Re: anthrax and the two s

[Guest guest]

Thanks that was interesting.

I wonder if I was wrong in saying earlier this afternoon that

Bacillus anthracis can live free in the soil. It can definitely *be*

in the soil as this article says, but maybe that is only in its spore

form. Bacillus and one other genus are the only common spore-formers

known, and their spores are incredibly durable.

I wish NYT had given some detail about what these experts think might

be going on. A chronic infection with a CWD form of B. anthracis

lacking the usual immunoassay epitopes might be one speculative

hypothesis; I wouldnt know what evidence there might be pro or con,

and it sounds like there isnt alot known about anthrax. I wonder

whether there is a good assay for the toxin itself, or whether they

have tried to probe for it by infusing him with antiserum against the

toxin during one of his flares (I would certainly hope so).

The anthrax toxin lyses macrophages, if I recall. I would presume

that would be very inflammatory.

Another possibility would be that acute anthrax created a window of

opportunity for the ascension of some nasty chronic infection,

perhaps one many of us have.

<rhbailey@d...> wrote:

> An anthrax article in Tuesday's NY Times made me think of the two

s.

>

> S.: The anthrax patient discussed " ...spells of overwhelming

> fatigue... His legs regularly are gripped by painful convulsions,

the

> thigh muscles shaking as he struggles to hold them still. "

>

> J.: " Both [anthrax experts] wondered whether Mr. Paliscak's

> illness might be a devastating reaction to some other substance on

the

> filter [that the patient had removed from a ceiling as part of his

job

> in cleaning up anthrax contamination], such as yeast or mold

spores. "

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/health/07anth.html

>

> After a Shower of Anthrax, an Illness and a Mystery

>

> The patient, Bill Paliscak, has encountered some of the problems

> experienced by Lyme patients.

>

> " Blood tests never detected the bacteria that cause anthrax or the

> antibodies the immune system should produce in response. As a

result,

> the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention never

classified

> his disease with the 11 confirmed cases of inhalational anthrax, 5

of

> them fatal....

>

> " ...his doctors at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore remain convinced

that

> his anthrax exposure produced his disease, in part because

exhaustive

> testing found no other cause.

>

> " ...Dr. J. Kerkvliet, an internist at Sinai who has cared for

Mr.

> Paliscak since 2001. Dr. Kerkvliet says he fears the C.D.C. " has

its

> head in the sand. " A colleague, Dr. Tyler C. Cymet, who spent

months

> talking to the confirmed anthrax survivors and their doctors,

said, " I

> come down strongly on the side that this is anthrax. " Few diseases

> cause " whole-body symptoms " as does the toxin produced by anthrax,

said

> Dr. Cymet, who, like Dr. Kerkvliet, is an assistant professor at

the

> s Hopkins medical school. [i wonder if he thinks Lyme is one

of

> the diseases that causes whole-body symptoms.]

>

> Sue ,

> Upstate New York