• How the disease works
• Q&A: The anthrax bacteria
• U.S. Postal Service: How to spot suspicious mail and what to do
• FBI: Advisory on what to do with suspicious mail (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention anthrax page
• American Medical Association news release: AMA warns against antibiotics misuse

Q: How do people get anthrax?

A: About 95 percent of all cases worldwide result from skin contact — bacterial spores that land on a scratch or other broken skin. It can also cause infection if breathed into the lungs or eaten, but these are much less common.

Q: Is is contagious?

A: No. It cannot be passed from person to person.

Q: What are the symptoms?

A: It starts with a painless blister that is red around the edges. A day or two later, this becomes a black open sore, which dries up to leave a black scab, which falls off after a week or two.

Q: How is it treated?

A: A variety of antibiotics are extremely effective for skin anthrax. Among them are doxycycline, penicillin and Cipro.

Q: What else do I need to know?

A: Out of the hundreds of employees and visitors at the American Media building in Florida, only two have contracted the disease; only six others so far are infected with the bacteria but are not sick. The government has stockpiled antibiotics that will be shipped out if needed.

On Oct. 2, Bob Stevens, a photo editor for The Sun supermarket tabloid in Boca Raton, Fla., was hospitalized with what was diagnosed as inhalation anthrax and was reported to be gravely ill. He died three days later in the first reported anthrax death in the United States since 1976.

In the following days and weeks, reports of unknown, possibly hazardous substances flooded emergency response agencies in Hawai'i and throughout the country. Most of these substances turned out to harmless, but fears of terrorist-related biological and chemical threats rose as more anthrax cases were confirmed in New York and Washington.

Faced with a shortage of emergency resources as many people find ordinary mail or any common white powder suspicious, authorities are now urging people not to panic and to use common sense before calling in unknown substances. No anthrax bacteria have been found in Hawai'i.

Oct. 14, 2001
• Anthrax scare spreads throughout U.S.

Oct. 13, 2001
• NBC anthrax case leaves New York jittery

Oct. 10, 2001
• Source of anthrax probed in Florida

Oct. 8, 2001
• Anthrax infects second man

Oct. 5, 2001
• Florida man contracts anthrax