Anthrax-Fighting Drugs a Threat

Placing thousands of people on antibiotics for anthrax is probably spawning a bigger threat to public health than an anthrax superbug -- more lethal everyday germs, according to doctors and researchers. Cipro and other antibiotics are the same drugs taken for many other germ infections, sometimes as a last resort.

"For people who are on Cipro for . . . 60 days, there's a good chance their normal bacteria will become resistant," said Philip Hanna, an anthrax researcher at the University of Michigan. Such bacteria can cause STDs, pneumonia, blood poisoning and other ailments. The bacteria are especially dangerous to people with weakened immune systems, such as AIDS or cancer patients on immune-suppressing drugs.

Penicillin, for instance, the 20th century marvel, eventually lost its force with staph infections from heavy use after World War II. Later, it became weak against gonorrhea after many US soldiers sought treatment after returning from Vietnam. In the early 1990s, dozens of Americans died in TB outbreaks because the germs were resistant to multiple antibiotics. "If you have a lot of people taking a short course of Cipro, we have the classic situation of developing antibiotic resistance," said Dr. Richard Corlin, president of the American Medical Association.

Despite worries about drug resistance, medical authorities agree that people with likely exposure to anthrax spores should be treated with antibiotics for both humanitarian reasons and to help maintain public calm. However, experts do recommend limits on Cipro stockpiling and taking the drug without medical advice. They recommend discontinuing the use of antibiotics on farms to protect healthy animals and the over-the-counter provision of the drugs in foreign countries, including Mexico.

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