by Playfuls Staff |
26th February 2006
Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared that the condition of Vado Diomande, the drum maker who was hospitalized with anthrax, has worsened. Vado Diomande, a dancer and drummer, contracted the potentially fatal bacteria from untreated goat hides he got in West Africa two months ago. [more]
"He's in serious trouble," Bloomberg said at a news conference. "Inhalation anthrax is very often fatal. ... I think your prayers have to be with him." Diomande collapsed almost two weeks ago after giving a performance at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania, and has been hospitalized since.
His condition was changed to serious after he had trouble breathing, according to a statement Friday from Robert Packer Hospital. According to New York Daily News, late Friday night, a woman believed to be Diomande's wife, and her brother were seen at the hospital.
As officials widened their investigation into an anthrax case in New York City, three people at a Brooklyn residence were placed under medical observation and put on antibiotics, Newsday reported.
Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis and is highly lethal in some forms. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and domestic herbivores, but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals, tissue from infected animals, or high concentrations of anthrax spores. There are no known cases of infection in humans resulting from direct contact with a diseased person.
Treatment for anthrax infection includes large doses of intravenous and oral antibiotics, such as penicillin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, erythromycin, and vancomycin. Antibiotic prophylaxis is crucial in cases of pulmonary anthrax to prevent death.
*Picture Courtesy of www.kotchegna.com
