-Caveat Lector- from - http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020111/us/anthrax_mystery_illness_1.html
Friday January 11 6:07 PM ET Postal Worker Case Puzzles Doctors By GRETCHEN PARKER, Associated Press Writer BALTIMORE (AP) - The case of an ailing postal inspector who tests negative for anthrax but was exposed to it and displays symptoms similar to it raises new questions about the disease. The worker, a 37-year-old man, has been sick for more than two months and is currently recuperating at home. He inspected equipment in the Brentwood postal facility, which handled a letter containing anthrax spores. Two workers there died from the disease. After anthrax was first discovered at the plant, the postal inspector was given Cipro as a preventive. He took it one day, missed two doses, and began feeling ill shortly after that. He was given a blood test, and it turned up negative for anthrax, but his doctors say the antibiotic could have wiped out signs of the bacteria. But chest X-rays also failed to show the telltale signs of the disease. Other tests that might have picked up signs of anthrax apparently were not given. Without any medical evidence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) is not classifying the case as anthrax. Still, the man's doctors at Sinai Hospital here reported in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (news - web sites) this week that they strongly suspect he suffers from anthrax. The case could expand the spectrum of what is considered an anthrax infection, his doctors said. ``It raises the question of: Is there a range of illness?'' said Dr. Tyler Cymet, lead author of the case report. ``Can you get very ill just by being exposed and not getting the disease?'' Clinicians are open to the possibility that patients can react differently to the same infection, and that there may be different ways anthrax can manifest itself, said Dr. Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic. ``The likelihood of this being all or nothing - that you get exposed and without treatment you die - is likely not going to be the full story here,'' said Poland, who advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on bioterrorism drugs and vaccines. The doctors did not identify the patient, but The (Baltimore) Sun identified him as William R. Paliscak Jr. of Edgewater. Cymet, who treated Paliscak about a week after his exposure to anthrax, said his patient had low oxygen levels in his blood, severe shortness of breath, high fever, fluid in his lungs, a cough, swollen lymph nodes and chest pain. Tests ruled out fungal and viral infections and autoimmune disease. His symptoms improved, but then he relapsed, and he was hospitalized for 45 days while he received intravenous antibiotics. The worker's symptoms, Cymet said, were ``just as serious'' as those associated with anthrax. Through Cymet, Paliscak declined to be interviewed. His wife, Allison, who works at the osteopathic hospital where her husband was treated, told The Sun, ``It's been beyond an ordeal. The good part is, unlike a lot of other people, he's still alive.'' <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
