Still, anthrax is a serious threat. Since 1995 Iraq alone is known to have produced 8,500 liters of concentrated anthrax as part of a biological weapons program. Plus currently, 15-17 countries are known to have active offensive biological weapons programs. Recently, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced it would begin systematically vaccinating all U.S. military personnel for anthrax. One week after the September 11 terrorist attacks, a letter containing anthrax spores was mailed to NBC addressed to Tom Brokaw and opened by his assistant. It was the first of a number of incidents around the country. In Florida, a man died after inhaling anthrax at the offices of American Media Inc., followed by the deaths of two postal workers in the weeks that followed. In total five deaths have been linked to anthrax with numerous other cases of infection reported. These attacks lead to an increased feeling of vulnerability among Americans, and, combined with the threat of shortages of the anthrax fighting drug, many people went into a mode of panic. Cipro® prescriptions at local pharmacies increased about 300%.
Positive Identification of Presence of Anthrax.
Without
guaranteed supply in the event of a crisis many Americans felt stock piling the
drug for themselves was the only way to insure their safety. However, it is
important that drugs such as Cipro® are not taken without evidence of exposure
to the disease. Cipro® can reduce the risk of contracting the anthrax virus,
but if the drug were to be taken too much by someone without cause the growth of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria could be promoted. The fluoroquinolone class of
antibiotics, that Cipro® is a part of, is used to treat forms of bacteria that
don’t respond to any other drugs. It is used in the treatment of cancer
patients, transplant patients, and patients that are very sick. It is know as a
drug of “last resort”. If
bacteria were to become resistant to Cipro® it would render the entire
fluoroquinolone family of these critical, lifesaving drugs useless, a risk that
cannot be taken. This risk provides another crucial reason for the use of the
alternatives to Cipro®. These drugs are much less of a threat to becoming
resistant to the bacteria due to the fact that they are not nearly as powerful
or important.