Anthrax case confirmed in Florida By NICHOLAS M. HORROCK and DEE ANN DIVIS WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that a 63-year-old Lantana, Fla., man has been diagnosed with pulmonary anthrax, but he said the case was isolated and not believed to be connected to a biological terrorist incident. Anthrax is a naturally occurring disease that can be contracted through the skin, inhalation, and gastrointestinally. The vast majority of cases arise when people with cuts or abrasions on their hands handle infected animal products. But governments and individuals have produced anthrax as a possible biological weapon, and the United States has been on heightened alert for its use by terrorists since the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. In a White House briefing set up to assuage public anxiety, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta had confirmed Thursday that a man stricken on Oct. 2 had anthrax. "People need to understand that our public health system is on heightened alert, so we may have more public reports on what appear to be isolated cases. It appears that this is an isolated case," Thompson said. Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Florida Public Health Department, told United Press International that the man was admitted to the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Atlantis, Fla., at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday. He was vomiting, having seizures and running a very high fever. Physicians suspected spinal meningitis and gave the man a spinal tap and noted "rod-shaped bacillus." They sent their findings to the Florida State Health Department in Jacksonville, where a preliminary diagnosis of "bacillus anthracis," the scientific name for anthrax, was made on Wednesday, and the CDC confirmed anthrax Thursday. The man, Bob Stevens, is an employee of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer. He was unconscious and in critical condition at Kennedy Medical Center. Stevens contracted anthrax through inhalation -- a type of infection that is usually fatal, the CDC said. In a statement, American Media said: "Doctors and investigators are working to determine how Stevens, an avid outdoorsman, contracted the disease. He had been out of the office since Sept. 26th." Thompson said in his White House briefing that Stevens had traveled to North Carolina and returned to Florida in the period since that date. "We've also dispatched people from CDC to North Carolina, to the communities that he was there," he said. "We're checking with his neighbors. We're investigating with the FBI all known places and all the things that he might have ingested." Thompson said the man had been drinking from a stream, but he did not know whether it was factor. "I want to make sure everybody understands that anthrax is not contagious and it's not communicable, which means it is not spread from person to person," Thompson said. He said there were adequate supplies of antibiotics to treat 2,000,000 cases for 60 days. "There is enough available, we have an ample supply," he said. In the past two weeks, concern over anthrax has caused people to buy antibiotics and gas masks, but experts have said gas masks are not an effective protection and that antibiotics can't be taken in advance. New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, on a tour of the World Trade Center rubble with Mexican President Vicente Fox, stopped to tell reporters Thursday that he had talked with the health secretary by telephone about the Florida anthrax patient. "It appears to be an isolated case," the mayor said. "There is no evidence at this point, of any anthrax in New York City or this area. We've been in constant surveillance. We've gotten a lot of calls about this. The people in New York and elsewhere throughout the country should not be concerned about it. We continue to monitor hospitals and numerous 911 calls." Neil Cohen, New York City health commissioner, said city hospitals were on the alert for any possible anthrax cases, said, "All the early warning systems are in place." (With reporting by William M. Reilly in New York) -- Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. --