The strain of anthrax responsible for five deaths in the United States and nationwide panic after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been linked to a laboratory at Texas A&M University.
The Ames strain was originally captured at A&M's Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in May 1981, when the remains of a dead cow from South Texas were sent in for diagnosis, said Lelve Gayle, the lab's associate director. The bacteria was immediately sent to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, Md., to be studied.
Investigators have determined that all spores used in the postal anthrax attacks in Florida, New York and Washington, D.C., were of the Ames strain and originated in the Army research institute.
Anthrax delivered by mail to politicians and media outlets resulted in 18 confirmed cases of anthrax and five deaths. Eleven of those cases were caused by inhaled spores, and the rest by cutaneous infection, caused by spores coming in contact with the skin. Infection by inhalation is the the more deadly of the two forms of the disease.
Gayle said the bacteria may have gone through the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, before reaching Fort Detrick. Researchers named the strain of anthrax after the return address on the package the bacteria arrived in.
According to Associated Press reports, investigators requested information about the strain's origin from officials in Fort Detrick, who in turn requested information from the laboratory in Ames. The Ames laboratory then approached Gayle and his lab at A&M in early January.
"In May of 1981, we cultured the bacteria, sent it to the Army lab and destroyed what we had left of it. As far as we know, it's been there since," Gayle said. Gayle said the laboratory at A&M diagnoses two to three cases of anthrax in livestock each year, and upon making the diagnosis, the bacteria is destroyed. "We don't want to potentially expose anyone to the bacteria."
He said the samples containing anthrax usually come from veterinarians or ranchers in South Texas.
"Anthrax is endemic in Texas; we will sporadically see cases," he said.
In addition to two to three isolated cases every year, breakouts can occur every six to eight years, resulting in up to 40 cases in livestock. The most recent of these epidemics occurred last summer, Gayle said. He said anthrax spores thrive in Texas' hot, dry climate, and most cases occur during the warmer months.
Anthrax is much more fatal in livestock, especially cattle, Gayle said.
"By the time we see any symptoms, it's too late to treat them," he said.
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