Posted on 10/25/2001 10:10:47 AM PDT by grimalkin
The government issued specific guidelines Thursday for treating anthrax, providing doctors a list of drugs beyond the sought-after antibiotic Cipro to help fight the infection.
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which scrambled to publish the guidelines as the nation's bioterrorism toll mounted, warned there are no human studies to back up the recommendations.
The guidelines apply only to confirmed cases of anthrax, not as a precaution for people who may have been exposed.
The CDC advised doctors to treat inhaled anthrax - the deadliest form - with a 60-day regimen starting with intravenous doses of Cipro or doxycycline, supplemented by one or two of seven additional drugs.
Those additional drugs include rifampin, commonly used to treat tuberculosis, and the medical stalwart penicillin. Drugs widely used to combat staph and other respiratory infections were also on the list.
Cipro, marketed by Bayer Corp., has received the most attention as the anthrax investigation has widened. Doses have been dispensed to thousands of people, from postal workers to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, who may have been exposed to the bacteria.
Six cases of inhaled anthrax have been reported since the nation's mailborne anthrax crisis began. Two postal workers in Washington and a Florida tabloid editor have died.
The treatment guidelines came in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the health bulletin that clinicians nationwide examine for details on outbreak investigations and guidelines for preventing disease.
"This is the first bioterrorism-related anthrax attack in the United States, and the public health ramifications of this attack continue to evolve," the bulletin cautioned.
For cases of cutaneous anthrax, the skin form of the disease, CDC also recommended 60 days of treatment with Cipro or doxycycline, but said the additional drugs are not necessary.
The same drugs are recommended for treating anthrax in adults and children, the agency said, with much smaller doses for children.
The CDC acknowledged some of the drugs may cause problems for pregnant women but did not alter the recommendations, saying the high death rate for inhalation anthrax far outweighs the risk associated with drugs to treat it.
For the inhalation form of anthrax, the drugs recommended as a supplement to Cipro or doxycycline are:
-Rifampin, also used to treat tuberculosis.
-Vancomycin, also used to treat staph infections.
-Imipenem, used to treat a variety of bacterial infections.
-Chloramphenicol, also used to treat infections that damage the liver.
-Penicillin, also used to treat a broad range of infections, including Lyme disease, tetanus and syphilis.
-Clindamycin, also used to treat acne.
-Clarithromycin, also prescribed to treat bacterial respiratory infections, like strep throat and pneumonia.
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The guidelines apply only to confirmed cases of anthrax, not as a precaution for people who may have been exposed.
...
Cipro, marketed by Bayer Corp., has received the most attention as the anthrax investigation has widened. Doses have been dispensed to thousands of people, from postal workers to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, who may have been exposed to the bacteria.
First, they admit to no human studies.
Second, they advise treatment only in diagnosed cases.
Third, Cipro is being used to treat thousands of people (I just read ten thousand) right now. Yet I keep hearing major media say only a few have been infected. Is the government ignoring its own guidelines or are we being lied to about the number of cases? Of course I realize it could be both.
Cipro has been given to more than 100 million people since 1987. Last year in July, Cipro became and still remains the only drug approved by the FDA for inhalational anthrax.
Penicillin the number one antibiotic in the world, has actually treated more anthrax than Cipro, but because the drug is now not owned by any one drug company, none brought it to the FDA for approval. Merck provides guidelines for penicillin therapy for both types of anthrax, based upon years of history of treatment on humans.
The line I quoted in my prior response came from the CDC not the FDA per the article. My main question is why the CDC is advising not using antibiotics unless a positive test for the infection has occurred, yet ten thousand people are being treated with Cipro, et al, for potential anthrax exposure without any positive test?
Supply, profiteering, and panic are the other reasons. But prescription drugs do kill and should not be taken unless you have good reason.
Same as the common cold. We are entering the season of colds and flu. The anthrax has been specially treated to stay in the air as an aerosol, and sized to enter the lungs to cause pulmonary anthrax, the least-treatable form. Treatment of pulmonary anthrax is largely ineffective unless you know you are at risk before you get the symptoms. It will be quite easy for the terrorists to inflict many thousands of casualties through serruptitious aerosol dispersal of the material they have so far only sent in powder form, accompanied by a warning notes. If they also have antibiotic-resistant strains, which is perfectly possible, figure hundreds of thousands to millions of casualties. All Saddam has to do is give the word.
Now, do we really want to hit Saddam?
"....That such methods of biological weapons delivery are increasingly seen as practical is underlined by a recent CIA report into Iraq's pre-1991 CBW programme, which noted that:
Iraq worked to adapt a modified aircraft drop tank for biological agent spray operations beginning in December 1990. The tank could be attached either to a piloted fighter or to a remotely piloted aircraft that would be guided to the target by another, piloted aircraft. The tank was designed to spray up to 2,000 litres of anthrax on a target.
"No, you STILL don't want the anthrax vaccine. Here's why."
try also www.anthraxvaccine.org
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