Q: Can a single anthrax spore cause any form of the disease?
A: Public health experts said yesterday that the answer is unclear. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this month that it takes 8,000 to 10,000 anthrax spores to cause the deadly inhalation anthrax. Yesterday, CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan said it's difficult to know the exact number of spores, because testing has been limited to animals.
As for cutaneous anthrax, which is contracted through breaks in the skin and is highly treatable with antibiotics, CDC officials have said the number of spores necessary to contract it is less than for inhalation anthrax, but they don't know how few. Ken Alibek, a defector who played a key role in the former Soviet Union's biological weapons program, said as few as 10 to 15 spores would be enough.
Is mail being decontaminated before it is delivered?
Some mail is. All mail that was at the District's Brentwood Road postal processing facility when it was closed Oct. 22 was sent last week to a plant in Ohio to be sanitized, said a U.S. Postal Service spokesman. The first truckload of mail is back and will be delivered. The plant is sanitizing mail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and any backlog will be eliminated within two weeks, officials say.
Are there other decontamination plans for mail?
The Postal Service says it has awarded a contract to Titan Corp., of San Diego, to provide electron beam systems and other services to sanitize mail at central processing centers across the country. One of the first areas to receive equipment will be the Washington region, and delivery will begin next month, officials said. The contract, worth about $40 million, is for the purchase of eight systems and includes an option to purchase 12 more.
Federal experts say we shouldn't iron, microwave or bleach our mail at home if we are worried about contamination. What can we do?
Use rubber gloves to open mail and remove them carefully to avoid contamination. The recommended method, from an online infection-prevention course developed for the nonprofit EngenderHealth:
Grasp one of the gloves near the cuff and pull it partly off, inside out. It is important to keep the first glove partly on your hand before removing the second glove to protect you from touching the outside of either glove with your bare hands. Leaving the first glove over your fingers, grasp the second glove near the cuff and pull it partly off. Pull off the two gloves at the same time, being careful to touch only the inside of the gloves with your bare hands. Dispose of the gloves. Wash your hands with hot water and soap.
If I have a flat surface at home that I suspect is contaminated with anthrax spores, what can I do if I call authorities but nobody comes?
Jack Sawicki, of Versar Inc., an engineering firm based in Springfield, says to spray it or wipe it down witha household bleach, such as Clorox. Let the bleach sit for a minute and wipe it off with a paper towel. The spores should be dead, so you can throw away the paper towel. Decontamination of an entire room requires professional help.
If someone has had a form of anthrax, can he get it again, or does he build up immunity?
Mary Kay Sones, a health communications specialist at the CDC, said experts are not sure. Building immunity is possible, but no testing has been conclusive. Health experts advise people who have had it once to proceed as if they can be reinfected.
Are officials talking about providing anthrax vaccine to high-risk civilians? Why can't everybody be vaccinated?
There isn't enough anthrax vaccination to cover the civilian population. In fact, the Department of Defense is the exclusive recipient of all the vaccine that has been manufactured, about 5 million doses, according to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson. CDC Director Koplan said yesterday that his agency is studying whether to recommend that civilians be vaccinated and that negotiations are underway with the Defense Department over the use of some of its stock of the vaccine. The vaccine maker's newly refurbished production facility needs approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The company applied for approval this month and might hear by late November.
-- Valerie Strauss and Rick Weiss
