By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
An outbreak of the bacterial disease shigella (or shigellosis) which apparently started most recently at Central Elementary has not been cleared up as of yet.
"We're still actively in the midst of working on an outbreak," said Bonnie Dodson, administrator of the St. Francis County Health Unit.
At press time, the Health Department was still compiling figures.
The germ can be spread easily. One mother, who asked to remain anonymous, reported that at least two members of her family -- herself and her fifth grade son -- were diagnosed with shigella at the same time, while two other family members had the symptoms.
"Our daughter had some symptoms the week before," the mother said, but we didn't have her tested. It was when it was all breaking out and we thought it was a stomach virus."
She said that might be why many people do not go in for testing. They simply think it's a virus and will go away with time.
The next week, she and her son came down with symptoms.
"The first day we both ran fevers around 103 degrees," she said. "We were both throwing up and both had diarrhea."
The woman and her son tested positive for shigella, and received antibiotics. She believes the antibiotics helped them get over the disease faster. Antibiotics, which are ineffective against viruses, are effective against bacteria such as the shigella germ.
The mother, who spends a lot of time at school, thinks she might have contracted it there.
"When all this broke out at Central, I wish you could have seen the bathrooms," she said. Sick children were in the bathroom, and she said she didn't think the bathroom got cleaned properly. She also said her children have complained of shortages of paper towels and toilet paper.
Later, her 16-year-old son came down with symptoms.
She said she knows that people can catch shigella again and again.
"We call ourselves washing our hands," she said. "And we seem to be well now, but it seems to be going around."
The best defense against the bacteria is still thorough hand-washing. Dodson said this morning that while many people wash their hands, the "thorough" part may be left out.
According to Dodson, small children should be supervised in hand washing.
"We cannot stress that the way to manage this is to properly supervise handwashing in all children," she said. "We're talking about soap on their hands, and vigorous rubbing for 20 seconds at a minimum. And then thoroughly drying. They should wash after they toilet, and before eating or handling food.
"That is the very best thing you can do when you're working with small children. That's something they need to learn. Small children are so social, you cannot overstress proper hand washing."
Grownups, while perhaps not needing supervision, also need to pay more attention to hand washing, she said.
"And for the general public, we're also talking about soap and water, preferably warm water, and vigorous hand rubbing for at least 20 seconds."
Whether it's a so-called "antibacterial soap" or regular, washing needs to be thorough, she insisted.
"Antibacterial soap is not bactericidal," she said. "It just slows down most agents," she said. "What you're wanting is to wash all that contaminant down the drain, and soap is going to take that away from the skin. That and the vigorous rubbing and then the rinse actually become the vehicle to get rid of the bacteria."
By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
A hazardous materials team responded to an anthrax scare Tuesday afternoon at a Wheatley truckstop.
Haz-mat technicians from Forrest City responded to a call at the Phillips 66 Truckstop, the second anthrax scare in the county in the past few days.
The white powdery substance is being taken today to the Arkansas Department of Health where it will be tested for possible anthrax spores, according to St. Francis County Criminal investigator Herbert Neighbors.
An employee at the truckstop said he was checking the men's room when he discovered a pile of the substance in a corner.
The first scare occurred on Saturday when haz-mat crews were called to Hughes on Saturday morning where they found flour on an envelope.
First Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Fletcher Long cautioned people about such scares and possible pranks. "I would love to get one of these people on the stand who has done this and tell him right to his face he is going to the penitentiary for three years," said Long. "Let's see if they think it's funny then."
Apparently, the perpetrators will have to contend with charges for their pranks if they are caught. "They would be charged with terroristic threatening by the state and that carries a penalty of up to six years in the state penitentiary and a fine of $10,000."
Long said he would negotiate the terms and conditions of penalty for the party to make restitution to the city and county for the costly expense of investigating, decontaminating, removing and testing of these substances.
With the threat of bio-terrorism throughout the nation, city and county officials are concerned as to the cost of investigating and decontaminating the substances, even if they turn out to be a hoax.
According to Forrest City Fire Chief Dan Curtner, "It costs the city anywhere between $1,200 and $1,500 every time we go out on a call. The hazardous waste suits can be very costly, depending on what level suit you have. They can cost up to $500. Ours is level B, which are disposable suits and they cost $300 each," he said.
Curtner also said he has not met with city or county officials about increasing the budget for these cost as of yet. "We have been talking among ourselves here at the station, and we are trying to determine what it is we will need to do, and who is going to pay for this. It is going to get very expensive. I do plan to sit down with the city and county officials and tell them we need more money for these things," Curtner added.
According to Curtner, Forrest City has the only haz-mat technicians in this area. Other teams are located in West Memphis, Jonesboro, Helena and West Helena.
"I know this thing is going to get very expensive, but I would give every penny I have to make sure my wife and kids are safe. So, I hope we can get more funds to take care of these incidents," said FCFD Haz-Mat Tech Jimmy Sandage.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Police Department is asking all civic organizations and church groups that are sponsoring Halloween festivities for next week to notify the FCPD of their plans.
Forrest City Chief of Police Clarence McNeary said the police department would like to see as few unattended children as possible trick-or-treating on Halloween night.
"With last month's activities, and the things that have been happening in our country, we think it would be prudent if parents considered only taking their children to the homes of people they know. We know that several organizations are going to have special things planned, and we'd just like to be notified so that we can offer a little extra supervision. We want the holiday to be safe for all those involved," said McNeary.
According to McNeary, the police department would not be increasing their patrols but they will be on the lookout for increased vandalism around the holiday.
"In Forrest City, we haven't really had a problem with things getting out of hand on Halloween, and that goes in large part back to the parents and the community. We will have our regular patrols out that night, and the officers will be keeping an eye out for vandals, but we're really not expecting anything out of the ordinary," McNeary said.
Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant also said that notification of Halloween parties could help with the concerns many parents are facing.
"I have had quite a few parents tell me that they would be taking their children to Halloween parties instead of going through the neighborhoods this year, and that's what we're suggesting. We would like for any civic organizations, churches and so forth to contact not only the police department but also the newspaper so that people can find out where events will be taking place so that this will be a safe holiday for the children," Bryant said.
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee suggested last week that the idea of parents keeping children home for Halloween might be a good one, in light of the anthrax scare.
"We simply don't have law enforcement resources to look at every single Pixie stick...and test it to see it it's anthrax, which it won't be," Huckabee said.
"The problem is there is such a widespread anxiety, we're worrying whether we should discourage people from actually going door-to-door trick or treating," he added.
The Forrest City Police Department can be contacted at 633-3434.