US probe after anthrax victim dies
A man of British descent has died after being diagnosed with a rare form of anthrax, hospital authorities said.
Robert Stevens, 63, of Lantana, Florida, died at 9pm BST (4pm local time) at the JFK Medical Centre in Palm Beach after being confirmed as having contracted pulmonary anthrax, the rarest form of the infection.
Health officials have ruled out the possibility that Mr Stevens, a picture editor with US news magazine The Sun, was the victim of a bio-terrorist attack.
He contracted the infection by inhaling spores of the anthrax bacteria, the rarest way to become ill with the exceptionally rare disease.
His death is the first case of pulmonary anthrax in America since 1975, and one of only a handful in the country in the past 100 years.
Last night public health investigators were undertaking a painstaking search of his home and car to try to find the source of the anthrax spores.
He is believed to have contracted the infection around 10 days ago, at or near his home in Florida.
But officials have warned the source of the infection may never be found, because it is so rare.
He had been admitted to the hospital suffering from confusion and vomiting and his condition quickly deteriorated and he was placed on a ventilator.
Initially he was not suffering telltale skin lesions and doctors tested him for meningitis, but quickly ruled it out and a series of test established the cause was anthrax.
The infection is treatable with penicillin in its early phases but without treatment it can cause severe breathing difficulty and is fatal in most cases.
US health secretary Tommy Thompson said the ‘‘heightened level of disease monitoring’’ because of the September 11 terror strikes could have meant the infection was spotted more quickly.
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon led to widespread fears of a chemical or biological attack.
Suspected hijackers and their associates were reported to have looked at hiring crop-dusting planes and transporting chemicals.
Several of the suspects underwent pilot training in Florida before the terror strikes, which killed thousands.
Anthrax is a potentially deadly bacterial infection which is most common in cattle, sheep and goats, and its spores can live in the soil for years.
The infection can be spread through spores coming into contact with the skin, being swallowed or by being inhaled, which leads to the rarest and most serious form of the illness in humans.
Inhalation is also the anthrax form most commonly linked with the threat of terrorist attack.
Military personnel are given vaccinations for it because of the threat of biological warfare and Mr Thompson said America had enough drugs to treat two million people for 60 days.
The World Health Organisation has warned of the threat of biological weapons, and the attention of military and scientific experts has focused on anthrax because, in its spore form, it could be spread through an aerosol from an aeroplane and is relatively safe for terrorists to handle.
