Vado Diomande, a drum maker and choreographer, who had a drum-making studio in DUMBO contracted Anthrax from spores found on the untreated skins of African goats he used to make drums.

Diomande came down with Anthrax while traveling in Pennsylvania, where he is in a hospital. Here’s the story from New York 1.

City officials say a Manhattan resident has been hospitalized after he
was accidentally exposed to inhalation anthrax while working with
animal skins in Brooklyn, but investigators say there is no evidence
the exposure has anything to do with terrorism.

In a press conference at City Hall Wednesday afternoon, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg announced the 44-year-old man, who sources say is
Vado Diomande, became ill last Thursday, February 16th, during a trip
to Pennsylvania.

Diomande was hospitalized in the town of Sayre, where doctors
diagnosed the inhalation anthrax exposure and traced it back to New
York City.

Diomande is now recovering in a hospital in Sayre, where he is in an Intensive Care Unit listed in fair condition.

City officials say Diomande, the artistic director at the Manhattan
dance company Kotchegna, makes African drums from animal skins.
Investigators believe was exposed to the anthrax after he worked with
unprocessed cow and goat hides that he had purchased on a visit to the
Ivory Coast in Africa in December.

The city says he told investigators he worked with the animal skins in the days prior to his trip to Pennsylvania.

Anthrax is a potentially deadly agent that naturally occurs in animals such as goats and cows.

As a result of the exposure, the Department of Health and the
Centers for Disease Control have sealed off Diomande