Sanjay Gupta: Chances of natural anthrax

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The fifth confirmed death due to inhalation anthrax puzzles investigators because the 94-year-old woman who died on Wednesday had no known connection to government offices, postal facilities or news outlets which have been tied to all but two of the other 17 anthrax cases.

CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke to CNN Anchor Judy Woodruff on whether this case could be connected to naturally occurring anthrax.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA: Well ... it is a perplexing case. Basically, she became sick one week ago, last Wednesday, and waited a couple of days before she went to the hospital.

She was more ill at that point, with upper respiratory symptoms. Antibiotics were started, and five tests were done at the hospital and local health department. The DNA test was confirmed this morning, showing it to be inhalation anthrax.

It was a little bit confusing as to where she may have contacted anthrax. You think it would be a much easier investigation, given that she did stay pretty close to home and perhaps to her hair dresser, we did hear, from time to time.

But that's really about it. No leads as of yet though, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What about any naturally occurring anthrax in that area?

GUPTA: There could be some naturally occurring anthrax in that area. Whether or not that is was how she contracted it, who knows.

It's an interesting point because you have some cases now coming up around the country -- and I want to try to be as concise and responsible as I can here -- but there will be cases that are going to be ferreted out by the fact that we are looking for anthrax so hard.

Could there have been a case like this last year, that may have been chalked up to unknown, an infection that was unknown and was subsequently treated and never figured out? Could some of those cases have been anthrax, and we are starting to go see them more now because we are looking for them so hard? Possibly.

And in some of the farming communities, some of the areas where farm animals are, you do see some naturally occurring anthrax.

WOODRUFF: But, Sanjay, aren't those primarily skin anthrax cases that we have heard about it, that have come up more frequently ... where there are farm animals?

GUPTA: Absolutely. They say that greater than 95 percent of the cases are skin anthrax. But again, if a lot of cases -- and when I say a lot I mean relatively few in the overall scheme of things, but even 10-15 cases of inhalational anthrax over the last several years that had gone undetected, we really wouldn't know about those cases, so we wouldn't have anything to compare them to. But now, since we are looking for them so hard, maybe we will see some cases of naturally occurring inhalational anthrax.