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Mention anthrax and about the last thing that comes to mind is whether there’s a drum in the room. Yet tom-toms — or at least the stretched animal hides on their heads — can sometimes spew toxic anthrax spores into the air. Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently highlighted the case of a previously healthy 24-year-old woman who nearly died, last December, after attending a “drumming circle” in New Hampshire.
The disease, classified as gastrointestinal anthrax, started as flu-like symptoms that quickly morphed into vomiting, abdominal tenderness and hunger pains. X-rays turned up swollen segments of her small bowel and a massive buildup of fluids in the space between the interior lining of her abdomen and the exterior surface of nearby organs. The woman was eventually hospitalized and had a portion of her diseased bowel removed.
Initially, no one knew what was wrong with her. But 11 days after the drumming event, blood tests came back indicting anthrax.
The public health community immediately launched a full scale investigation into where she might have encountered the toxic bacteria. That hunt led to a community group’s building that regularly hosted drumming circles. The anthrax victim and 71 others that showed up for the Dec. 4 event had been offered an opportunity to beat on any of 59 drums, including 17 that various attendees and brought from home.
Most drums came from the rec center’s basement. Samples swiped from the heads of two of these drums came back positive for anthrax — as did a swipe from three electrical outlets in the room where the drumming event took place. Anthrax spores from the building matched those that had poisoned the young woman.
Not surprisingly, the building was shut down earlier this year as a massive decontamination effort got underway. And before you ask: Yes, the tainted drums “were properly disposed of,” according to a report in the July 23 edition of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Despite the large number of attendees and drummers, only the one woman developed anthrax. And two months after her surgery, she left the hospital and was expected to make a full recovery.
What’s notable about this case, the CDC report says, is that the bacteria poisoned only the woman's gut. Epidemiologists would have expected that pounding on a drum head would have spewed any anthrax spores into the air, where they would have led to lung disease. Presumably, some spores kicked up by drumming landed in her chow. Or on her hands before she picked up the bread she had eaten at the event.
This is not the only instance where drums have been linked to anthrax. Two years ago, a man died from making drums from an anthrax-tainted hide. A year before that, a Connecticut drum maker developed cutaneous (skin) anthrax while working with untreated goat hides from West Africa. And health officials linked a 2006 case of inhalation anthrax to a New York man’s assembly of traditional African drums using goat hides he’d picked up on a trip to Cðte d’Ivoire. In preparing the skins for use as a drum head, he had soaked the hides in water for an hour, then scraped off the hair with a razor. The man had not worn a mask or glove while he worked.
Anthrax is a naturally occurring bacterium found in soil, so most poisonings affect livestock. Apparently, hide contamination can linger long after an animal dies. For instance, one of the New Hampshire drums found to be tainted earlier this year had been purchased at an “antique shop” at least a dozen years ago. Luckily, investigators learned, it had been played “only rarely.”
CDC has become so concerned about musical instruments as a possible source of anthrax that it has posted a special Q&A for drum makers, percussionists and drum enthusiasts on its website. The new case report also recommends that physicians and public health agencies consider drums as a possible source for any anthrax cases they encounter.
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- Mayo, L., et al. Gastrointestinal Anthrax after an Animal-Hide Drumming Event--New Hampshire and Massachusetts, 2009. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Vol. 59, July 23, 2010, p. 872.
- Stratidis, J., et al. Cutaneous Anthrax Associated with Drum Making Using Goat Hides from West Africa--Connecticut, 2007. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Vol. 57, June 13, 2008, p. 628.
- Inhalation Anthrax Associated with Dried Animal Hides -- Pennsylvania and New York City, 2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Vol. 55, March 17, 2006, p. 280.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Q&A: Anthrax and Animal Hide Drums. [Go to]
- Wright, J.G., et al. Use of Anthrax Vaccine in the United States: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2009. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Recommendations and Reports issue. Vol. 59(rr06), July 23, 2010, p. 1. [Go to]
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You cannot get gastrointestinal anthrax from inhaling spores. The CDC has stated that even if you put a tube into someone's stomach and put anthrax spores into the stomach, you would not be able to get this type of gastrointestinal anthrax. So, if that is true, how did this woman get anthrax. Is it anthrax? That is the question many researchers and doctors are asking at this time.
I have built over 2,000 djembe drums with goat skins and in the 20 years I've never had any student or djembe buyer get sick from a goat skin. And neither has any drum teacher or professional I know in all of the world! We have had over 10,000 students go through our program and no one has ever been sickened by a goat skin or a cow skin or a buffalo or antelope skin. Not anthrax and not anthrax of this type, ever.
People need to know that this story is just the beginning. How this happened is not known yet. Drum Circles, Africa travel to play drums, church drumming, drumming at the beach, drumming at your school, in your home, in a hotel, in a jail, in solitude or with friends and family is ALL healing and good for your body, mind and soul.
Our prayers go out to this woman as she needs our support at this time. She is very sick and needs our help. And please keep your drumming communities from overreacting to this story. We need to know more and we hope that the information will come. Unfortunately, in cases similar to this, it is often left as a mystery.
I can see why the drumming community is especially motivated to offer a different perspective on this woman's illness, and I am grateful for attempts to make sure we are understanding facts, such as how gastrointestinal anthrax can and cannot be acquired, correctly. I guess for me the issue is less specifically about whether blaming the drumming is fair or accurate and more about the general issue of addressing our apparent need to blame, feel in control, and try to sanitize our world, as opposed to trying to deal with painful situations in a way that doesn't result in its own negative consequences.
Using IED's is much more effective and easier to use. So what's with this bull headed foolish policy of making sure all our troops receive the anthrax shots?
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