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American Morning
Anthrax Investigation: Washington Letter Carrier Diagnosed With Deadliest Form of Anthrax
Aired October 22, 2001 - 10:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Over the weekend another victim, a Washington letter carrier, is diagnosed with the deadliest form of the anthrax bacteria, inhalation anthrax.
Let's talk more about the threat with Javed Ali, CNN's expert on bioterrorism, with us on a Monday morning.
Good morning, Javed. Nice to see you.
JAVED ALI, CNN BIOTERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Let's start with the top here. Given these cases, should it be anticipated that cases like this will continue to trickle out on a daily basis?
ALI: I don't know if we can anticipate them for how much longer or not. It's kind of a mystery as to still the -- who the sponsor of the incidents are, whether they're from a domestic source, international origin. So I think there is a lot of unanswered questions.
HEMMER: If there are no more letters, do the cases end?
ALI: Potentially, with anthrax, some of the clinical data has shown that there can be a delayed incubation period with people who receive an aerosol dose, or a route of exposure through the lungs. That delayed incubation could be as long as almost 60 days, if not six weeks. So you know, there's a potential for it, but do we know if there's any certainty right now, I don't think we can answer that question.
HEMMER: Up to two months' incubation?
ALI: That data is sort of based on an incident that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1979. There was containment failure of some sort at a Soviet biological weapon's facility in a town called Sperlos (ph), which is about 900 miles east-southeast of Moscow, and 77 people, or maybe a greater number of people, got exposed. At least as we know from the data, 66 to 68 of those people died, but while looking at the epidemiology, some of those people didn't -- why they may have contracted a significant aerosol dose, they didn't actually have the disease for up to 45 days.
HEMMER: I was surprised, because I heard six weeks, but I never heard two months but clarification well noted.
Tell me this, does anthrax dissipate into thin air, or does it always linger and pose a threat?
ALI: It would pots a threat if the bacteria has spoilated, meaning if they had formed that protective outer layer, and that is a process that happens in the production of growth of the bacteria, or in nature, if the bacteria exposed to oxygen, they will spoilate, so if they have this protective coating, they will be very resistant to normal environmental pressures that other biological agents would be rendered inactive by.
HEMMER: As the new talk that's picking up right now centers around smallpox. Give us an idea as to why smallpox is such a deadly form, even more so than anthrax in many cases?
ALI: Smallpox is a deadly disease based on the historical record of smallpox, because it is so infectious, it is moderately lethal, and contagious between people to people. As to how contagious it could be, I don't think we have a good answer to that. But the disease was wiped out in 1978, or officially declared eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980. So there haven't been any cases of smallpox in the last two decades. The concern is that the potential for terrorist incident using smallpox as a weapon, and that's part of the reason why the government now energizing its campaign to develop a pretty extensive vaccine stockpile for smallpox.
HEMMER: Quickly here, the man with inhalation anthrax, what's the chances of survival, described as gravely ill by the mayor of Washington.
ALI: It's hard to say. I have no insight as to his condition, per se. But it would all depend on when he contracted the disease and how quickly the health care providers gave him -- or started on antibiotic regimen. If they started him 24 hours before he was symptomatic or 24 hours after he was symptomatic, within that timeframe, there's a fairly good chance he will survive the disease. It all depends on the timing of when that medicine was provide him.
HEMMER: We'll ask the Mayor Anthony Williams next hour. He'll joins us, and possibly we can get a better indication of his specific case.
Javed Ali, thanks, much appreciated once again.
ALI: Thank you.
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