New Yorker’s Anthrax Believed to Be From Raw Animal Hides

A New York City man diagnosed with inhalation anthrax was in stable condition Wednesday, and officials declared it an isolated case with no links to terrorism.

The man, 44-year-old Vado Diomande, apparently contracted anthrax from raw animal hides he purchased in Ivory Coast to make drums, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference.

Medical authorities said Diomande was in intensive care and breathing on his own at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa., after collapsing during a dance performance.

Anthrax infections must be treated early with antibiotics for the best chance of recovery. The inhaled form of the disease has a fatality rate of about 75% with antibiotics.

Police learned of the case Tuesday and sealed off Diomande’s workspace -- a rented Brooklyn warehouse on Prince Street -- and his apartment on Downing Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Teams in protective suits searched the spaces and collected air samples, said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.

Bloomberg called a news conference Wednesday to report the air test results, saying there was no risk to the general public and no signs of terrorism.

“There’s absolutely no evidence of it so far,” Bloomberg said. “The patient has been 100% cooperative, he’s described in infinite detail what he’s been doing, and we believe it is simply a case of an accidental contamination.”

Four other people who had contact with the warehouse where the hides were stored, including a Diomande relative, have taken or will take antibiotics as a precaution. Anthrax is not contagious among humans, and the incident did not warrant evacuating neighbors, officials said.

“Every indication suggests that this is naturally occurring anthrax,” said city Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden.

Diomande returned in December from a trip to Ivory Coast.

He apparently inhaled anthrax spores from the hides.

Anthrax spores are found in soil in many parts of the world, and livestock can become infected by eating contaminated soil or feed.

People can pick up the infection if they come into contact with contaminated hides or other animal parts.

Dr. Lisa Rotz, a medical epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said health officials thought Diomande might have inhaled the spores in a process that included soaking the hides, stretching them and scraping off hair.

Diomande has been a dancer and drummer since childhood, according to a website for his dance troupe, Kotchegna.

As a teenager, he danced with the National Ballet of Ivory Coast and toured all over the world. He founded his own dance company in 1989, the website said.

Authorities said they were not concerned that the transport of the hides or the finished drums to the U.S. posed any health risk because Diomande was probably infected while working with the materials.

The last case of naturally occurring inhalation anthrax was in 1976 in Texas.

A person using wool to make rugs contracted it from contaminated fibers.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.