Seeking balance between fact and hysteria

Arguably, most Americans had heard of anthrax but knew little about it before this month.

There were occasional news reports of men transporting the bacteria in vials and being discovered by police. And the nation breathed a collective sigh of relief that another crazy person had been detained. We could sleep at night.

Americans today are getting an unwanted education on this rare health issue. Now we want answers.

It started with Bob Stevens, photo editor at The Sun, a supermarket tabloid in Boca Raton, Fla. He died from the inhaled form of anthrax. And then there was Ernesto Blanco, a mailroom employee at the tabloid who is struggling with the disease. And then there was Tom Brokaw's assistant at NBC in New York.

Perhaps most upsetting, the infant of an ABC News producer is recovering from an anthrax skin infection even now. Investigators believe the baby was infected while visiting the "World News Tonight" offices. Even our children aren't immune from this horror.

A letter sent from Malaysia to a Microsoft branch in Reno, Nev., tested positive for anthrax spores, although nasal swabs on the six people who came into contact with the letter were negative.

And tours of the U.S. Capitol were suspended indefinitely Monday after a letter opened in Senate majority leader Tom Daschle's office tested positive for anthrax.

The FBI is in the thick of the investigations now, running from one point to another trying to stop the flow.

But at this point there's no sticking a thumb in the dam. A tidal wave of fear and panic is starting to wash over the nation. Even here in Southeast Missouri, a little powder on a letter can send the recipient rushing to his local police station.

FBI agents keep repeating that there is no known link between the anthrax and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But something is prompting this behavior, and certainly we didn't see it before the attacks. The time for investigation and public education was a month ago.

But now that it has begun, perhaps the best advice comes from Cape Girardeau's police chief. He says if we become panicked and paranoid as a nation, if we change the way we live because we are constantly fearful, evildoers have won.

Chief Steve Strong said this week: "People are going to have to use some good common sense here. I'm a little more careful than I was two months ago, but you've got to be reasonable. ... If I were a state or federal elected official and the letter is postmarked Afghanistan, then I would be careful. But if you're a farmer from Crump, like I am, then the threat level is probably not as great."