail! ANTRAX WARNING" post title. My intent was to grab attention so everyone would read it and explain it more as more detail became available. I was trying to get attention and get a post out for those who have news not so easily available.

I also included check cnn.com for more info since I wont be able to keep upto date on it after my lunch hour

The second post was what I really wanted people to see, but took a second to find the quote and information

I think we may have reached an understanding here

this thread may have two easy points to it, one the warning
and another, points can be resolved minus flams (Insert "you suck!" "my gun shoots farther" :-))


-Booyah

[shartley]

I agree...

Very true. :)

[thei3ug]

I haven't checked my mail since the FBI put up wanted posters of me due to my involvement in the sedition riots of '95.

[shartley]

Fox News info:

THE FACTS ABOUT ANTHRAX
Forget the hype and hysteria and listen to the facts:

- In the 20th century only 18 cases of inhalation anthrax were reported in the United States, the most recent in 1976 in California.

- Anthrax can't be spread from person to person.

- Already on hand are enough antibiotics to treat 2 million cases of anthrax.

- Bayer is increasing production of anthrax antibiotic, Cipro, by 25%.

- Spores can only be destroyed by steam sterilization or burning, but not by disinfectants.

- Anthrax bacteria can be spread by inhalation and can permeate the skin.

- In humans, anthrax is fairly rare; the risk of infection is 1/100,000.

[thei3ug]

i don't know many people who'd incinerate or put their mail through live steam before opening.

[Shaft]

I now boil all my mail for fifteen minutes. I'm doing my part.
r

[shartley]

[Thordic]

Good post Shartley, I wish more people would do research.

What people fail to realize is that anthrax is treatable. It is a very dangerous bacteria, but it can be treated if caught early enough.

Think back to the flu epidemics that existed before modern medicine. Flu victims would often die because they didn't have proper medication. Now, when you get the flue, you get medication and dying from the flu is very uncommon. Anthrax, while definitely more potent, can be looked at the same way. If you notice, the first person died because they waited for treatment, and didn't expect it. Now, with anthrax awareness heightened, people will get the proper treatment faster, and it will become less of an issue. Dangerous, yes, but not the end of humanity or anything as drastic as people seem to make it.

Also, there does exist a VERY effective vaccine for anthrax. Every member of the military and a good deal of the members of government recieve the vaccine yearly. One could assume that if this becomes a huge problem, anthrax vaccinations will become commonplace.

The DoD anthrax vaccination program's website is located at http://www.anthrax.osd.mil, go take a look, its actually pretty interesting for a government site :)

[shartley]