Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (193575)	10/18/2001 3:44:59 PM
From: goldworldnet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Anthrax Scares Nation Into Testing By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer Thursday October 18 12:43 PM ET WASHINGTON (AP) - While ``thousands and thousands and thousands'' of people have been tested for anthrax exposure, only five have been infected and a sixth possible infection is being evaluated, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Thursday. Ridge and other top Bush administration officials sought to calm an anxious nation as the House of Representatives remained dark and six congressional office buildings were closed for further germ tests. The Senate remained in business. Officials said no additional instances of anthrax exposure on Capitol Hill had been reported beyond the 31 identified the day before. ``There is a great deal of speculation out there, obvious concern ... to all Americans. Instead of speculating, we'd like to focus on the facts,'' Ridge said in his first news briefing since taking the post last week. Ridge was joined by Attorney General John Ashcroft and officials from the FBI, the Postal Service, the Centers for Disease Control and the surgeon general. FBI Director Robert Mueller said the government was offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for the anthrax attacks. And Postmaster General John Potter announced that the Postal Service would mail within the next week ``a postcard to everyone in America'' outlining what they should be suspicious of in mail they receive. ``We believe the mail is safe it's very safe if you follow the prudent directions'' we are providing, Potter said. The officials briefed reporters as a new infection of the skin form of anthrax was reported in an assistant to CBS News anchorman Dan Rather. Ridge said that ``thousands and thousands and thousands of people have been tested for anthrax exposure, and thousands of environmental samples have been taken as well. Yet only five people have tested positive for this time for anthrax.'' Ridge mentioned the five previously confirmed cases of anthrax infection: two in Florida, including one who died; an NBC assistant to Tom Brokaw; the infant son of an ABC producer; and the new CBS case. ``We're in the process of confirming a sixth,'' Ridge said, but declined to elaborate. Mitchell Cohen, infectious-disease specialist with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggested the information on the sixth case would be announced later in the day. Attorney General John Ashcroft, meanwhile, pledged to prosecute to the ``fullest extent of the law'' all cases of hoaxes involving anthrax or other biomedical threats. Four people have been charged in four false anthrax threat cases so far, Ashcroft said. Such hoaxes ``create illegitimate alarm in a time of legitimate concern,'' Ashcroft said. So far, tests on Senate workers have not turned up any instances of infection, although the number of those exposed to anthrax remained at 31 people, most of them in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., officials said. Deputy Surgeon General Ken Moritsugu said that the 31 were among a total of 3,000 nasal swabs that had been evaluated after an anthrax-laden letter addressed to Daschle was opened on Monday. Moritsugu said that the area of exposure had been on the fifth and sixth floors of the Senate Hart Office Building ``and it was confined to individuals who either worked in or traveled through that area on Monday.'' Of the 31 cases, 30 had been physically present in Daschle's office on Monday while the 31st worked in a Senate mailroom in an adjacent building, said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-S.D. Still, tests performed at the Capitol complex were likely to show at least a few more were exposed to anthrax, beyond the 31 confirmed, said Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a doctor. He expressed confidence that early treatment would succeed against any who might end up infected. The threat prompted a divergent course at Congress, with the Senate staying open for at least a limited session and the House closing until Tuesday. All six House and Senate office buildings were closed for further tests, however. Employees on Capitol Hill lined up Thursday morning for more testing and to receive an antibiotic if necessary. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, drove up to the Capitol on Thursday with an armload of outgoing constituency mail and some issue briefing papers. ``Most of us are only having skeletal crews today,'' she said. ``But I think it's important that we're in session. It sends a strong signal that the terrorists or whoever is behind these attacks is not going to be successful in disrupting the government.'' But House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., defended the ``prudent and careful'' decision to shut House operations. Meanwhile, in what may be the first case of tainted mail outside the United States, officials in Kenya said Thursday a letter mailed to an unidentified recipient in their country from Atlanta has tested positive for anthrax spores. Authorities have not been able to link the anthrax cases with the Sept. 11 terror attacks, but continue to investigate the possibility In New York, three of four Osama bin Laden disciples convicted in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa received life without parole Thursday. The United States views bin Laden as the mastermind behind both those 1998 bombings and the suicide airliner hijacking attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The American Medical Association urged physicians to quit prescribing unnecessary Cipro, an antibiotic used to treat anthrax, to Americans who might be stockpiling it as a precaution. And the Food and Drug Administration said it was about to issue specific instructions on how to use two other widely available antibiotics - doxycycline and penicillin - to prevent anthrax infection. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson asked Congress for money to stockpile 300 million doses of vaccine for smallpox, another potential bioterrorism disease. At the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. David Fleming said preliminary testing indicated the strain of anthrax found in a letter addressed to Brokaw in New York ``appears to match the strain in Florida. Fleming said it is not yet clear whether the Washington anthrax came from the same strain. dailynews.yahoo.com * * *