Anthrax Scare Closes 3 Military Mailrooms (update)

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-exec/2005/mar/15/031504825.html

Hundreds of postal workers were offered antibiotics Tuesday after initial tests detected anthrax in a pair of military mailrooms. Nobody reported symptoms of the disease as officials awaited results of further testing.

<snip>

Asked about suspicious results this week, McClellan said initial anthrax testing was positive, secondary testing was negative but "we're still waiting on more definitive results."

<snip>

Follow-up tests were being conducted at the U.S. Army Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md. They could take up to three days to complete.

<snip>

A filter on a device that screens mail for chemical and biological agents at the Pentagon's Remote Delivery Facility was pulled for testing Thursday, said Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood. The tests take three days before results are available, he said, and on Monday morning, the tests of the Thursday filter came back positive for anthrax.

<more>

on edit: The third mailroom was closed today...(and more details)

Anthrax Closes Another Military Mailroom

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-exec/2005/mar/15/031504687.html

[murray hill farm]

1. so many "maybe" happenings of late!

maybe anthrax, maybe attacks might happen possibly in schools and parks,etc. maybe..maybe..maybe...whats this weeks attack of maybes about? Is it a diversion? Is it a bravo for catching this stuff by bushco? Is it a build up for some announcement? Is some newly assigned boogy man after us?

[LiberalEsto]

8. It's a juggling act.

Look at all the scary things the juggler is moving through the air

He hopes you won't notice the sneaky legislation and military plans being made behind the scenes.

[HereSince1628]

2. What doe a positive anthrax test imply?

Ok, assuming it was sufficient to go over the top of some threshold for an alert.

What does that mean?

Admitting that the machinery at the pentagon remote mail facility might have detected anthrax, its detection must be measured against some background occurrence.

How common is anthrax?

What is the threshold of the alarm's detection system?

What is the likelihood of a false positive or a true positive from natural sources?

I don't know.

[jpak]

7. I'm sure that the details of the surveillance system won't

be revealed to the public.

It is probably conservative (like the chemical weapons test kits carried by US troops in Iraq) and more likely to produce false positives.

Anthrax is pretty ubiquitous - found in soils world-wide.

There is another Bacillus species that is nearly identical to the anthrax Bacillus - it takes a little bit more detailed DNA analysis to ID the two species....

more info here...

http://textbookofbacteriology.net/Anthrax.html

[Columbia]

12. Anthrax

Usually initial tests are done utilizing a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test which compares sample DNA strands to anthrax DNA. This is highly reliable, but not 100%. Considering how often these tests are done, false positives are a definite certainty. Both live and "dead" spores and natural and "weaponized" anthrax can be detected with this test.

The 100% test comes utilizing a bacteria culture and seeing if anthrax spores develop. This can take approximately 2-3 days to complete.

All this information is available in the public domain.

[HereSince1628]

14. But even if there are viable anthrax spores present how many times

can you expect that out of 1X10^6 pieces of mail?

I am guessing that although anthrax is relatively common in the soil its detection on mail is typically very low.

But that guessing makes me vulnerable to being manipulated by an administration with a proven record of screwing with public information.

[Columbia]

16. It depends on the threat

Are you talking about how often naturally occuring anthrax will get onto mail enough to set off the detector? Probably next to zero.

If anthrax is positively detected (after the culture test) in mail, it is probably weaponized anthrax.

[HereSince1628]

18. Thanks, that's basically what I want to know.

[Columbia]

19. No prob.

I'm here to help. :)

[jpak]

20. From previous reports, it was said that the mail had been irradiated

That suggested the spores were not be viable.

Which would certainly complicate the follow-up DNA analyses.

Single-cell PCR of the irradiated spores??? Dunno.

They were also swabbing people yesterday for cultures (again, the mail bags had been irradiated). I thought that was odd.

If they do find viable spores, that would suggest that the contaminated packages may have originated from within the mail room.

Yes yes yes - all speculation I know...

[Columbia]

22. Spores are spores

It doesn't say whether the mail was irradiated before or after the test (or whether it even was a PCR test, although that is likely).

So, yes it is all speculation...

[Champion Jack]

3. I guess Fucktard's poll numbers are getting worse...

[anarchy1999]

5. Just about says it all. Numbers down. NEW TERROR!

Just wait and see for what happens next. CONDI AND KAREN.

[Career Prole]

4. Ah, quit calling it the military, newspeople!

Heard them say regarding this "apparently targeting the military" on CNN last night.
It's the Pentagon.
Sure, you might find the military's leadership there, but that's not like military military. It takes no courage to be Rumsfeld or his toadies.
Don't try to turn this into a "they don't support our troops" thing.
It's targeting the military when it's in a mailbag at company level.
At the Pentagon it's something else altogether, IMO.

[brook]

6. Agreed! n/t

[tinonedown]

9. Does it matter?

I mean, most here seem to think that this is all made up, to improve *bUSH poll numbers. So does it matter if it is the Pentagon or whatever?

[Career Prole]

15. Does to me.

The Pentagon isn't "the military". The Pentagon uses the military like a tool to accomplish what should be sound national objectives.
More recently the Pentagon has used the military more like a club in the hands of a drunk.
If the Pentagon was military, you wouldn't see generals fired for voicing genuine concerns over the civilian "leadership's" lack of planning and the hiring of other generals whose chief qualification appears to be burying their noses in Bush's ass and keeping them there.
A genuine attack against the military would elicit some sympathy from me.
Is it another fake terra alert? That's quite possible. This administration has a history of playing the terra card and it has been shown that they play it when shrub's poll numbers dip.

[jpak]

11. or - it might have originated from the Pentagon mail room

no one knows yet...

[Southpaw Bookworm]

24. In addition

The second facility is that of a federal contractor (SAIC).

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. And what's the terror alert color code now?

Oh, I forgot, they only use that when there is an election coming up.

[elehhhhna]

13. Pee-your-pants yellow.

[Boo Boo]

17. Of course, just because the

Pentagon's detectors found this, that doesn't mean anybody was sending Anthrax to the Pentagon. Could just mean that the letters in question went through another postal facility where the actual spiked letters passed through.

I wonder how many postal facilities have detectors?

There was rumor, repeated on another thread, that the letters originated inside the Pentagon, but I find that kind of hard to believe. The perp would have to be a moron. Another poster said that, in an apparently Anthrax related occurence, a SAIC building was "locked down" and the employees then sent home.

That's an interesting twist.

[diamond14]

21. in Virginia: thousands affected....THREE buildings CLOSED (link)

main link
http://www.jrnl.com/


go to VIRGINIA for local coverage, this is a pdf link showing the actual newspaper here today....

http://www.jrnl.com/PDFs/nva/tuesday.pdf


summary:

THOUSANDS locked down in their offices in Virginia


TWO mail facilities in Virginia shut down: do not return to work...


Three buildings in Falls Church, VA, SHUT DOWN...many other offices affected outside mail facilities...powdery substance found in an 8th floor mailroom...all buildings CLOSED until further testing (3 or 4 more days)....THOUSANDS on antibiotics....

[Festivito]

23. Hmm. Up to now attacks were RW attacks against "liberals."

The anthrax came from a Ft. Detrick secret military lab.
Sent to Democrats.
Sent to "liberal" media figureheads.
Well, also sent to that tabloid guy that printed pictures of Bush's daughters.

And, now it is ALLEGEDLY sent THROUGH military infrastructure until LEVELS of FALSE POSITIVES can be confirmed.

Just as Bush needs a draft and higher polling numbers.

Things tht make ya go: Hmmmm.