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Volume 8, Number 10—October 2002
THEME ISSUE
Bioterrorism-related Anthrax
Bioterrorism-related Anthrax

Laboratory Response to Anthrax Bioterrorism, New York City, 2001

Michael B. Heller*, Michel L. Bunning†Comments to Author , Martin E.B. France‡, Debra M. Niemeyer§, Leonard Peruski¶, Tim Naimi†, Phillip M. Talboy†, Patrick H. Murray#, Harald W. Pietz†, John Kornblum*, William Oleszko*, Sara T. Beatrice*, and Joint Microbiological Rapid Response Team1New York City Anthrax Investigation Working Group2
Author affiliations: *New York City Department of Health, New York, New York, USA; †Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ‡Warfighting Concepts and Architecture Integration Division (J-8), The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C., USA; §Joint Program Office for Biological Defense, Falls Church, Virginia, USA; ¶Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA; #Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro, North Carolina, USA;

Main Article

Table 2

A sample section of the data table generated by the tracking system diagramed in Figure 3a,b

Site addressc Pick-up date Intake date Item
description Testing location Urgency Comments Swab taken?
FBI 10/9/2001 10/9/2001 Envelope (Westchester County) NYCPHL No
Hospital A 10/10/2001 10/10/2001 Blood culture NYCPHL Stat No
Hospital B 10/8/2001 10/10/2001 Request for bacterial culture identification NYCPHL Stat No
FBI 10/10/2001 10/10/2001 Petri dish NYCPHL No
NYPD 10/11/2001 One express-mail envelope sealed in plastic, addressed to United Nations NYCPHL High No
FBI 10/11/2001 10/11/2001 Plastic bag with white powder; business card. Wadsworth Low not enough info No
FBI 10/11/2001 10/11/2001 Plastic bag containing one envelope with white powder. Wadsworth Low not enough info No

aFrom left to right are fields for responder or site of response, site address, date of pick-up, date of intake, bag contents, location of testing, comments, priority, swab taken (yes, no), and patient (if clinical sample). This database allowed the managers to check the progress of sampling and keep track of the “who, what, where, and when” of the samples.
b FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation; NYCPHL, New York City Public Health Laboratory; NYPD, New York City Police Department; Stat, highest priority for laboratory testing.
cMasked for security purposes.

Main Article

1 The Joint Microbiological Rapid Response Team consisted of the Biological Defense Research Directorate, Naval Medical Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland: F. Baluyot, M. Boyd, and T. Hudson; 4th Medical Support Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, USA: L. M. Bayquen and L. Galloway; and 7th Medical Support Squadron, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas: L. De Los Santos and C. Sekula.

2 The New York City Anthrax Investigation Working Group consisted of Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fort Collins: May Chu, David Dennis, Kathleen Julian, Anthony A. Marfin, and Lyle Petersen; CDC, Atlanta: Mary Brandt, Richard Kanwal, Kristy Kubota, Els Mathieu, Steve Ostroff, John Painter, Dejana Selenic, Allison Stock, Linda Weigel, and William Wong; New York City Department of Health: Neal Cohen, Laura Mascuch, Denis Nash, Sarah Perl, and Don Weiss; New York City Public Health Laboratories: Alice Agasan, Jay Amurao, Josephine Atamian, Debra Cook, Erica DeBernardo, Adeleh Ebrahimzadeh, Philomena Fleckenstein, Anne Marie Incalicchio, John Kornblum, Ed Lee, William Oleszko, Lynn Paynter, Alexander Ramon, Chiminyan Sathyakumar, Harold Smalls, George Williams, Marie T. Wong, and Ben Y. Zhao.

Page created: July 19, 2010
Page updated: July 19, 2010
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The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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