October 2001

Below is a listing of bioterrorism-related events this month, part of an ongoing bioterrorism chronology that begins with Sep 11, 2001. To see events from other months, go to the Bioterrorism Watch index page.

Oct 31

Nguyen dies of anthrax
Kathy T. Nguyen, 61, dies of inhalational anthrax, becoming the nation's fourth victim and New York City's first in the current outbreak. Investigators report finding no clues as to where she was exposed to the disease, though there were possible signs of Bacillus anthracis on the clothes she was wearing when she checked into a hospital. Another woman who works where Nguyen worked, the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, is reported to have a small lesion that could be cutaneous anthrax.

Bellmawr worker may have skin anthrax
In New Jersey, health officials announce that a 54-year-old man who works at the Bellmawr mail processing center near Camden has possible cutaneous anthrax. The man has a mild case and is not hospitalized. The Bellmawr facility, which sorts mail for more than 150 post offices in South Jersey, is about 35 miles from the Hamilton mail processing center, which processed three anthrax-laced letters previously.

Anthrax spores found on printer
Officials report finding anthrax spores on a printer in a private mail maintenance center in Indianapolis. The printer was shipped to the firm for servicing from a contaminated mail-processing center in Trenton, N.J.

Mail irradiated
Thousands of pieces of mail originally sent to Washington, DC, have been sanitized by irradiation in Ohio and are being trucked back to Washington for inspection in a search for clues to the source of the anthrax attacks.

Washington POs closed
Three Washington post offices that were closed for decontamination are reopened, but the city's main facility, on Brentwood Road, remains closed.

Anthrax slowing down?
Patrick Meehan of the CDC reports that no new cases of anthrax have been reported in Washington for several days, and federal officials say some local residents who are taking precautionary antibiotics can stop taking them.

Drug companies offer help
Representatives of several US-based pharmaceutical companies tell Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge that the companies will supply the government with free drugs and scientific experts to help protect the country from bioterrorism, according to a Reuters report. If fulfilled, this pledge would give the government access to seven more antibiotics considered effective against anthrax, including Bristol Meyers Squibb's gatifloxacin (Tequin) and Johnson &Johnson's levofloxacin (Levaquin).

Oct 30

Second NJ anthrax case
New Jersey's second confirmed case of inhalational anthrax is reported. The patient is a female postal worker who has already been released from a hospital, health officials say. She works in the Hamilton Township mail facility, which processed anthrax-laced letters sent to Washington, DC, and New York City. Her case raises the number of confirmed anthrax cases since early October to 17. These include 10 inhalational cases, with 3 deaths among them, and 7 cutaneous cases.

Nguyen's condition grave
New York City's first patient with inhalational anthrax, identified as Kathy T. Nguyen, 61, of the Bronx, remains in grave condition on a respirator. The source of her infection remains unknown. At the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, her workplace, officials prepare to treat staff members and recent patients with antibiotics.

Koplan comments on mail risk
The anthrax cases in people not linked with mail delivery, government, or the media trigger concern that anthrax spores may spread from one piece of mail to another. CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan describes the risk of this as "very small, but not zero."

More anthrax in Washington
Two more Washington area post offices, at Dulles International Airport and in the Friendship Heights neighborhood in northwest Washington, are found to have traces of anthrax.

Thompson asks DoD to share vaccine
In a news teleconference, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says he is asking the Department of Defense to share its anthrax vaccine, though no decisions have been made about who—if anyone—should be vaccinated. The stock of vaccine is held by Bioport Corp., Lansing, Mich., but the FDA has not authorized the company to release it for use. Thompson says FDA inspectors will be visiting the plant soon and Bioport could resume producing the vaccine as early as Nov 22. The company has 5 million doses, according to Thompson, but the company does not confirm that.

State Department building safe?
The head of the US State Department's medical unit says the State Department building in Washington is safe even though trace amounts of anthrax spores are probably "all over the place."

Bioterrorism's cost to Postal Service
Postmaster General John E. Potter says improving post office security and recovering from the anthrax attacks will cost the Postal Service billions of dollars.

Hart building cleanup major
Federal officials are considering treating the entire Hart Senate Office Building, where the anthrax-laced letter to Sen. Tom Daschle was opened, with chlorine dioxide gas to kill anthrax spores, according to a USA Today report. The plan is awaiting approval from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Daschle letter highly potent
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., says Capitol Hill doctors and police have told him that the letter to Tom Daschle contained about 2 grams of anthrax, representing billions of spores.

Oct 29

Two nonpostal anthrax cases
Two new cases of anthrax, one inhalational and one cutaneous, are reported. The patients are the first in the recent series that seem unrelated to the Postal Service, another government agency, or the media. The cases:

• A 61-year-old New York City woman who works in a stockroom at Manhattan's Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital is gravely ill with inhalational anthrax, according to an evening announcement from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. She became ill Oct 25 and was admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital Oct 28 in serious condition.
• A 51-year-old New Jersey woman who works at an accounting firm not far from the Hamilton Township mail processing center has been treated successfully for cutaneous anthrax, state officials report. The woman told officials she had not visited the Hamilton facility, which processed anthrax-laced letters sent to New York City and Washington, any time recently. The woman's office is in the same building as the office of Rep. Christopher Smith.

Four more buildings have anthrax
Traces of anthrax turn up in mailrooms in four more government buildings in Washington, DC: the Supreme Court, the State Department, a Department of Agriculture office, and a building that houses the Voice of America and some offices of the Food and Drug Administration. All except the Supreme Court, which closed last week after anthrax was found in an off-site mail processing center, remain open. The Supreme Court justices are meeting at another location.

Silica discovered in Daschle letter
At a White House briefing, Maj Gen John Parker says that silica, a drying agent used by the United States in developing anthrax weapons in the 1960s, has been found in the anthrax from the letter sent to Sen. Tom Daschle. News services quote weapons experts as saying that silica was the best of many anti-caking, antistatic agents tested in the US program.

Alert issued for further terrorism
The FBI warns that terrorists may try to strike Americans at home or abroad in the near future, possibly this week. Attorney General John Ashcroft says the alert is based on credible intelligence reports, but there is no information about the nature of possible attacks.

Lawsuit filed by postal workers
The largest postal workers' union in New York City files a lawsuit demanding the immediate closure of Morgan Station, the city's largest mail sorting center, for decontamination. Postal officials announced last week that anthrax had been found on four high-speed sorting machines at the station. The Postal Service maintains that the center is safe except for the part of the third floor housing the four machines.

Results of poll
A New York Times/CBS News poll suggests that Americans have limited confidence in the government's steps to combat bioterrorism. More than half of the 1,024 respondents said the government has not done enough to prepare for biological attacks, and nearly half said the government is withholding information people need about the current anthrax cases. More than 25% said public health officials are wrong in advising people not to ask their doctors for ciprofloxacin to protect them from anthrax. Fifty-three percent of respondents said another terrorist attack is likely, and more than half expect it to be a biological attack.

Oct 28

Eighth case of inhalational anthrax
Inhalational anthrax is confirmed in a female New Jersey postal worker who sorts mail at the Hamilton Township facility near Trenton. She is reported to be hospitalized and improving. Hers is the eighth confirmed case of inhalational anthrax in the current outbreak, according to the Associated Press. There have been six confirmed cases of cutaneous anthrax so far.

Spores at another Washington site
Anthrax spores are found in an offsite office that handles mail for the Justice Department, bringing the number of Washington, DC, contamination sites to 18, the New York Times reports.

Trucking mail for decontamination
Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, complains that only a few local officials were informed of a plan to truck 68 tons of mail from Washington, DC, to Ohio for decontamination.

Postal Service buys irradiation equipment
The Postal Service will spend $40 million to buy eight electron-beam devices to decontaminate mail, according to a New York Times report.

Fauci touts doxycycline
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that doxycycline is preferable to ciprofloxacin for prophylaxis against anthrax because it is more available and less toxic.

Oct 27

Preventive antibiotics for Supreme Court
US Supreme Court justices and other court employees are taking antibiotics as a precaution after the discovery of anthrax on an air filter in the court's mail screening center, according to Ivan Walks, public health director for Washington, DC. Walks says the health department is now prescribing doxycycline instead of ciprofloxacin as the precautionary antibiotic because it has fewer side effects.

Antibiotics for more in New Jersey
In New Jersey, health officials are advising about 600 people who visited nonpublic areas of the Hamilton Township mail-processing center, where anthrax was found, to take antibiotics.

Longworth anthrax
The anthrax found Friday at three offices in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington is low-level, according to Gregory Martin of the National Naval Medical Center.

CDC advises doxycycline over ciprofloxacin
The CDC, in a statement on its Web site, says antimicrobial susceptibility tests of Bacillus anthracis isolates from the Washington area "support the use of doxycycline as the drug of choice for [anthrax] prophylaxis, both for newly identified individuals and for completion of the course in those previously started on ciprofloxacin."

Hospitalized postal workers
Postal Service officials say 23 workers in the Washington area are hospitalized with symptoms possibly suggestive of anthrax.

Postal testing expands
The Postal Service says it is expanding anthrax testing to 30 mail sorting and distribution centers along the East Coast and as far west as Arizona.

Oct 26

Supreme Court building closed
Anthrax is found on an air filter from the US Supreme Court's mail screening center in Forestville, Md., prompting closure of the Supreme Court building in Washington.

Anthrax trace at CIA facility
A "medically insignificant" trace of anthrax is found in the Central Intelligence Agency's Material Inspection Facility, a building at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

Koplan downplays role of Daschle letter
CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan says it is highly unlikely that the spreading anthrax contamination, particularly the case of the State Department worker with inhalational anthrax, is all due to the letter opened in Sen. Tom Daschle's office on Oct 15.

Anthrax from sophisticated lab?
Daschle anthrax White House press secretary Ari Fleischer says the anthrax in the letter to Daschle could have been produced by a "PhD microbiologist in a sophisticated laboratory" in the United States or abroad.

CDC expands anthrax vaccination recommendations
The CDC says it recommending the anthrax vaccine for people who have a continuing risk of exposure, including technicians in state laboratories and people who decontaminate sites where anthrax spores have been found.

Longworth occupants test positive
Capitol police say the offices of three congressmen in the Longworth House Office Building have tested positive for anthrax. The three are John Baldacci, D-Me., Rush D. Holt, D-N.J., and Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Anthrax found in neighborhood PO in DC
In tests of 36 neighborhood post offices in the Washington region, anthrax is found in one, at 45 L St. Southwest in Washington.

Mail handlers still hospitalized
A worker from the State Department's Virginia mail center and two postal workers from the Brentwood mail center in Washington remain hospitalized in serious condition with inhalational anthrax.

Oct 25

Virginia mail handler hospitalized
A State Department mail handler who works in Sterling, Va., about 20 miles from Washington, DC, is hospitalized with inhalational anthrax. His case is the first in the Washington area that appears unrelated to Washington's Brentwood Road postal facility. The man is listed as in guarded condition.

Anthrax at Walter Reed
Anthrax is detected in a mailroom at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md.

Smallpox vaccine production to begin by year-end
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says he expects that production of smallpox vaccine will begin by late November or early December. The British-based company Acambis Plc is under contract to make 54 million doses of vaccine; Thompson says his staff is reviewing proposals from 10 other companies to make another 250 million doses.

Oct 24

Further victim linked with Daschle letter
A newswoman who was outside Sen. Tom Daschle's office when an anthrax-laced letter arrived is reported to be under treatment at a Maryland hospital for possible inhalational anthrax. She apparently was not among the 28 people who were identified earlier as having been exposed to anthrax in the incident.

Daschle anthrax called weapons-grade
Several scientists say that the anthrax in the letter to Daschle was treated with a sophisticated technique to reduce its electrostatic charge, making particles less likely to stick together and more able to spread through the air, according to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Only the United States, the former Soviet Union, and Iraq are known to have developed the capability to do this. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., says the particles were 1.5 to 3 microns in size, small enough to qualify as "weapons grade."

No guarantees on safety of mail
Surgeon General David Satcher says that in retrospect, "We were wrong" to have assumed that a sealed envelope containing anthrax would not pose a hazard to postal workers. Postmaster General John E. Potter warns that the Postal Service can't guarantee the safety of the mail and says people should wash their hands after handling a letter or package.

More spores in Hart Building
Washington police report that anthrax spores were found on a first-floor freight elevator bank in the Hart Senate Office Building, the same building where the letter to Daschle was opened. The Russell Senate Office Building reopens, but the Hart building and all three House office buildings remain closed.

Possible anthrax cases grow in number
Fifteen people in the Washington area have possible symptoms of anthrax, by the Associated Press's count. Six people have been diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax. A seventh person, who works at the New York Post, may have the cutaneous infection, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announces.

Blanco released from hospital
Officials announce that Ernesto Blanco, 73, the American Media mailroom worker who was treated for inhalationalanthrax, was released from the hospital late Tuesday, Oct 23.

Ciprofloxacin purchase announced
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announces an agreement to buy 100 million doses of ciprofloxacin at the reduced price of 95 cents each.

Ten thousand taking ciprofloxacin
CDC spokeswoman Kay Golan says that the number of people now taking ciprofloxacin or other antibiotics for anthrax on government advice is approaching 10,000.

Drug companies pitch in
Four major drug companies express willingness to help the federal government battle anthrax and other possible biological attacks. Johnson & Johnson offers to give the government 100 million tablets of the antibiotic Levaquin, while GlaxoSmithKline and Aventis say they want to make smallpox vaccine for the planned 300-million-dose stockpile. Pfizer offers to increase production of antibiotics and to let the government use three of its warehouses to speed medication shipments.

Oct 23

Inhalational anthrax confirmed in Brentwood workers
Officials confirm that inhalational anthrax was the cause of death in two men who worked at the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, DC, which handles mail for the US Capitol.

Anthrax in more New Jersey postal workers
A postal worker in Hamilton, N.J., may have inhalational anthrax, according to state and CDC officials. The woman, who works at the Trenton Processing and Distribution Center in Hamilton, is said to be in stable condition. Two other New Jersey postal workers, a mail carrier from the West Trenton office and a sorter from the Hamilton facility, are reported to have cutaneous anthrax. Anthrax-containing letters that were sent to Sen. Tom Daschle and NBC News passed through the Hamilton facility.

Anthrax traces in White House mail facility
Traces of anthrax are reported to have been found on a letter-slitting machine in a facility that processes mail for the White House but is located several miles away, at an air base on the edge of Washington, DC.

Treatment duration lengthened for Brentwood workers
Workers at the Brentwood Road postal center in Washington, DC, are ordered to undergo 60 days of antibiotic treatment to protect them from anthrax, rather than the 10-day treatment ordered earlier. Postal workers elsewhere in Washington are offered 10 days of antibiotic treatment.

Bayer lowers Cipro price
The Bush administration announces that it has persuaded Bayer A.G., the manufacturer of ciprofloxacin (Cipro), to lower its price from $1.83 to $1.00 a tablet.

Immediate testing, treatment to follow any future anthrax letters
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says that any further discoveries of anthrax-laced letters will trigger immediate environmental testing at the involved post offices and provision of antibiotics to postal workers.

Congress returns to Capitol
The House and Senate return to the Capitol and resume business. Amid complaints from some quarters that the CDC did not act quickly enough to protect postal workers, senators hold a hearing in which they question CDC officials over their handling of the anthrax attacks. CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan says the Brentwood mail center was not tested sooner because the previous anthrax cases in Florida and New York seemed to be linked to opened mail, and there was no reason to think that sealed mail was a problem.

Research published on anthrax
Researchers writing in Nature report advances in the understanding of anthrax that they say could pave the way for better treatments for anthrax infection. John A.T. Young and colleagues report discovering the receptor protein on human cell surfaces that enables anthrax toxin to attach to and enter cells. Another group, led by Robert Liddington, describes the structure of "lethal factor," one of three components of anthrax toxin. The researchers suggest that it may be possible to develop drugs that would keep anthrax antigen from binding to the receptor or that would block the activity of lethal factor.

Oct 22

Two Brentwood workers die
Two Washington, DC, postal workers die of an illness believed to be pulmonary anthrax, and two others are hospitalized with pulmonary anthrax. All four worked in the capital's main mail-processing center on Brentwood Road. The deceased workers are identified as Thomas L. Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen. One of the hospitalized workers was identified earlier as Leroy Richmond, 57; the other has not been identified.

Explanation of nonclosure of Brentwood facility
Postal officials say the Brentwood facility was not closed until Sunday, Oct 21, because the CDC advised them that postal workers could not be contaminated by a sealed envelope. So far, no mail received in Washington has been found to contain anthrax other than the letter opened in Sen. Tom Daschle's office Oct 15.

Anthrax investigation in Washington
Ivan C.A. Walks, chief medical examiner for the District of Columbia, reports that 13 potential cases of anthrax, including the two deaths and two hospital patients, are under investigation in Washington.

Irradiation of mail announced
Postmaster General John E. Potter says the Postal Service will begin to use irradiation to decontaminate mail. The service also is sending post cards to all patrons explaining how to spot suspicious mail and what to do with it.

Capitol reopens
The Capitol building, closed since Thursday, Oct 18, reopens, but Senate and House office buildings remain closed.

Oct 21

Brentwood worker's Dx: inhalational anthrax
A man who works in the central mail-handling center in Washington, DC, is diagnosed with inhalationa lanthrax and is in serious condition in a Falls Church, Va., hospital. The man, identified as Leroy Richmond, sorts express mail at the postal center near the Baltimore-Washington International Airport and brings it to the Brentwood post office in northeast Washington. Both centers have been shut down for testing, but no anthrax has been found. Two other workers at the Brentwood center are ill and are being watched closely, health officials say.

Number of inhalationa lanthrax cases numbers three
Richmond's case brings the number of recent inhalational anthrax cases to three. The other two are Robert Stevens, the Florida man who died Oct 5, and Ernesto Blanco, a co-worker of Stevens's, who is said to be recovering (see Oct 16 entry).

Oct 20

Anthrax in House mailroom
In Washington, teams searching the Capitol and its office buildings find anthrax in the House of Representatives mailroom, located in the Ford Office Building. The germs were found in a mail-bundling machine. No House mail containing anthrax has been found.

Hospitalized Washington mail worker may have anthrax
A man who works in the central mail-handling center in Washington, DC, has been hospitalized with symptoms suggestive of anthrax, health officials report.

Oct 19

Cutaneous anthrax in NY Post employee
Officials at the New York Post reveal that Johana Huden, an employee in the editorial page office, has cutaneous anthrax. Public health officials say her symptoms appeared Sep 22, and she was subsequently treated with antibiotics, but she was not tested for anthrax until the germ was found at NBC.

Second NJ postal worker hospitalized
A second New Jersey postal worker is reported to be hospitalized with anthrax and is expected to recover. He is a 35-year-old man who works at the Hamilton Township regional mail center, which handled letters sent to NBC News and Sen. Tom Daschle's office.

Anthrax strains in three locales deemed similar
Federal officials say the anthrax specimens found in news media offices in New York City, in the office of Sen. Tom Daschle, and at American Media Inc. in Florida all appear to be similar strains.

Anthrax in Rio
New York Times officials say that an envelope postmarked in New York City and received at the newspaper's Rio de Janeiro offices contained anthrax.

Anthrax in Argentina
In Argentina, health officials say a travel brochure mailed from Florida to Argentina tested positive for anthrax.

Oct 18

Two more have cutaneous anthrax
Cutaneous anthrax in two more people are found to have cutaneous anthrax, bringing the number of recent anthrax cases to six. One patient is an aide to CBS News anchor Dan Rather in New York City; the other is a mail carrier in West Trenton, N.J. Both were probably exposed to anthrax in late September. A second postal worker is said to be ill with anthrax-like symptoms.

Spores in US letters mailed abroad
Officials in Kenya and Argentina report finding anthrax spores in letters mailed from the United States.

Nevada anthrax scare ends
In Reno, Nev., an anthrax scare ends when federal specialists determine that a suspicious letter is free of anthrax. The letter was mailed from Reno to Malaysia but was returned unopened with signs of tampering.

Reward offered for terrorists
The FBI and the Post Service offer a $1 million reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for a terrorist act.

Oct 17

House and Senate buildings close
The US House and Senate chambers and office buildings are closed after it is announced that 31 people have been exposed to anthrax as a result of the letter sent to Sen. Tom Daschle. The House is temporarily recessed, but the Senate will continue its business at another site, officials say. Those exposed to anthrax include 23 members of Daschle's staff, three staff members of Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and five police officers. An Army specialist says that the spores found in the letter to Daschle were "sensitive to all antibiotics." HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says the letter represents "a very serious attempt at anthrax poisoning."

Spores in Pataki's office
In New York, Gov. George Pataki announces that anthrax spores have been found in the state police quarters in his Manhattan office, and the office is closed for testing and decontamination.

Thompson negotiates for smallpox vaccine
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announces that his department is negotiating with four drug companies to buy 300 million doses of smallpox vaccine, enough to vaccinate every American. Thompson says he will ask Congress for $509 million to stockpile the vaccine and says chances are good that the government will have 300 million doses by sometime in 2002.

Anthrax-exposed number 44
Nationally, the number of people exposed to anthrax since Sep 11 stands at 44, with 4 having contracted disease.

Oct 16

Daschle anthrax deemed potent, wing of Hart building closed
Officials say the anthrax mailed to Senate majority leader Tom Daschle is a potent form in particles small enough to spread undetected in air. Capitol police shut down an eight-story wing of the Hart Senate Office Building as a precaution, and hundreds of people who were in the building are tested for anthrax exposure. The letter sent to Daschle is said to be similar to the one sent to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw.

Inhalational anthrax patient improves with treatment
Ernesto Blanco, the second anthrax patient in Florida, is recovering from his illness, according to James M. Hughes, a CDC official. Blanco was found to have anthrax spores in his nose and was hospitalized with fever and a cough, but his symptoms were not typical of inhalational anthrax, and tests of his sputum and chest fluid were negative. But he was treated as a precaution, and later tests, including polymerase chain reaction, indicated inhalational anthrax. Blanco's improvement suggests that aggressive antibiotic treatment and standard respiratory care may be able to save some patients with the disease, Hughes says.

Ridge pushes for childhood smallpox vaccination
Tom Ridge, the new homeland security chief, suggests it is time to resume vaccinating children for smallpox.

Public labs, private medical offices struggle to keep up
As anthrax fears spread, state public health laboratories across the country struggle to keep up with the flow of specimens being brought in for testing, and some physicians' offices are besieged by worried people wanting to be tested and treated.

Oct 15

Letter to Daschle contains anthrax
In Washington, a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., is found to contain a powdery substance that preliminary tests indicate is anthrax. In New York, ABC News officials announce that the infant son of an employee is being treated for cutaneous anthrax. The baby is reported to have visited ABC's New York offices on Sep 28. Also in New York, environmental testing is done in the mailrooms of several major news organizations.

Oct 14

Bush requests $1.5 billion to fight bioterrorism
The Bush administration announces it will ask Congress for $1.5 billion to combat bioterrorism, with plans to use $643 million to buy enough antibiotics to treat 12 million people, six times as many as could be treated with the current reserve. Meanwhile, New York City officials reveal that a police officer and two lab workers were exposed to anthrax in handling a letter that was mailed to NBC News in September.

Oct 13

More exposures in Florida, more anthrax in letters
Five more employees of American Media in Florida are found to have anthrax antibodies, indicating exposure, but none are ill. In New York, material from one of the two threatening letters sent to Tom Brokaw is found to contain anthrax. Meanwhile, powder from the letter sent to New York Times reporter Judith Miller tests negative for anthrax, but initial tests of material found in a letter sent to a Microsoft office in Reno, Nev., are positive for anthrax.

Oct 12

Brokaw assistant has skin anthrax
An assistant to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw is found to have cutaneous anthrax, 2 weeks after she handled two threatening letters addressed to Brokaw. The New York Times newsroom is evacuated after reporter Judith Miller, coauthor of a book on bioterrorism, opens a letter containing an unidentified white powder. Anthrax scares are also reported at the Los Angeles Times and the Columbus Dispatch, but they turn out to be unfounded.

Oct 11

Third anthrax exposure in Florida is postal worker
Officials reveal that Stephanie Dailey, 36, the third person exposed to anthrax at American Media in Lantana, Fla., worked in the company's mailroom, along with one of the other two exposed people. The revelation spreads fear among local postal workers. Dailey tells reporters she is well but is taking ciprofloxacin.

Increased Cipro production at Bayer
Bayer, the German drug company that makes ciprofloxacin (Cipro), announces that it will increase production to meet surging demand created by the anthrax scare. The US State Department has contributed to the demand by asking all its embassies to buy a 3-day supply of the drug for all employees as a precaution, according to the New York Times.

Tightened regulation of potential biological weapons proposed
Legislation to tighten the regulation of biological agents and toxins that could be used by terrorists is moving through Congress. Two House committees have approved bills that would require laboratories to report possession of any of 30 agents (a 1996 law already requires labs to inform the government if they ship any of the agents). A proposed Senate bill would make it easier for the government to convict anyone who misuses biological agents.

Studies on anthrax, smallpox vaccines launched

The University of Alabama at Birmingham receives a $4.3 million grant from the CDC to conduct human trials of a three-dose anthrax regimen (the current regimen is six doses). Meanwhile, researchers at four medical schools will begin a 2.5-month study to learn whether the existing smallpox vaccine can be diluted to create five times as many doses while maintaining effectiveness. A small pilot study by St. Louis University previously indicated that the vaccine can safely be diluted by a factor of 10.

Europe looks at its preparedness
In the British Medical Journal, British scientists led by Julius Weinberg of City University in London warn that Europe needs to improve its disease surveillance and response systems, especially in view of the possibility of bioterrorism. The warning is based on a study of how European Union members responded to five international outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Oct 10

Third Florida worker exposed

Federal officials announce that a third worker at American Media in Lantana, Fla., has been exposed to anthrax and that the inquiry there is now a criminal investigation. Anthrax was found in the nasal passages of a 35-year-old woman who works in the American Media building; officials report that she is not sick but is being treated with antibiotics. Investigators tell the New York Times that the anthrax specimens from the Florida workers are sensitive to penicillin, suggesting that they were not bioengineered. The organisms have not yet been matched with any anthrax strains kept in the most complete anthrax collections.

Public worry called excessive
Bioterrorism expert Amy Smithson of the Henry Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, tells a US House committee that misinformation has caused excessive public worry about bioterrorism in recent weeks. She says bioterrorists face formidable technical hurdles; for example, crop-dusting planes normally could not spray germs in a particle size small enough (1 to 10 microns) to infect a person.

Oct 9

Florida scare receding?

Investigators report finding no further traces of anthrax at the workplace and home of Robert Stevens, the man recently killed by pulmonary anthrax. Ernesto Blanco, a coworker of Stevens's who was found to have anthrax in his nose, is listed in good condition at a hospital.

Bioterrorism experts warn of serious lack of preparedness
Bioterrorism experts tell a Senate committee that the nation's public health system is seriously underprepared to deal with a bioterrorism incident. Donald A. Henderson of Johns Hopkins University says lack of coordination among state, county, and city public health units is a widespread problem. Michael T. Osterholm of the University of Minnesota says a group of public health leaders that he recently organized has called for spending $1.97 billion to improve bioterrorism preparedness. That sum would include $835 million to improve state and local abilities to cope with an incident, $295 million to expand hospital capacity, and $250 million for the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile. Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Bill Frist, R-Tenn., have proposed a bill to provide $1.6 billion for bioterrorism preparedness.

Oct 8

Anthrax exposure identified in second Floridian
Anthrax is found in the nose of a coworker of Robert Stevens, the Florida man who died of pulmonary anthrax. Anthrax is also found on Stevens's keyboard. The second man found to be carrying anthrax is Ernesto Blanco, 73, a mail supervisor at American Media, a tabloid newspaper company in Lantana, Fla. Dick Spertzel, a retired Army expert on biological weapons, says the anthrax episode most likely is the result of a deliberate release. The FBI seals off the American Media building, and other employees are treated with antibiotics.

Oct 5

Anthrax victim dies
Robert Stevens, the 63-year-old Florida man who fell ill with pulmonary anthrax, dies.

Oct 4

Case of pulmonary anthrax in Florida
A 63-year-old Florida man is hospitalized with pulmonary anthrax, but officials say there is no evidence that the case was caused by a bioterrorist attack. The case is described as isolated, and the cause is unknown. The last previous case of pulmonary anthrax in the United States was in 1976.

Global cooperation on preparedness sought
The council of the World Medical Association (WMA), meeting in Ferney-Voltaire, France, calls for global cooperation among physicians and medical associations to improve preparedness for biological and chemical attacks. The association says it is developing an electronic communication network to improve responses to possible future events.

Plague-causing organism's genome decoded

In an article in Nature, biologists report they have decoded the genome of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, considered a potential weapon of bioterrorists. The unlocking of the genome is expected to make it easier to devise a vaccine for the agent.

Anthrax storage grounds
The London Daily Telegraph reports that one of the world's largest caches of anthrax spores is buried in metal drums on an unguarded island in the Aral Sea, about 600 miles from Afghanistan. The dump is on a former Soviet test site for biological weapons. The site is scheduled to be decontaminated under the US Nunn-Lugar defense conversion program.

Oct 2

Smallpox vaccine order speeding up
A spokesman for HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says that Acambis Plc, the British-owned firm working on a new smallpox vaccine, is accelerating the effort in order to deliver the vaccine in 2002 instead of 2004. The company is under contract to provide 40 million doses to the CDC.

Oct 1

Thompson says US prepared for bioterrorist attack
On the television show "60 Minutes," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson says the nation is prepared for any kind of biological attack. Seeking to reassure the public after 2 weeks of intense publicity about the risk of biological or chemical attack, Thompson says the government has eight large caches of medical supplies around the country that can be moved within hours to the site of any attack and that 7,000 medical personnel stand ready to respond to any crisis.

For other months' installments, go to the Bioterrorism Watch index page