Panicked parents worried by anthrax

Michelle Dembiski could almost taste the homemade peanut butter cookies as she tore open the package her mother had sent her.

But inside she found not baked goods, but a gas mask intended to protect against anthrax or other bioterrorism weapons.

"Well, it wasn't really a gas mask," the College sophomore explained. "My mom works at a steel mill so it's a respirator from her work."

Accompanying the respirator was a note advising Dembiski to carry it in her purse, offering advice from CNN on how to survive emergency situations and warnings to avoid public transportation, among other now possible danger areas.

"Every time that I'm not within her sight, she thinks that something is going to happen to me," said Dembiski, a native of Pittsburgh.

Over the past two months, many students have received advice and warnings from concerned parents, but several said they attributed it to their parents' paranoia more than to any actual danger at the University.

But some parents have continued to worry, even offering to provide students with Cipro, the antibiotic most commonly used to treat anthrax bacteria -- even though both Student Health Services and students themselves have been down-playing the risk as well as any need for proactive treatment.

"My dad prescribed it for me because obviously he was worried about it, and also because he knows that I know how powerful antibiotics are and I would never take it unless I really need it," said College junior Josh Rosenberg, who had the prescription filled weeks ago but had not yet picked up the medication.

"I guess I haven't because I'm just not worried enough," Rosenberg said. "I'm just not in a particularly dangerous position."

Both the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Student Health Services have been especially careful to avoid stockpiling medications. And Cipro in particular can cause severe, life-threatening allergic reactions in some people -- plus, using any antibiotic unnecessarily can increase resistance to the medication.

But parents across the nation and especially in the New York area are finding ways to guard against what they perceive as an especially menacing situation.

For one, College senior Maya Gat said that her mother, a resident of Manhattan, wanted to make sure that she had a supply of Cipro no matter how vague the danger may seem.

"She purchased it, and she's sending it to me just in case," Gat said. "She's a little paranoid, but it's sweet. It's probably a lot more of an issue for her than it is in Philadelphia. She has to see it every day and deal with it."

But for some students, Philadelphia is still a safe haven, despite the terrorist acts that have shaken the United States.

Originally from Israel, College freshman Adi Shafir said that news of the attacks was not something entirely unfamiliar to her family.

"The fact that where we live terrorist acts are a part of daily life and the fiber of our existence made it so that it wasn't a new concept for my parents.... It was just new in the location. We come [to the United States on vacation] to get away from living in a place that's in constant turmoil."

But even from Israel, Shafir's parents have issued occasional warnings.

"They're not saying 'Don't go out'... but when they heard about the explosives that were found in the Greyhound terminal, they did call and say, 'Don't ride public transportation.'"

Whether it is paranoia or just common sense, many students said they had trouble taking their parents' advice seriously, or thought that they were actually in the safer situation of the two.

"Probably because I don't have kids, I'm thinking rationally about it," Rosenberg said, "whereas they just want me to be safe."

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