ATLANTA, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Workers involved in the clean-up of the aftermath of the anthrax mailings last fall should be given the anthrax vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The federal guidelines currently in place for protecting these workers are not sufficient and should be strengthened, Elena Page, a supervisory medical officer and physician at CDC's National Institute or Occupational Safety and Health, said at a news briefing announcing new protective guidelines.
Since October, the CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency have been involved in cleaning up anthrax in the various buildings and postal facilities contaminated from letters containing the deadly agent.
The clean-up workers have been wearing protective suits and respirators but these may not be 100 percent effective in preventing infection with anthrax, Page said. This is because the anthrax spores could get in through leaks around the respirator masks or tears in the suits. But Page noted that there have been no cases of anthrax infection among the decontamination workers.
The new guidelines call for giving the workers the antibiotic Cipro, the vaccine or both. But Cipro may not be advisable for all workers because long-term use can lead to severe side effects, Page said.
Cipro is typically given for 60 days after an exposure to anthrax, but some of the workers have been taking the drug for more than six months and the clean-up effort is still ongoing, she said.
In addition, long-term use of Cipro increases the risk of developing strains of anthrax resistant to the antibiotic.
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(Reported by Steve Mitchell, UPI medical correspondent, in Washington)
