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Anthrax
2 November 2001
Anthrax threat prompts announcement of fluoroquinolone adverse events
[more]
29 October 2001
Responding to biological terrorism [more]
25 October 2001
Anthrax update [more]
19 October 2001
Ciprofloxacin production increased to cope with anthrax scares [more]
18 October 2001
Biological warfare
Pharmacists could be included in contingency plans for dealing with terrorist
attacks or other major disasters, following the incidents that took place
in the US last month.
Those who would like to find out how pharmacists
in the US approach dealing with terrorist attacks and warfare, might find
the counterterrorism resource centre available on the American Society
of Health System Pharmacists website
interesting. The resource centre provides US pharmacists with guidance
on preparing for emergencies and on distributing vaccines, antidotes,
antimicrobials and other pharmaceutical products.
The UK Public Health Laboratory Service has issued provisional guidance
for action in the event of a deliberate release of anthrax (see below).
The guidance PDF file, disease facts and frequently asked questions are
available from the PHLS website.
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Anthrax
attack: advice from the Public Health Laboratory Service |
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Anthrax is easy to cultivate from environmental
sources and the inhalational form of the disease has a high mortality
rate, however, it is difficult to prepare and disperse an infective
anthrax aerosol. There are no known cases of person-to-person transmission
of inhalational anthrax.
Human anthrax occurs in three forms, inhalational or pulmonary,
cutaneous, and gastrointestinal.
Standard precautions for treating infected patients should be used,
but isolation is not necessary
Most naturally occurring strains of anthrax are susceptable to penicillin,
historically the preferred therapy. Tests on animals have shown
doxycycline and ciprofloxacin to be effective. Natural strains of
Bacillus anthracis are resistant to extended-spectrum cephalosporins.
Recommended treatments for adults are intravenous ciprofloxacin
400mg every 12 hours (changing to 500mg twice daily orally when
appropriate) or benzylpenicillin 2.4g every four hours (changing
to oral therapy when appropriate) for eight weeks.
Prophylaxis after suspected exposure should consist of ciprofloxacin
500mg bd or doxycycline 100mg bd for eight weeks.
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