Posted on 05/20/2002 3:03:53 PM PDT by kristinn
A friend of mine who works at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. just informed me that "Building J" was closed today and workers sent home after the loading dock tested positive for anthrax.
A second test was inconclusive, so workers were sent home and will not return to the building for at least a few days. The air conditioning in the building has been turned off to avoid spreading any possible anthrax spores.
It is not known when it will be determined whether or not anthrax is actually present at Building J. If I get any updates I'll post them here.
That was over two weeks ago and we haven't heard the outcome of those results yet.
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That's H Building, the auditorium, at 600 19th Street, N.W., actually just off the GWU campus, I believe, but right on the edge of it.
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The reporter said "the first batch of tests" on a bundle of mail came back positive at the building. A more sophisticated batch of tests was done off-site and the results were negative.
The third test is a "culture" and will be completed Wednesday or Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some 1,200 World Bank employees were advised to stay home from work on Tuesday after inconclusive tests detected anthrax contamination on mail bound for their building, a World Bank spokeswoman said on Monday.
After routine anthrax testing of mail that was to be delivered to one of five World Bank buildings in Washington came back positive, it was put through a second more sophisticated test, which came back negative, World Bank spokeswoman Caroline Anstey said.
The sample in question was then sent to a facility in West Virginia for a determinative culture test, which will take as long as three days to complete, she said. In the meantime, employees who work in the building at Pennsylvania Avenue and 18th Street Northwest, which is not the World Bank's main building, have been asked to stay home from work and telecommute, if possible, Anstey said. The employees are assigned mostly to African regional issues.
"We're taking every precaution," Anstey added. Although the questionable batch of mail was never delivered to the building, it was tested next door. There is some concern that if it turns out to have been contaminated, anthrax spores could make their way into a ventilation system that serves the building, Anstey said.
Last fall, five people died and about a dozen others were treated as anthrax-tainted letters were sent to government officials and media outlets in Washington, Florida and New York.
Although no one has been charged in the attack, an FBI spokesman said an investigation is still underway. As part of that investigation ABC News "World News Tonight" reported on Monday that the government wants to administer lie detector tests to as many as 200 current and former employees at Fort Detrick, Maryland, about 40 miles northwest of Washington, and Dugway Proving Ground, which is about 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the absence of a prime suspect, the polygraphs, which the government will begin conducting in June, are expected to give investigators new leads, ABC said. ABC, citing unidentified sources and law enforcement officials, said the anthrax that was sent through the mail last fall is consistent with the Ames anthrax strain stored at Fort Detrick and then distributed to labs for research.
Investigators are interested in talking to employees who previously had access to the anthrax, as well as those who have access it now, ABC said.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment on the report.
This FR exclusive beat everyone by five hours. The Reuters story is now at the top of the Drudge Report.
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