_______________ THE TERROR AT HOME BY JEFF STEIN (02/20/98)

Jeff Stein and/or his source must be very ignorant not to know that what in a very unscientific way is called "anthrax" and "yersinae" are not viruses but bacterias. By the way, few bacterias survive in alcohol. Even though the threat of biological warfare is real, the credibility of this particular story is questionable. -- Lisa Winbladh I have just finished reading your "article" about Larry Wayne Harris. I can't comment on the veracity of the transcripts the article claims to be based on, but judging from the accuracy of damn near everything having to do with biology, I'm not impressed. First of all, anthrax is caused by a bacterium (bacillus anthracis), not a virus. The distinction is crucial, because bacterial diseases can be treated with antibiotics, while viral diseases cannot. Anthrax itself can be treated with penicillin. Similarly, bubonic plague is caused by a bacterium (yersinia pestis), not a virus, and is also treatable with antibiotics. A modicum of background research would have revealed this to your writer, as well as the sheer absurdity of the statement that yersinia pestis can be easily obtained from cow droppings. Yersinia pestis is a rat pathogen, spread by the bites of infected rat fleas. Yersinia enterocolitica, which by contrast can be found associated with cattle, causes severe diarrhea, but certainly not bubonic plague. Although the anthrax bacillus forms spores that can survive in soil, yersinia pestis does not, and hence cannot survive in soil, casting some doubt, to say the least, on Harris' claim to have isolated it from soil. Elsewhere in the article it's mentioned that Leavitt claims to be "working on a vaccine" against anthrax. Such a vaccine has in fact existed for years and is used routinely (there is also a vaccine against bubonic plague by the way), something which your writer could have easily discovered and which is certainly relevant to the veracity of the rest of their claims. I realize that Mr. Stein is not a medical expert, but then, neither am I. Everything I just wrote about is easily obtainable on the Internet or in a good old-fashioned library. Wide-eyed reporting on a subject as serious as this is irresponsible. --Trey Simmons Read your article quoting Larry Wayne Harris regarding his purported expertise in bio weapons research. This "expert" misidentified the pathogens for both anthrax and bubonic as being viruses. Both diseases, of course, are actually caused by bacteria. If this yahoo is a biological weapons expert, then I am the King of Siam. You folks are really much too gullible in reporting news. -- W. Letendre SALON | Feb. 25 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| ICE FOLLIES BY CINTRA WILSON

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