CONCORD (AP) — A New Hampshire woman who was in critical condition with an extremely rare form of anthrax in U.S. is improving and is no longer in intensive care, a state health official said yesterday.
The young woman from Strafford County became ill with gastrointestinal anthrax in early December and is being treated in a Boston hospital. Authorities still are investigating how she became infected, but believe the most likely scenario is that she swallowed anthrax spores propelled into the air by drums at a gathering in Durham last month.
Two of the 64 animal skin drums used at the United Campus Ministry's Dec. 4 drum circle center have tested positive for anthrax, as has an electrical outlet in the building. Fifty-two other drums tested negative.
, and the other 10 will be tested today, said Dr. Elizabeth Talbot, adviser to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Two recent U.S. anthrax cases also were traced to drums covered with animal hides, but those involved spores that were either inhaled into the lungs or entered through the skin of patients who were exposed while making drums. The gastrointestinal form usually occurs after eating raw or undercooked contaminated meat.
Infection from natural sources such as soil, animal hides and meat is rare in developed countries but occurs regularly in poor nations. Anthrax is not transmitted from person-to-person.
Testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the strain of anthrax found on the drums and outlet matched the patient's strain. Talbot said the strain in question is a very common one worldwide, and authorities can't pinpoint where it came from. She said there is no obvious link between the two infected drums, which aren't the same type or age. The origins of the animal hides aren't clear, Talbot said.
Investigators with the state Department of Environmental Services and federal Environmental Protection Agency planned to conduct more testing today at the campus ministry center, which has been closed during the investigation.
Talbot said officials have contacted 52 of the approximately 60 people who attended the drum circle, and several have taken the state up on its offer of antibiotics and vaccinations.
