Most cases get clearer over time, or at least stabilize at a given set of knowns and unknowns. This incident is doing the opposite.
What was surprising was the reversal of the anthrax finding as the cause of the sailor's death. While we noted that "90% is not the same as 100%," the reported mode of death and the descriptions of Brazilian federal police demand explanation.
"What I can say is that it is not anthrax," said Claudio Guimaraes, director of the Legal Medical Institute in the Amazon city of Belem. He could not immediately say what caused the death of Ibrahim, who police earlier said died after vomiting, internal bleeding and multiple organ failures." (Reuters)Ron St. John, director general for the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Health Canada, in Ottawa, said that:
"Earlier suspicions the sailor had died of anthrax were based on the presence of a bacteria in Ibrahim’s tissues that appeared to resemble the anthrax bacteria.... But, again, there are many bacteria that resemble the anthrax bacteria. So that meant that tissue samples had to be done, and those have been in process with Brazilian authorities."Apparently, the cause of death will be released in the next couple of days, once Brazil's top labs have performed final tests to pinpoint the bacteria.
Right now, however, a lot of things about this story don't add up. Let's start with the easy stuff.
As reader Alan Myatt notes in our Comments section:
"I hope that the report from Belem is correct and that there is no anthrax. However, I should point out that a couple of years ago, when I still lived in Rio, an investigative report of a number of health labs in Brazil showed that they had a notorious capacity to return false lab results. The reliability of health lab tests in Brazil is highly questionable, and given that there is an obvious political motive for not finding any anthrax, I would hold out for confirmation from other sources before ruling it out. But I hope that my skepticism turns out to be unfounded."Hard to tell, isn't it? The statements to the media that started all this were not off-the-cuff, heat of the moment remarks. Which means that unless an explanation is given that ties up the various loose ends, my default assumption here is that someone here has been lying.
I'll keep following this one. Anyone out there able to scan the Portuguese dailies from Brazil et. al.?
This Guardian story lists ricin symptoms as similar to that of anthrax. As I recall intital reports listed a white powder. I think anthrax is more often brownish in color.
"Victims die from multiple organ failure and there is no known antidote or vaccine. "
One way we have all seen (TV, movies) for checking for drugs is to taste the powder.
"The bioxtoxin works by shutting down protein synthesis in the body and takes four to eight hours to incubate after being eaten or inhaled, so a victim would not necessarily realise they were in potential peril at the moment of contact.
"The poison inhibits protein synthesis and has widespread toxic effects on the body, which include damage to most organ systems and a combination of pulmonary, liver, renal and immunological failure which may lead to death.
"The exact early symptoms depend on the route of exposure. In all cases, fever, gastrointestinal upset, and coughing will be amongst the first effects noted - but of course these are symptoms of any number of benign ailments.
"Absorption via inhalation as a result of exposure to the toxin in aerosol form leads to particularly serious lung damage including adult respiratory distress syndrome.
"Swallowing ricin causes gastroenteritis, bloody diarrhoea and vomiting. People poisoned by a large dose could die of shock after massive fluid loss through severe diarrhoea "
I'm sure there was also a false alarm in Brazil of anthrax after Sept. 11.
Check out this introduction article on Multiple organ failure:
http://www.articleworld.org//Multiple_organ_failure
Content:
1.Causes
2.Hepatorenal syndrome
3.Cardiopulmonary Failure
4.Shock