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Anthrax Survivors Suffered Long-Term Effects, Study Finds By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire Survivors of the 2001 anthrax mail attacks suffered continuing mental and physical problems similar to those seen in victims of a natural disaster or sexual assault, according to a study released this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (see GSN, April 22). “Events like natural disasters or rapes or terrorist attacks are all traumatic,” Dori Reissman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an interview with Global Security Newswire. “What they share in common with each other is the trauma,” she said. From September to December 2002, Reissman and colleagues studied 15 of the 16 adult anthrax survivors using a clinical interview, questionnaires and reviews of available medical records. Little is known about the long-term effects on contact with anthrax, and Reissman said researchers ultimately found no causal link between the study participants’ infection and their ongoing health problems. They did find, though, that the infected adults experienced physical ills, psychological distress and a reduced quality of life. They had chronic coughs, fatigue, joint swelling and pain and memory loss, and suffered from depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders and displays of hostility, researchers found. Survivors who had inhaled anthrax suffered worse health problems than those who became ill through skin contact with the biological agent. Eight of the study participants had not returned to work by December 2002, more than a year after anthrax was delivered by mail to Washington, New York and other areas in the still-unsolved series of attacks. This study supports other work that found survivors of acts of terrorism experienced chronic physical and mental troubles, researchers said. “What that indicates is that something about the traumatic physical experience is evoking that physical and psychological [response],” Reissman said. Mental and physical health professionals treating anthrax survivors should work closely together to ensure each victim receives the best possible care, Reissman said. At the institutional level, health care providers should also study the psychological impacts of terrorist acts, researchers said. “Standard assessment of terrorism survivors should include medically unexplained health complaints and psychiatric comorbidity, such as symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorders,” the report states. “Systems of care should be coordinated to minimize functional impairment and improve health-related quality of life,” it adds.
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