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Sunday, August 22, 2004
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Soldiers' blood may be key to anthrax medicine Fort Campbell: Vaccinated donors By
Kimberly Hefling They can do it
for love of God and country - or for the $60. Either way, soldiers vaccinated
against anthrax have the opportunity to help future anthrax victims by donating
their blood.
The government plans to develop an experimental treatment for anthrax from
the blood of people vaccinated against it. Such a medicine has never been tested
on people, but scientists think it has a good chance of working based on animal
tests.
Federal health officials are aiming for an emergency stockpile that could
treat about 2,700 people in case of another anthrax attack. Five people died
from anthrax in 2001.
Lewis Long, a civilian readiness officer who pitched the plan to the troops
this month, said many may want to do it to protect their wives and children, who
haven't had the vaccine.
But there is another reason, too.
In a Fort Campbell gymnasium when troops in their Army greens were told they
would get $60 for a liter of their blood plasma, many whooped and hollered. They
can donate up to once a week.
Spc. Ian Cook, a 25-year-old father of two, said he took a pay cut to join
the Army 18 months ago, and could use the money. Donating blood four times a
month could add $240 to his $1,550-a-month base salary
The potential to help people exposed to anthrax, "that's just a little bonus,
I guess," said Cook, of Las Vegas.
Depending on the soldiers' response, the blood-donor program could be spread
in a few weeks to other military installations.
Fort Campbell, 50 miles north of Nashville, Tenn., was selected as the first
site because a high percentage of soldiers have been vaccinated against anthrax,
said Col. John Grabenstein, deputy director for military vaccines at the Army
surgeon general's office. It's also near a federally approved plasma collection
site in Clarksville, Tenn.
All troops deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan and other U.S. Central Command
countries, as well as Korea, are required to get anthrax shots. Since 1998, 1.2
million troops have been vaccinated against anthrax.
To make the new medication, called anthrax immune globulin, or AIG,
scientists will use antibodies from the soldiers' plasma, the watery part of the
blood.
"We think there is a good chance that AIG would help improve survival in
patients with severe anthrax diseases, but we don't know for sure," said Dr.
Clare Dykewicz, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, which is running the program.
Antibiotics would still be used on anthrax victims, but they don't always
work for everyone.
Grabenstein said the new AIG treatment could be ready within a few months.
Once available, it would be given only to people infected with anthrax, not
those simply exposed to it.
Early this year, the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne Division returned
from a year in Iraq, and troops are required to remain current with
vaccinations.
Participation in the blood donor program is voluntary, and not all troops are
interested.
Spc. Clint Renefrow, 23, of Hays, Kan., said he barely made it through his
mandatory vaccines without fainting. He said it would take a lot more than $60
to get him to donate his blood.
"I'm scared of needles," Renefrow said.
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