Results tagged “vadodiomande”

The Greenwich Village dancer, Vado Diomande, who fell ill because of anthrax exposure made a public appearance yesterday at the Pennsylvania hospital where he is being treated. During a press conference, Diomande thanked his doctors and did a little dance for the cameras. Diomande was hospitalized last month and caused an antrhax scare when he collapsed during a performance. Diagnosed with inhalation anthrax, the Ivory Coast native had a very slim chance of survival, but lives to drum and dance another day.

), the bigger question seems to be whether or not the country's customs laws are tough to regulate the flow of various agents onto U.S. soil - and the answer seems to be no. It's pointed out that when Diomande could have notified authoritities about shipping goat skins from Africa various steps along the way, but he didn't:

"Absolutely, there are questions on the Customs declarations asking if the person is importing any type of animals, plants or meats, or whether they have been on a farm," said Lucille Cirillo, a supervisory Customs and Border Protection officer in the New York field office. "All the indications that I have gotten are that Mr. Diomande did not declare anything on his Customs declaration on the 20th of December."

Maybe Diomande thought that since these were goat skins, they didn't really count - they were already dead, of course. And not delcaring items it not so uncommon - foodies would smuggle unpasteurized cheese in from France. Gothamist found the reaction of other African drum makers the NY Times interviewed amusing: They claimed not to be afraid of anthrax - only the government.

Yesterday afternoon there was the fear of anthrax in the air. But it turned out not to be the weaponized kind mailed to newscasters or politicians - it was actually seemed to naturally occuring anthrax in animal hides that a Manhattan dancer/drum-maker. There are conflicting reports about the case, such as as to whether or not Vado Diomande brought the hides back to NYC from Africa (it's illegal) or if he bought them from a distributor, or whether or not he contracted anthrax from the hides here, but what officials do not believe anyone is at risk. Even though swarms of cops, health officials and even the FBI checked out Diomande's apartment in the West Village and workspace in Dumbo, Mayor Bloomberg was quick to point out, "If you didn't work with the hides, you're not going to contract anthrax. So if you live next door or if you shook hands with the guy, you're don't have a risk. You'd have to really work with the untreated hides." (But a few people who came in contact with the hides are taking antibiotics.) So, the only anthrax we should be afraid of is the white stuff, but try not to handle untreated animal hides if you can.