Hi All  ,   This shit is starting to hit home. Yesterday  I responded to a call at one of our local banks. I F*UCKED UP !!  I went inside the bank before thinking . They had received  boxs of $500 quarters from the Federal Reserve and on opening found one box with a fine white powder all over the coin rolls and inside the box. To make a long story short , Federal Reserve said "should NOT be any powder inside the box , Brinks (who delivers said "White Powder ??" no , not us , girls at bank say they have opened hundreds of boxes of coins and NEVER seen white powder. EMA comes out , calls it a full threat , Haz Mat  team responds , takes sample but does not have any field test (due to cost) and everyone tells me and girls inside bank to just wait a few days to see what the lab says. I take sample item to FBI for them to  take to state lab and there are a couple of guys from a nearby MUCH bigger city. They also have a evidence pail. We talk and they tell me one of their big corprate offices got 3 letters in mail that contained a white powder , they call out their Haz Mat Team(which has a MUCH larger budget) and they pop a couple of field test on the powder and both test come up postive for Antrax !   Today I get to work and find out at least 3 days before test on my sample come back , maybe longer. The Mayor agrees with me that 3 days to wait is bullshit and sends me to get 6 days of cipro. Results should be back by then , if not antrax I stop the Cipro , if antrax at least I am sveral days into treatment. This has really stress out my wife. The bank is closed till results come back but they say they can not stay closed more than 3 days due to some federal law. the women that work there say " We are NOT going back inside till we know" and the whole event sucks !! What ever happen to fighting wars the "old way" where we just try to shoot & blow each other up?

Para I don't want to make this worse, but Airborne particals can get on your clothing and hair. Did you Shower before you came home??? The one thing the media has not been saying but, would be true is that although this is not an infectious disease the fact that the particals are small and could be trapped in clothing hair, would increase the likely hood of a spread and would act as if it were and infectious disease with you being the vector.

Benjamin

Pretty scary shit, but it is a good thing that you took the initiative and covered your butt.  I hope that everything works out for you, take care!

... Suspicious "white powder" showed up at my place of employment today too.
HAZMAT crews had the whole place quarantined and roped off.
Pretty sure ours was a hoax. If so, I hope some bastard gets fired and jailed over it!
[-!-!-]

Was this story in the news?

Sorry it took me so long to follow up on everyones questions.   How did it get there ?  The general feeling from the "experts" is that it is "possible" that a sleeper agent got a job working in the Federal Reserve and on signal infected a unknown number of boxes of rolled coins prior to sealing and shipping.  Did I shower prior to going home ?  No (should have) But I did not enter the house prior to stripping. That is part of what has my wife freeked out. I got home and stripped in the garage , bagged my clothing , and went straight to the shower. My clothing will stay bagged till the results come back. My duty belt and badge , etc I wiped down with a alcohol soaked cloth. My wife is rightly worried I might have infected the garage and the inside of my vehicle. It also does not help her worries (or mine) that I have a 9 month old boy & a 5 year old girl that I am scared to death I might infect.    Was the story in the news ?   No , not yet to my knowledge. I did talk to a couple of reporters from the Birmingham News today and they both feel that until the test comes back that it is best not to report the story so as not to cause any panic , of course they are worried that the local TV stations will scoup them. They both admit a real "moral" problem with NOT reporting this sense there are hundreds of people that work in the office building that received the 3 letters that did test postive. Inside the Bank there were only 5 women working there and me and we all know of the coin box. The problem I have is the 5 women do not know of the 3 letters and the postive test results. Help me out. Should I tell them ? I am a little worried about causing unwarranted panic and adding to the fear problem. I know I would want to be told. I also might piss off the FBI if I tell them. Many of you will  say  " F*CK the FBI" but let me tell you , I know , I have worked many a case with them , if you piss them off they will charge you with "Obstruction of Justice" in a heartbeat. This ruins a Cops future. I have 11 years in the Army , all of it in Airborne & SF units (Infantry) and Armor. I have always been ready to fight if needed for my country but I always thought I would at least be able to see my target , but this shit might be there or not , How can you fight germs ? Hell , I guess I needed to talk about this so much I have just starting rambling. Anyway, If anyone even THINKS that a item MIGHT be infected , leave it alone , do not even enter the building if you are not already inside , and call the locals.

And I forgot to add ----  TELL WHOMEVER SHOWS UP , DON'T GO INSIDE THE BUILDING !!   Make someone come outside to tell you what is wrong. I sure wish I had. Dumb , Dumb , Dumb , I should have know better. Hell I was thinking , Not in my little small town. No , Thats not it , I was not thinking !!

Alcohol won't do it
Bleach will

You may be right on bleach killing anthrax, but the HAZMAT guys told me on the scene that bleach does not kill it and to use alcohol.  At this point, I do not know what or who to believe.  But thanks for the input.

Para,

Just a few thoughts:

- Bleach WILL / Alcohol will NOT.  (1:10 solution)

- Keep the kids and wife OUT of your vehicle and away from your duty gear.  

- Run a ton of bleach through the clothes washing machine if you washed your clothes in it.

- Drop a note to the bank gals.  I'd really want to know this info if I were in their position.


Please take care and our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family !

Ask your doc about something besides cipro. They initially recommended that because some Soviet weaponized anthrax was resistant to more common antibiotics, but the variety being mailed around does not seem to be engineered that way. Cipro can have side effects that more common antibiotics don't.

You may find some good info here about antibiotics and how to decontaminate: [url]http://www.bt.cdc.gov/DocumentsApp/faqanthrax.asp[/url]

Use a steam iron.

Glad to hear you are on cipro. I was a little concerned the other night when I heard that wasn't standard practice in a case like this.

IMO, you have to tell the ladies at the bank, they have families as well. I do see the problem with it, as you stated. Lousy situation!

Thanks for the good job you're doing!

Everyone says bleach to clean up with and I have no knowledge to argue. The Haz Mat team only had 2 spray bottles that they use to disinfect themselfs with. One was labled "soapy water" and the other " 10% bleach". I ask they about clean up and the Chief said bleach will not kill the orgisiam. I guess even these guys are not up to speed on how to fight grem warfare. I even had our "local expert" firefighter tell me that the foam      ( something called FFFD ?? ) that they have on the trucks to fight aircraft fires will kill antrax. I was not convinced.

Keep us posted, Para.

Para:

If you havnt, talk to your Pharmacist and/or Physician about Cipro (ciprofloxacin). Like all drugs, there are some side effects and contraindications. None are serious, in context, so DO NOT stop taking your medication.

There have been reports of weakening of the tendons. Also use of aspirin and/or caffeine, including caffeinated beverages, has been linked to increased neurotoxicity. Dont take antacids within a few hours of dosing (or anything with calcium, aluminum, iron or magnesium) Reduces absorbtion of Cipro. All are very uncommon, more concrete with longterm use.

Im sure all this was on your script, but seems this stuff is being handed out like candy with little oversight. Stuff's being dispensed haphazardly at present. The risk is small, but with treatment options such as doxycycline as McGredo noted, we'll see Cipro being dispensed less often. CDC is Pushing Dox at present.

Sorry to hear Para. Field tests are notoriously unreliable. Hopefully cultures will come back negative. Least your local folks are proactive and agressive on treatment in your case.

Luck
Alac

Want to Update everyone that was kind enought to express their concern for me. I received the test results back from the state lab and the sample tested " Not a Bio substance" (the labs words). This means NOT ANTHRAX !!!  THANK GOD !!Thanks again for all the support I received from AR15.com members.