New Jersey Mailbox Tests Positive for Anthrax

Reuters via Yahoo ^ | Mon Aug 12, 9:27 PM ET | Unknown

[B-bone]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. postal inspectors investigating the anthrax mailings linked to five deaths have discovered a mailbox that tested positive for traces of the bacteria, a postal official said on Monday.

The mailbox was found on Thursday night in Princeton, New Jersey, and has been sent to a U.S. Army facility in Aberdeen, Maryland, for forensic analysis, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Dan Mihalko told Reuters.

He said the mailbox was discovered as investigators checked hundreds of boxes from which mail is funneled to a postal sorting center in Trenton, New Jersey, where four anthrax-laced letters were postmarked last year.

"We've been looking at all the mailboxes that feed into the Trenton facility," Mihalko said. "One of them did test positive."

The mailbox was sent to the army laboratory for more conclusive tests, he said, adding, "We've seen in the past, field tests that turn up false positives."

Five people died and 13 were sickened last year as anthrax-tainted letters were sent to government officials and media outlets in Washington, Florida and New York. The letters were mailed in the weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The FBI launched an investigation in October to find the person responsible for the anthrax attacks. Authorities are offering a $2.5 million reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[Dog Gone]

There is nothing worse than having your mailbox confiscated and sent to the FBI. I hate that.

[Catspaw]

They just found this mailbox NOW? Incredible, just incredible.

[okie01]

Ping.

[First_Salute]

This the kind of detail work that was once done very well by the F.B.I.

[My Favorite Headache]

[Fred Mertz]

Why is all this anthrax news coming out 11 months after the initial attack?

[JulieRNR21]

It is unclear from the article if this is a private home mailbox or a larger PO mailbox.....very strange that it would take so long to find it. Could this be a more recent contamination?

[Catspaw]

I'd like to know why it took them 11 months to find this mailbox, and for personal reasons. At the time, my daughter lived in Princeton and also has rheumatoid arthritis. Because of the many drugs she's on, her immune system is compromised. This could have, quite literally, killed her.

[B-bone]

I suspect that they either just got around to testing this mailbox--I won't want to begin to count the number of mailboxes they would have had to check if the were thorough--or are just getting the results back.

I also presume that this refers to a pick-up box rather than an individuals home mailbox.

[aristeides]

There was somebody who kept posting here shortly after the anthrax mailings insisting on a Princeton connection. I forget the person's screen name.

I wonder if this mailbox was in or near the Princeton University microbiology department.

[Catspaw]

That it was a regular drop-off mailbox is even more frightening.

FYI, Nassau Street is the main drag in Princeton.

Anthrax Spores Found in Princeton Mailbox

NEWARK, NJ: August 12, 2002 — Anthrax spores were found inside a Princeton mailbox tested after workers at a regional mail sorting facility contracted the bacteria in October, Gov. James E. McGreevey said.

The mailbox was removed last week and there is no danger to the public, McGreevey said Monday. He spoke at a press conference with the state attorney general, David Samson, and Louie Allen, special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark office.

"No new cases have been detected beyond the original cases in October 2001," McGreevey said. "With the subsequent removal of the mailbox, no further threat exists."

McGreevey said he did not know when the tests were done. Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, declined to say.

The mailbox is a standard blue public drop-box that was located on Nassau Street near Princeton University.

Its mail was fed through the sorting facility in Hamilton Township, and was among 600 chosen to be swabbed for anthrax spores by the U.S. attorney's office in Newark, McGreevey said. He did not know how or why the mailboxes were chosen.

Thirty-nine of the 600 mailboxes have yet to be tested.

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie issued a statement confirming the governor's announcement. He said the matter was under investigation.

Drewniak declined to say what effect the positive test might have on the investigation.

Dr. Clifton Lacy, commissioner of the state Department of Health and Senior Services, said the test results came back positive Thursday at the department's Public Health and Environmental Laboratory.

"It was not a field test," he said. "It was a sample done in the laboratory."

Lacy said a department survey of 240,000 emergency room visits and 7,100 stays in intensive care units in and around the state following the October infections turned up no new anthrax cases.

Hamilton handles mail for 46 area post offices and has been closed since Oct. 18. The office processed anthrax-tainted letters sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, U.S. Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy and the New York Post.

Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Last Updated: Aug 12, 2002

[kayak]

ping

[Catspaw]

It was right near the college. The "main drag" part of Nassau street is directly across the street from Princeton University.

[Fred Mertz]

There were lots of discussion about a possible Princeton connection way back when. I don't recall the screen names either.

I wonder how long these mailboxes have been in quarantine? It doesn't sound like a diligent investigation, unless I'm missing something here.

[aristeides]

You're right. Nassau St. is the main drag in Princeton. I find it hard to believe the public mailboxes on this street were not tested after the news last year. Maybe it's just that we're only being told about this discovery now.

[aristeides]

It was right near the college. The "main drag" part of Nassau street is directly across the street from Princeton University.

How well I know! I was a Princeton undergraduate 1964-8, and worked at the Institute for Advanced Study 1982-91. I have been on that part of Nassau St. countless times.

[Catspaw]

The article says the found the mailbox on Thursday night. I can only hope it's a false positive. I do know that when anthrax hit the Trenton Post Office, my daughter's RA doc told her not to even touch the mail, no contact whatsoever. For months, her long-suffering fiance stood outside her window, holding up each piece of mail for her to see. If it was a bill, she wrote a check, gave it to him later and he mailed it for her. I'll allow myself some borderline hysteria, but I do know her RA doc was so so right.

The mailbox was found on Thursday night in Princeton, New Jersey, and has been sent to a U.S. Army facility in Aberdeen, Maryland, for forensic analysis, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Dan Mihalko told Reuters.

[Ciexyz]

The article doesn't say much. Raises more questions than it answers.