Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2464-1001631564-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 27 Sep 2001 16:00:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 1505 invoked by uid 510); 27 Sep 2001 22:59:39 -0000 Received: from n18.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.68) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 27 Sep 2001 22:59:39 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2464-1001631564-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.56] by mr.egroups.com with NNFMP; 27 Sep 2001 22:59:24 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_4_1); 27 Sep 2001 22:59:24 -0000 Received: (qmail 46235 invoked from network); 27 Sep 2001 22:59:23 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by 10.1.4.56 with QMQP; 27 Sep 2001 22:59:23 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta1 with SMTP; 27 Sep 2001 22:59:23 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id PAA23039 for iwar@onelist.com; Thu, 27 Sep 2001 15:59:23 -0700 Message-Id: <200109272259.PAA23039@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 15:59:23 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Anthrax.Scare.Prompts.Run.on.Dubious.Drug] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Anthrax Scare Prompts Run on Dubious Drug New York Times, 9/27/2001 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/27/national/27DRUG.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/27/national/27DRUG.html> Many New Yorkers - and to a lesser extent, people across the country - are stocking up on Cipro, an antibiotic that they believe can be used to treat anthrax. Most scientists say that taking Cipro after the appearance of symptoms of exposure to anthrax, a potentially deadly form of bacteria, is useless. But Sebastian Manciameli, a pharmacist at Zitomer Pharmacy on Manhattan's Upper East Side, said: "We can't keep it in stock. It started the day after the World Trade Center, with a few prescriptions, and now there's more and more." Mr. Manciameli added, "I usually keep 100 tablets in stock, but this time I ordered 3,000 and sold out. One person bought 1,000 tablets." At the Village Pharmacy in the Boston suburb Brookline, Mass., Donald Silkes said that enough people had been asking about antibiotics to prompt him to place an extra order. "They say, `I've spoken with my doctors and we decided this would be the best in the case of anthrax,' " Mr. Silkes said. Many experts, however, say Cipro would probably be useless in treating anthrax. "We believe, based on animal studies, that once you're showing signs it's probably too late," said David R. Franz, a former official in the Army's germ defense establishment who is now vice president for chemical and biological defense at the Southern Research Institute at the University of Alabama. Mr. Franz and others said that the United States had no detectors to routinely sample the air for anthrax, and that at any rate such an attack was considered unlikely. Experts in the field also pointed out that even if an attack with anthrax was tried, it would have only a slight chance of succeeding. Many doctors see the push for antibiotics as an expression of the same panic that has led Americans to stock up on gas masks, handguns and bottled water. "We have 12,000 patients, and we've probably had 11,000 requests, but our policy is that we won't do it," said Dr. Michael Traister, a Manhattan pediatrician. "This is about fear, and it doesn't make a lot of medical sense. There are all kinds of possible agents of bioterrorism, and there's no reason to single out anthrax." Last summer, Cipro, made by Bayer, became the first drug to win Food and Drug Administration approval for use in the event of a biological attack. At the time, the agency said that based on animal studies, the drug was "reasonably likely" to help humans fight off the disease, but only if taken soon after exposure to anthrax, which would be hard to detect. The agency said that 500 milligrams of Cipro, or ciprofloxacin, could be given twice a day to individuals who inhaled anthrax. Many doctors and public-health officials say there is no cause to stock up on Cipro. They point out that neither Cipro nor any other antibiotic works on botulism, smallpox or other possible weapons of bioterrorism. "Theoretically, Cipro should work in an anthrax attack, but it's never been tested, so no one really knows the optimal dose or therapy, or even, for sure, that it works at all," said Dr. Vincent Quagliarello, clinical director of infectious diseases at the Yale University School of Medicine. "There is a risk that if anthrax were sprayed, thousands of people could inhale the spores and get sick. You have to inhale the spores to get sick; if you're sick, you don't give it to me. And as an agent of mass destruction, frankly, I'm much more scared about smallpox." The federal government says there is no need for individuals to hoard Cipro. "We have a national stockpile, which includes Cipro, and we have delivery plans to bring it into any area in 12 hours," said Scott Lilybridge of the Department of Health and Human Services. "We believe there's a 24- to 36-hour window to initiate therapy." ------------------------ Yahoo! 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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-09-29 21:08:51 PDT