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A Florida man has died of pulmonary anthrax. Nothing is known yet of how he inhaled the spores. Dr. Sanjay Gupta answered common questions in this CNN interview.
"There have only been 18 confirmed inhalational cases from 1900 to 1976, and not a single case, before yesterday, over the last 25 years. Typically, the way people get it now is through the handling of animals or soil that contain the bacteria and its spores."This is alarming, given the recent talk of possible terrorist antrax attacks, but it's much too early for more rational fear.
Could it be the case that anthrax is really more commonly encountered by humans in nature and merely under or mis-diagnosed? It is reasonable to think that many in the medical community have recently refreshed their knowledge of the symptons and thus the number of reported incidents might rise quickly (if not very far) even without the help of any malevolent human involvement. What if there were suddenly 5 cases in the country? 10? 20? This still might not be any sort of attack. Localization would be the key to deciding how to guess about the terrorist question.
I think it's likely this case has natural causes. But how many will it take before this isn't the gut reaction? Not too many I'll bet, yet we may well get at least one or two more just out of heightened awareness.
MB's grandmother passed away this week. She was 95, and in good health up until the end. I spent most of the last two days on Long Island with the extended family. Lots of great stories remembering the old days in Brooklyn, from the time of the depression up through World War II, and into the early fifties when they moved out to Long Island. That generation lived through some astounding changes. Death, I suppose, is always a sad business, but a long full life lived close with those you love takes most of the heart wrench out of it. Still sad, yes, but an ending that we all think was O.K. with her. She was buried in the last family plot in the Holy Cross Cemetery, which is off Linden Blvd. around 48th street in Brooklyn, not far from where she grew up. Nana - and she was "Nana" to everyone - will be missed. A great woman I am honored to have known.