CASTRO: ANTHRAX IS LESS WORRYING THAN A COMMON COLD

Organizacion Autentica

CASTRO: ANTHRAX IS LESS WORRYING THAN A COMMON COLD

By Reuters

HAVANA, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro said Wednesday that anthrax, the germ warfare agent which has killed three people and spread panic in the United States over recent weeks, was less worrying than a common cold.

"Studied properly, anthrax is less serious than a cold," he said in a speech in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. "There are appropriate medicines to make the bacteria disappear very quickly."

Castro said the current anthrax scare in the United States, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, was being exaggerated.

"The intentional use of any product of this sort ... is an unacceptable crime," he said. "But they shouldn't allow this to become an instrument of panic."

Castro's speech, at the inauguration of a school for social workers, was carried live on state TV.