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Politics : Homeland Security -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (477)	11/14/2001 10:03:27 AM
From: Poet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 827

There were reports that her clothes were tested for spores as well and found to be "clean". I'd love to know about her medical history though, ie. whether her immune system was compromised. Personally, I've been leaning toward the possibility of exposure on the subway, combined with a compromised immune system.

To: Ilaine who wrote (477)	11/14/2001 10:40:54 AM
From: Jill	Respond to of 827

Anything is possible--i.e. she could be the single case of cross contamination and a small # of spores. Nothing I've read about anthrax, however, indicates that some people "fight" it off. Especially with Iowa Ames, which is a virulent strain. If you're exposed to the spores, you get it. None of the other people who got it were immune compromised. In naturally occurring anthrax, if you get the skin form, 80% recover on their own, while 20% get a systemic infection in the blood, so THAT might be related to immunity. And if she had a compromised immune system--i.e. was on cancer chemotherapy drugs or something, they'd tell us. It would be a clue. She apparently worked double shifts at work so she probably was pretty healthy. If she were a covert agent she'd be on antibiotics. I personally don't think they'd waste it on the subways. It's expensive stuff and somebody would've noticed powder being thrown around. And they used her subway card and traced it back through her various routes and found nothing. It is definitely a mystery. I lean toward the statistical anomaly of cross contamination with a tiny # of spores--really bad luck--maybe she opened that particular letter in such a way that it aerosolized a small # of spores that had stuck to the envelope.