Rare Germ Found in D.C., but No Terror Fears (WTF??)

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/Health/story?id=1174699


"Sept. 30, 2005 -- A relatively rare biological agent has been detected in air filters serving Washington D.C. in recent weeks, ABC News has learned — but current evidence does not show any indication whatsoever of terrorism.

The federal government found six air filters around the nation's capital checked on Sept. 24 and 25 contained "trace amounts" of tularemia, a type of bacteria.

The tests were conducted as part of routine homeland security procedures, in which selected air filters from around the nation's capital are checked for chemical and biological agents. "

More at link.

All of those at the protest in DC need to be aware of this, well, I'll call it a release of biological infectant. Print out the news release and keep it handy if you come up feeling ill.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/tularemia/faq.asp

Q. What is tularemia?
A. Tularemia, also known as “rabbit fever,” is a disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. Tularemia is typically found in animals, especially rodents, rabbits, and hares. Tularemia is usually a rural disease and has been reported in all U.S. states except Hawaii.

Q. How do people become infected with tularemia?
A. Typically, people become infected through the bite of infected insects (most commonly, ticks and deerflies), by handling infected sick or dead animals, by eating or drinking contaminated food or water, or by inhaling airborne bacteria.

Q. Does tularemia occur naturally in the United States?
A. Yes. Tularemia is a widespread disease in animals. About 200 human cases of tularemia are reported each year in the United States. Most cases occur in the south-central and western states. Nearly all cases occur in rural areas, and are caused by the bites of ticks and biting flies or from handling infected rodents, rabbits, or hares. Cases also resulted from inhaling airborne bacteria and from laboratory accidents.

Q. What are the signs and symptoms of tularemia?
A. The signs and symptoms people develop depend on how they are exposed to tularemia. Possible symptoms include skin ulcers, swollen and painful lymph glands, inflamed eyes, sore throat, mouth sores, diarrhea or pneumonia. If the bacteria are inhaled, symptoms can include abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, and progressive weakness. People with pneumonia can develop chest pain, difficulty breathing, bloody sputum, and respiratory failure. Tularemia can be fatal if the person is not treated with appropriate antibiotics.

Q. Why are we concerned about tularemia being used as a bioweapon?
A. Francisella tularensis is highly infectious. A small number of bacteria (10-50 organisms) can cause disease. If Francisella tularensis were used as a bioweapon, the bacteria would likely be made airborne so they could be inhaled. People who inhale the bacteria can experience severe respiratory illness, including life-threatening pneumonia and systemic infection, if they are not treated.

(snip)

Q. What should someone do if he or she suspects exposure to tularemia bacteria?
A. If you suspect you were exposed to tularemia bacteria, see a doctor quickly. Treatment with antibiotics for a period of 10-14 days or more after exposure may be recommended. If you are given antibiotics, it is important to take them according to the instructions you receive. All of the medication you are given must be taken.

(more... )

Anyone find that info?

I've not heard a word about this before now. Rather worrying, as I'm DC area and work in town, and was at the march on the 24th.

I haven't even had a cold this week, fortunately.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/search?fulltext=tularemia&submit.x=11&submit.y=10
Conclusions A weapon using airborne tularemia would likely result 3 to 5 days later in an outbreak of acute, undifferentiated febrile illness with incipient pneumonia, pleuritis, and hilar lymphadenopathy. Specific epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological findings should lead to early suspicion of intentional tularemia in an alert health system; laboratory confirmation of agent could be delayed. Without treatment, the clinical course could progress to respiratory failure, shock, and death. Prompt treatment with streptomycin, gentamicin, doxycycline, or ciprofloxacin is recommended. Prophylactic use of doxycycline or ciprofloxacin may be useful in the early postexposure period.

I doubt we have one of THOSE under this misadministration............

Incubation period for F. tularensis is 1-15 days. So anybody still well by Oct 9 is out of the woods.

Also note that this disease is NOT spread from person-to-person.

I stand corrected on my medical terminology. LOL? Not that funny, really - nothing about this is.

We've got a lot of them and a lot of links and background information, but it's scatterd through about four or five threads now.

There's a gumbo of different information, and in different threads.

It would be nice to see it all in one place to help us sort out the incoming data.

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http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-17250.htmlhttp://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-17250.html

Tularemia is the one pathogen that has shown false-positives in city-wide air sensors.

"Homeland defense officials yesterday partially lifted the cloak of secrecy surrounding a network of outdoor air-sampling sensors in 31 cities that is designed to warn officials within hours of any attempt by terrorists to release deadly microbes into the atmosphere.

*snip*

"It has had no "false positives," or cases of labs mistakenly concluding that pathogens were present.

"But an unnecessary alarm was raised last month in Houston. Repeated lab tests detected the presence of tularemia, a deadly pathogen carried by rabbits. Soon, though, officials concluded there had been no attack.

Instead, the machinery had detected tiny amounts of tularemia naturally present in the atmosphere. Scientists had known tularemia is common in Texas but were not aware that it could be detected in the air. No one fell ill."

(Full article quoted at link above.)

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Earlier outbreak of Tularemia in the DC area

JAMA. 1979 Nov 23;242(21):2315-7

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=573806&dopt=Abstract

Tularemia pneumonia in Washington, DC. A report of three cases with possible common-source exposures.

"In June 1978, three cases of tularemia pneumonia occurred in persons residing in the Washington, DC, area. The patients, all men, became ill three to four days after a brief session training their hunting dogs in an undeveloped wooded area adjacent to a housing complex. One of the dogs, which later died, had captured a wild rabbit during the training session. All three men had handled the rabbit while familiarizing their dogs with the rabbit's scent. The men had no other common exposure that was a likely source of infection."

(Edited to say: It's worth keeping up on how this progresses, but to not panic.

Be prepared, be aware, be self-responsive, and advocate in knowledgeable fashion for yourself in health care environments.

It's a stastically curious event since this one short time span...during the protest...is the only sensor reading we know about reporting a positive for tularemia in DC.)

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Laura Bush was not in attendence at the Book Festival which took plac on the Mall itself, near the protest.

Up to 100,000 meet celebrity authors on Mall
by Alexis Burke
Hatchet Reporter
Published: 9/26/05
http://www.gwhatchet.com/media/paper332/news/2005/09/26/CampusNews/Up.To.100000.Meet.Celebrity.Authors.On.Mall-997742.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.gwhatchet.com

As the sounds of anti-war activists rose in the background, more than 90 authors spoke to adults and children Saturday at the National Book Festival - just a few hundred yards away from protests.

Organizers said nearly 100,000 people attended the festival and heard from well-known authors such as Thomas Friedman, David McCollough, John Irving and Tom Wolfe. The event, sponsored by the Library of Congress, featured tents sprawled across the Mall focusing on all genres of writing.

*snip*

Hosted by first lady Laura Bush, who did not attend the event but helped promote it, the book festival was meant to encourage reading for all ages. The book festival has become an annual event since its inception five years ago and continues to draw large crowds from all levels of literary passion each year.

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...and a quick, non-sequitor WTF quote from this Thursday, Sept. 29th:

Mayoral candidates face off
Menino and Hennigan showcase political solutions for Boston

By Shannon Barrington
Published: Thursday, September 29, 2005

http://www.dailyfreepress.com/media/paper87/news/2005/09/29/News/Mayoral.Candidates.Face.Off-1003284.shtml

Menino and Hennigan also disagreed on Boston's disaster preparedness.

Menino said he worked with his homeland security director to create an "exodus plan" because of the Democratic National Convention. He said his plan focuses on using city resources to keep Bostonians safe without leaving the city by finding safe locations for citizens.