State looks for possible anthrax letter
Date: Tuesday, November 13 @ 22:43:31 CET
Topic: Anthrax
By ELI J. LAKE, United Press International
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) --
The State Department will check three weeks of accumulated and quarantined mail, based on a theory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that there likely is another anthrax letter lurking somewhere in the postal system, officials said Tuesday.
CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan said the additional anthrax letter theory is the "one that seems the most probable to us." A notice sent to State employees Monday said sampling results "support the theory that more than one letter like the one sent to Sen. (Tom) Daschle (D-S.D.) moved through the U.S. postal system."
"We presume that if this letter had reached its intended recipient, it would have been reported by now. A diligent search of our mail system should recover this letter if it was held up when the mail system was shut down," the notice said.
Last week the CDC found eight positive anthrax samples from three separate mail sorters at State's Sterling Va., mail processing facility --the main distribution center to the department and U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. In addition, environmental sampling confirmed anthrax was found in a mail pouch sent to the U.S. embassy in Lima, Peru.
One contract worker at the Sterling facility was hospitalized with inhalation anthrax infection but was released last Friday and is expected to fully recover after a special combination of antibiotics was able to thwart the spread of the bacteria to toxic levels in his system. Dr. Steven Ostroff, an anthrax expert with the CDC's National Center for Infectious Disease, said Tuesday, "One of the potential explanations for the inhalation anthrax case in that employee was that there was an unrecognized additional letter that went through that system." Mail delivery was halted and mail quarantined after the man became ill. An FBI team met with State Department medical personnel and Diplomatic Security officials Tuesday to discuss how to find the letter. Ostroff said State Department officials "recognize the precautions necessary" in sorting this mail but added CDC would provide consultation on how to ensure no one is exposed to anthrax spores during the process.
The good news is there continue to be no new suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection. The total stands at 17 confirmed -- including 10 inhalation infections and seven cases of cutaneous or skin infection. Of these, four people have died from inhalation infections. There continue to be hot spots for anthrax spores that pop up in Washington, most recently at Howard University and earlier at additional offices in the Hart Senate Office Building, where the Daschle letter was sent. Koplan said these sites are quickly cleaned up and do not present a threat to public health. There continue to be potential anthrax cases nationwide and Koplan said more than 10,000 false alarms have been reported by state and local health officials. There still is no evidence pointing to who may be responsible for sending anthrax through the mail. The CDC continues to work with the FBI on the investigation but, as the clinical crisis eases, has pulled some investigators from the main sites in New York, Washington, New Jersey and Florida, back to Atlanta headquarters. In South Florida, where the entire anthrax scare began in early October, the Environmental Protection Agency has turned the American Media Inc. building, the initial anthrax site, back to its owner. Photo editor Bob Stevens, 63, died of an anthrax infection Oct. 5. Mailroom worker Ernesto Blanco, 73, also was infected, but he is recovering.
The EPA notified American Media Chairman David Pecker there are "hot spots" of anthrax on all three floors. Pecker told employees he has asked the EPA to be more specific about the location of the anthrax. "We had requested that the EPA undertake additional testing to disclose the intensity of a 'hot' area in order to fine tune a building cleanup plan that would better fit the actual conditions of our building, but it does not appear they will assist us in this endeavor," Pecker said. Pecker said he doubted findings by the EPA that there are no anthrax spores in the building's ventilation system. The EPA decided last Friday it was not qualified to handle the cleanup, prompting the decision to return the building over to AMI control. AMI has hired a consultant to help with the task.
The dispute appeared to make it less likely the supermarket tabloid publishing company would move back into the building. Pecker has told the 300 employees once he is convinced the building is safe, he will ask them to vote on whether to move back in. He said it would take a 90 percent vote to make that move.
The building, however, remains under quarantine by the Palm Beach County Health Department.
(With additional reporting by Ellen Beck in Washington and Les Kjos in Miami)
Now I need to go do another search on that intern that left the e-mail regarding the "surprises" he had left for his former coworkers. I think he had referenced little surprises he had left hidden for them but I'll have to go look to quote him directly.