News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Air monitoring devices in Houston recently picked up fragments of the bacteria that cause tularemia, but no human cases of the disease have been found, Houston health officials reported yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Postal Service (USPS) is poised to test anthrax detection systems at 14 mail-processing centers around the country once first responders in the local communities feel ready to deal with an anthrax alarm, according to a Postal Service spokesman.

(CIDRAP News) – Analysts who mathematically simulated the results of a major airborne anthrax attack say that very aggressive use of prophylactic antibiotics would be the key to preventing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of deaths after such an attack.

Editor's Note: The text as originally published on Feb 26 was revised slightly on March 10, 2003.