What is the Anthrax Vaccine (Cipro) availability...

[greblc]

Is it readily available? Can the the Government distribute it quickly?

Flu Vaccine seems to be elusive to the general population. Are we prepared for a Nuclear ,Chemical or Biological attack?

[troublemaker]

1. Cipro is not a vaccine

nor is it a unique treatment for anthrax. Pennicillin or tetracycline work also.

[Philostopher]

2. Cipro isn't a vaccine.

It's a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Production of antibiotics is different from flu vaccine. They're still making flu vaccine the way Theodoric Of York did, more or less -- injecting the live virus into chicken eggs. It's no freakin' wonder they have problem with bacterial contamination. Cipro is made differently, though I can't address whether it's more available. Probably wouldn't take as long to manufacture.

[alilenas]

3. I got twenty today

For a UTI. So they seem to have quite a few at the pharmacy.

[RebelYell]

4. Cipro recently went off patent

It's still about $6/pill. $12/pill for brand name.

[NJmaverick]

5. Yes it is readily available

The government has a stategic stock pile and plans to distribute it to where ever it is needed in less then 24 hours.

[Trillo]

6. For veterinary use it's named Baytril

"A major breakthrough was the development of the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics (including enrofloxacin, its counterpart for human use ciprofloxacin, and several others)."
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_enrofloxacin.html

Apparently, it's now prescribed for just about anything <only a little sarcasm>

On edit: Here's an letter expressing concern about overuse of Baytril in feed animals...

"August 18, 2004
<snip>
Dear Dr. Crawford:

This letter concerns the most recent effort by the Bayer Corporation to further delay enforcement of FDA’s well-founded decision to withdraw approval for the use of Baytril and other fluoroquinolone antibiotics in poultry.

It has been more than three years since FDA first proposed this rule to safeguard the efficacy of this important class of drugs for human medicine and nearly six months since the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) rejected Bayer’s appeal of FDA’s ruling. During that time, Abbott Laboratories, the only other company that has marketed a fluoroquinolone for use in poultry, has properly removed their product, sarafloxacin, from the market. However, Bayer’s continued refusal to comply can only serve to increase the population of human pathogens that are resistant to fluoroquinolones, putting greater numbers of consumers who contract foodborne illness at risk of more serious or prolonged infections, or even death. Clearly the time for enforcement is past due. Bayer has had its day in court and lost. It is incumbent upon the FDA to act quickly to protect public health."
more...
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_food_safety/001316.html

[thecatdoctor]

7. Not the same

I admit I'm usually a lurker, but this is a topic I'm comfortable enough with to reply.

Cipro is NOT the same drug as Baytril. They are sister drugs, but not the same. The drugs work in a similar way, but people can't take Baytril - if I remember my pharmacology lesson correctly, I believe Baytril causes a good case of the crazies (hallucinations, etc) in people.

We could not give Baytril in the event of an anthrax attact (unless the attack was on animals, not humans)

And yes, it's prescribed for just about everything in the veterinary world.

[Philostopher]

8. And I've given Baytril to cats before.

Man, do they hate it -- it tastes nasty (had one fling the pill and it got stuck on my upper lip; I understood exactly why the cat flung it, after that).