Patient's symptoms may be missed anthrax

[Guest guest]

(sounds like my symptoms - fluid build-up and inflammation in lungs and

around heart (initially), extreme fatigue and continued low oxygen

(currently) add in the constant joint pain and you have a toxic mold

exposure. perhaps it is hiding in our brains - which might explain the

vicious headaches and pain at the base of the skull)

Two think patient's symptoms may be missed anthrax

Last Updated: 2002-07-17 10:00:47 -0400 (Reuters Health)

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Two physicians in Baltimore write in the July

issue of a medical journal that one of their patients who was exposed to

anthrax continues to display symptoms even though the bacteria and its

toxins haven't been found in his blood. Two people who died last fall from

anthrax similarly tested negative for infection, they say.

Tyler Cymet, an osteopathic doctor and internist, and fellow internist

Kerkvliet, of Baltimore's Sinai Hospital, first wrote up their patient's

case in the January issue of the Journal of the American Osteopathic

Association. The patient is a 38-year-old US Postal Service investigator who

spent time at the Brentwood office in Washington, DC, which received

anthrax-contaminated mail destined for Congress.

Some correspondence to the Journal since January has doubted the doctors'

contention that they may have found a previously undescribed syndrome

related to anthrax exposure. In the July issue, the doctors defend their

report, stating that the patient may have a lingering syndrome resulting

from inadequate or unsuccessful treatment.

Little is known about anthrax, they said, noting that two Brentwood workers

died from inhalational anthrax but did not have positive blood cultures,

while two with positive cultures survived.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it doubted the

Baltimore man had ever been infected.

" We did extensive testing to try to rule in or rule out anthrax, and at the

conclusion of all those tests, we are highly confident that this person

isn't suffering from anthrax, " said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner.

The postal inspector reported ingesting dust particles--positive for

anthrax--from a sorting machine and air filters. The man had been given a

10-day preventive course of Cipro. After taking one pill, he missed two

doses and immediately came down with a cough, headache, chest pain, and low

oxygen levels.

He was admitted to the hospital and given IV antibiotics; symptoms improved

and he was sent home. A blood culture tested negative for anthrax. The man

was re-admitted to the hospital a month later, in November, for the same

hacking cough, chest pain, and fluid in the lungs.

The previously healthy postal worker has spent 4 of the last 9 months at

Sinai, fighting fluid build-up and inflammation in his lungs and around his

heart, and has extreme fatigue and continued low oxygen, Cymet told Reuters

Health.

The physicians are still trying to determine the cause of his illness.

" The working hypothesis right now--and we're not sure--is that he was

exposed, he was partially treated with a day of antibiotics and that did

give him some protection, but he still had some toxins that would have

caused the symptoms, " Cymet said.

He said that they are exploring the possibility that the bacteria or toxins

are hiding in the man's body, most likely in the brain.

That theory was advanced in the May issue of the Journal by Lowell Wood, a

fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and a member of the Lawrence

Livermore National Laboratory's technical staff. Wood noted that most

antibiotics used to treat anthrax do not cross into the brain, so the

bacteria would be safe there.

Cymet and Kerkvliet are also seeking Sinai's permission to do a long-term

study of the survivors of the anthrax attacks, including their patient, who

they consider to be a survivor.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 2002;102:7.

Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited.