Posted on 10/22/2001 9:59:18 AM PDT by OWK
Washington, Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- A worker at a Washington postal facility died of a respiratory illness last night, and doctors are awaiting test results to see if he was infected with anthrax, according to the mayor's office.
``We've had one fatality at the Greater Southeast Hospital, a man who reported there last evening with respiratory complaints,'' said Tony Bullock, a spokesman for Mayor Anthony Williams. ``Doctors there are suspicious of a possible anthrax exposure because he worked at same facility where we have a confirmed anthrax case.''
Overall, 10 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with anthrax infections, including a second Washington postal worker diagnosed yesterday with inhalation anthrax who works in the main mail-handling office in the nation's capital.
The postal worker is in ``serious condition, but it's stable,'' said Williams. The ill employee is an express mail handler, said co-worker Claude Francis.
Two other people have been diagnosed with inhalation anthrax, including Robert Stevens, a Florida tabloid newspaper employee, who died Oct. 5.
Seven people have contracted the disease through the skin, the less serious form of anthrax, and all are being treated with antibiotics.
In Washington, health officials also are investigating whether other Washington postal workers with flu-like symptoms have contracted anthrax, a city official said. The symptoms may indicate inhalation anthrax and at least three workers have been hospitalized, said Bullock.
U.S. investigators said they have some leads in finding the culprits behind the tainted letters sent to media organizations in Florida and New York and public officials in Washington. Authorities are investigating whether Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network played a role in the anthrax attacks after the Sept. 11 assaults that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City and damaged the Pentagon.
Cases Linked
Authorities ordered the testing of at least 2,150 mail employees both at a Washington area mail-processing center and at the airmail-handling center near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, said Williams. Both facilities are temporarily closed, and the mail has been diverted to other locations.
Tests are being conducted at D.C. General Hospital in southeast Washington, said Leila Abrar, a spokeswoman for D.C.'s health department. Testing of postal employees was stalled briefly this morning while police officers checked out a report that white powder had been found in one of the hospital rooms, said Sergeant Joe Gentile, a spokesman for D.C. police.
Tests confirmed that the same strain of anthrax was found in the Florida offices of tabloid publisher American Media Inc. and the letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Viacom Inc.'s CBS News, and General Electric Co.'s NBC News in New York.
More than 6,000 nasal swabs have been taken at the U.S. Capitol since a tainted letter was opened in Daschle's office, Senator Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and former surgeon, said yesterday on CBS's ``Face the Nation.'' Anthrax traces have also been found in the mailroom of a U.S. House of Representatives office building.
New Jersey Connection
Of those people tested at the Capitol, 28 staffers were positive for anthrax exposure. The positive test results indicate exposure but not necessarily infection. The employees are taking antibiotics.
The House closed Wednesday to allow what Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, described as a ``routine methodical sweeping of the buildings.''
The Capitol is open today, although lawmakers' offices, which are adjacent to the building, remain closed, said Lieutenant Dan Nichols of the Capitol police. Lawmakers are scheduled to return to work tomorrow.
The anthrax investigation has turned to U.S. Postal Service centers near Trenton, New Jersey, which processed some of the anthrax-contaminated letters.
Tainted letters sent to the New York Post, Daschle and NBC television news anchor Tom Brokaw had Trenton postmarks and similar handwriting.
Three postal employees who work in the Trenton region have been diagnosed with skin anthrax. The most recent case was confirmed by Richard McGarvey, a spokesman for the health department in Pennsylvania, where the third postal worker lives. All three are doing well, according to Dave Jamieson, spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
Employees from the New York Post, NBC and CBS News in New York also have contracted that form of anthrax, as has the infant son of a producer in the New York news offices of Walt Disney Co.'s ABC television network. Tests of the ABC building in New York have not turned up any evidence of anthrax.
There are very few gram positive bacilli of the size of bacillus anthracis.
Most are not human pathogens.
If it's a big gram positive bacillus, and it caused pneumonia, and the victims came from the same location as a man just diagnosed with Anthrax..... it's pretty damned likely that it's bacillus anthracis.
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