A news bulletin at msnbc.com says that an NBC employee in New York City has been infected by anthrax (at Rockefeller Center). There's no story yet on the site. I sincerely hope this isn't true.
Crap. This sucks... Anthrax case reported in New York NBC employee tests positive after handling ‘suspicious mail’ NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES NEW YORK CITY., Oct. 12 — An NBC News employee has tested positive for anthrax after handling “suspicious mail” that was sent to NBC’s New York headquarters, network officials said Friday. The case of “cutaneous anthrax” — which is contracted through the skin rather than by breathing — is being investigated by the FBI and federal and local health officials, the network said. WORD OF THE FOURTH recent case of anthrax in the United States came in a memo from top NBC executives Robert Wright and Andrew Lack and said the employee was being treated with antibiotics and was expected to make a full recovery. “We have no reason to believe that this particular incident has spread beyond this individual employee,” the memo said. The memo indicated that tests were conducted at NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center in recent days after “suspicious mail was received.” It said that the New York City Department of Health, the federal Centers for Disease Control and the FBI were contacted and the mail was tested. “All these tests came back negative. However, this morning, a later test on the employee came back positive for traces of cutaneous anthrax,” the memo said. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was expected to discuss the case at a news conference later Friday.
For discussion: If some one ever nuked us, we would respond in kind. Simple deterrant. Biological and chemical weapons have always been grouped in the same 'weapons of mass destruction' category. These al qaeda are not afraid to die, but how about by anthrax? Is it time to do a little flyby on a al qaeda troops? (i.e. not Taliban).
<B>These al qaeda are not afraid to die, but how about by anthrax? Is it time to do a little flyby on a al qaeda troops? (i.e. not Taliban).</B> If we knew where they were, we would just bomb them away. The problem is finding them, I think.
It's not pulmonary anthrax? How many lone nuts out there do you think have two different types of anthrax? I can think of one: Saddam. I think it's getting close to time to flip that switch on those neutron bombs.
We don't need to use biologicals; we don't even want to start down that path. I know anthrax is noncontagious, but most others are contagious, and who knows where that will lead? We don't want it to come back to us. A neutron bomb would get even the ones hiding in caves. And no Americans get infected.
what about the USPS mail people that handle these envelopes and packages before they get to their destination? Are these things being mailed? or are they packages that just show up?? rH
The thing is, is that unless Anthrax is delivered by air in a very specific fashion, this will not kill a lot of people. I don't mean to make 'some' deaths sound trite, but how many people die each day by choking on their lunch? We don't see a mad rush for Heimlich classes. It sounds like most of people who contract the non-pulmonary versions will not die, and even the pulmonary version can be cured by antibiotics when caught soon enough. The terrorists are distributing a scary sounding bug in a not-so-lethal fashion. Lets just go about our business.
That is the only good news so far. Frankly, anthrax doesn't scare me too much because it is not easy to kill people with it. What scares me is smallpox and botulinum toxin. If this is Al Qaeda, then there is a very good chance that they got it from Saddam. One strain they could probably get on their own, two strains (and one extremely rare) would be much harder to get. We are about 99% sure that Saddam also has botulinum, and recent reports all but verify that he has smallpox as well. And if he'll give Al Qaeda anthrax, why not smallpox, too, since it's far more efficient and deadly? That's what scares me.
The thing with Neutron bombs is, i think we could probably cover all of Iraq and Afghanistan with them, like 500 of them, but there so freaking expensive. There has to be a cheaper alternative.
So if we start losing some folks to biological warfare, we're all agreed it's time to ratchet up our response a bit?? even beyond conventional warfare?? I think I'd be willing to say to the world that if you begin to introduce biological agents among our population, here's what we'll do to you.....
