http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/nyregion/06anthrax.html?ref=todayspaperAnthrax Is Found in 2 Connecticut Residents, One a Drummer
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: September 6, 2007
NEW HAVEN, Sept. 5 — Two people in Danbury, Conn., have contracted anthrax, probably from animal hides brought from Africa to make drums, the authorities said on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the New Haven office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the cases did not appear to be terrorism-related.
Officials would not release the names of the patients, who are in the same family, but the owner of the home where the anthrax was found, Donald Lombardo, identified the tenant as Ase-AmenRa Kariamu, The Associated Press reported.
Mr. Kariamu is the director of a West African drumming program at the Danbury Music Center.
Mayor Mark D. Boughton of Danbury said the house was being used to store untanned animal hides obtained from areas of the world where anthrax is known to be common.
At least one of the patients is believed to have contracted cutaneous anthrax from working with the hides, Mayor Boughton said. Local and state officials were examining the patient’s house in an effort to pinpoint the source of the anthrax, Mayor Boughton said.
It is the second time in two years that African drummers in the metropolitan region have contracted anthrax.
In both cases, untanned hides for drums were believed to be the source.
The two Danbury patients are recovering, said William Gerrish, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
Officials are in the process of contacting their relatives and acquaintances to determine if anyone else was exposed, Mr. Gerrish said.
Cutaneous anthrax is rare and is not contagious.
“We certainly recognize that any time anthrax is involved, it can generate concern,” Mr. Gerrish said. “But we do not believe that there is a threat to the general public.”
Cutaneous anthrax, the most common type, is an infection of the skin and can be treated with common antibiotics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Only one or two cases occur annually in the United States, Bernadette Burden, a spokeswoman for the centers, said in a telephone interview.
The more serious form is inhalation anthrax. It was responsible for five deaths in the United States, including one in Connecticut, when anthrax spores were sent through the mail in the months after the 9/11 attacks.
Ottilie W. Lundgren, 94, who lived in Oxford, Conn., about 20 miles east of Danbury, was one of the five victims of that attack, which spread panic and crippled the postal system for several months. Seventeen others were sickened nationwide.
Mayor Boughton said one of the two infected people in Danbury went to a local hospital in mid-August for treatment and later saw a number of specialists. A test for anthrax came back positive on Tuesday morning, Mayor Boughton said.
Since the source of the infection was uncertain at that point, federal, state and local authorities became involved, the mayor said. Concern subsided when officials determined that the hides on the drums were likely to blame, he said.
“It’s what we call a naturally occurring case of anthrax,” Mayor Boughton said. “It’s not related to terrorism.”
Nor is it unique. In February 2006, a 44-year-old Greenwich Village drummer contracted the more serious inhalation anthrax while using unprocessed animal skins to make drums.
The authorities believe he inhaled anthrax spores while covering a drum with goat skin he bought in the Ivory Coast, where he was born and raised.
The drummer, Vado Diomande, spent more than a month in the hospital and lost 45 pounds as he fought the disease.
He survived and vowed to return to his dancing and drum-making.
Anthrax spores are formed by naturally occurring bacteria and can be found in soil, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Animals who ingest contaminated soil can then pass the disease to people who handle their hides or eat undercooked meat.
Naturally occurring anthrax is rare in the United States but much more prevalent in other parts of the world, including many developing countries and much of sub-Saharan Africa.
Symptoms of cutaneous anthrax, which accounts for 95 percent of all anthrax cases, include swelling of the skin and itchiness, experts said.
It is not usually fatal when treated, unlike inhalation anthrax, which is often fatal.
