Top 10 Medical Stories of 2008: No. 3
In August, the FBI announced that USAMRIID scientist Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the "anthrax letter attacks" of 2001. Pulmonary anthrax from inhaled letter spores killed 5 people, including 2 postal workers.
- Robert Stevens, 63, a photoeditor at a Florida tabloid office, died October 6, 2001.
- Thomas Morris, Jr., 55, a mail handler at the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, DC, died October 21, 2001.
- Joseph Curseen, 47, an employee at the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, DC, died October 22, 2001.
- Xinh Thi "Kathy" Nguyen, 61, a Vietnamese immigrant and New York City hospital worker, died October 31, 2001.*
- Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year-old Connecticut resident, died November 21, 2001.*
Attention was directed to Ivins when DNA-sequence variations in the letter spores led to the identification of a specific flask at USAMIRIID, which contained the same mix of Bacillus anthracis spores. Ivins, a B. anthracis microbiologist, had been the primary custodian of the flask since 1997.
Other circumstantial evidence against Ivins:
- USAMRIID, in Fort Detrick, MD, is the only relevant lab in the geographic area where the "federal eagle" envelopes used in the attacks were distributed and sold.
- According to USAMRIID lab records, Ivins worked alone in late-night shifts during September 14-16, 2001, and from September 28 to October 5, 2001, before the rounds of Post/Brokow and Leahy/Daschle letters were respectively mailed.
- Ivins submitted "unusable" and false B. anthracis spores to the FBI for testing. The initial, unusable sample that was submitted to the FBI in 2002 was destroyed by the agency; however, Paul Keim's lab at Northern Arizona University preserved a portion of this initial sample, which was later found to contain mutations identical to the letter spores. In 2004, the FBI seized the USAMRIID flask, which subsequently indicated a genetic match to the B. anthracis in the letters.
Faced with impending prosecution by the DoJ, Ivins killed himself on August 1 July 29 by taking an overdose of Tylenol with codeine. (01/07/09 addendum: News reports now indicate that Ivins took a fatal overdose of acetaminophen, citing police records.)
Relevant background reading at the Pathophilia blog is available at these links:
- DoJ Evidence Against Ivins Compelling
- Genetic Gumshoeing in the Anthrax Letter Attacks
- Despite FBI Anthrax Briefing, Media and Blogging Arguably Egg on "Grassy Knollers"
- How the Smoking-Gun "Anthrax" Flask at USAMRIID Became a Smoking Gun
Also USA Today, believe it or don't, provided some of the most comprehensive news coverage of the bioterrorism investigation.
USAMRIID = US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
* It remains unknown exactly how Nguyen and Lundgren were exposed to the B. anthracis letter spores.
Public domain photograph of Daschle "anthrax" letter from Wikipedia.
