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2nd anthrax case confirmed in Connecticut
Neighborhood cordoned off during investigation

Health officials confirmed a second case of contracted anthrax in Connecticut on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the first case was reported.

Officials said the second victim was a member of the same family as the first, a Danbury man who officials said contracted cutaneous anthrax poisoning from African drums.

Health officials said both victims were residents of Padanaram Road, and identified one victim as Ase Amenra Kariamu.

Mayor Mark Boughton told Eyewitness News that authorities have closed off roads around the victim's house, including Pembroke and Padanaram roads.

Marybeth Miklos, a spokeswoman for the FBI's New Haven field office, told the Associated Press that agents were notified of the situation, but that state public health officials were handling the investigation.

"We are aware of it, but as of right now it is not anything terrorism-related," she said.

Boughton said Kariamu is an African drummer and drum maker who stored untanned animal hides obtained from areas of the world where anthrax is known to be common.

Cutaneous anthrax is not contagious and usually can be treated with antibiotics.

A similar case was reported in February 2006 when a 44-year-old Manhattan man contracted anthrax poisoning from handling African drums made with goat skin.

Kariamu collapsed after performing with his dance company in Pennsylvania. He was hospitalized for weeks, but survived.

He started experiencing flu-like symptoms in January after he traveled to Ivory Coast and brought back goat hides to make drums. Health officials believe he may have inhaled anthrax spores while making the instruments.

Boughton said Danbury officials were notified about the anthrax a few days ago.

Kariamu was hospitalized for weeks, but has since been treated and released, according to health officials.

Contracting inhalation anthrax from natural sources is rare. The last U.S. case not linked to terrorism occurred in 1976.

Inhalation anthrax infects the lungs and kills about 75 percent of those with such infections, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Cutaneous anthrax, the most common form, can cause reddening and swelling of the skin and responds well to antibiotics. There usually are only one to two cases per year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials said that they have yet to isolate and positively identify the source of the anthrax at the Danbury home, but said there is no serious threat to public health.

The state Department of Public Health took custody of about a dozen hides that had been stored in a shed on the man's property. State and federal environmental officials will spend the next several days making sure no anthrax spores remain.

The drums were not finished, so officials said anthrax would not have spread beyond the shed where the man worked.

"The only concern we have is that the mass hysteria, the misinformation and the walking wounded will flood the healthcare system," said Dr. Patrick Broderick of Danbury Hospital. "Unless you are handling animal skins … you are not at risk."