Anthrax hits more offices

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A New Jersey woman became the nation’s 15th confirmed anthrax victim Monday, and a New York hospital employee came up positive in preliminary tests late Monday night.

Spores turned up in at least three additional government buildings in a slow, steady spread of bioterrorism.

The newest cases of anthrax are the first involving individuals with no apparent connection either to the mail service or the media.

A 61-year-old hospital stockroom employee has contracted inhalation anthrax, and is in "very, very serious" condition and on a respirator, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. She has been hospitalized since Sunday, when she went to an emergency room with a severe respiratory ailment.

The mayor said the woman is undergoing more testing. If confirmed, she would be the first New York resident to come down with the more dangerous inhaled form of the disease.

The New Jersey woman, whose name was not disclosed, has been treated successfully for the skin form of the disease and released from the hospital, according to authorities. Officials said she works at a business near the Trenton-area Hamilton Township mail processing center, which is shut down because of the discovery of anthrax contamination. The facility processed anthrax-laced letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle as well as NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw and the New York Post.

Administration officials sought to reassure the public that mail was safe. But the New York Area Postal Union filed suit trying to force the closure of a vast processing and distribution center where traces of anthrax were found on four machines. The Postal Service has sealed off the machines and says the rest of the building is safe.

The number of contaminated locations continued to grow. The Supreme Court, State Department and a third government office building that houses the Voice of America and Food and Drug Administration were added to the list, evidence of contamination found in mailrooms in each structure. That followed the disclosure on Sunday that a small amount of anthrax had been found in the Justice Department’s main building. The Department of Agriculture closed the mailroom in its downtown Economic Research Service office after a trace number of anthrax spores were confirmed there.

Authorities have said repeatedly that the anthrax found in that letter was more dangerous than spores found in two other tainted letters sent to Brokaw and the New York Post.

So far scientists have not matched the anthrax mailed from New Jersey with any samples of anthrax available in the United States, a source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.

Investigators suspect that a single person, perhaps a deranged U.S. resident with a biochemistry background, may be behind the attacks.

The anthrax found in a letter to Daschle included silica, a crystal commonly used as a drying agent to control clumping in pharmaceuticals.

The presence of silica suggests that whoever sent the anthrax wanted it to float in the air so people would inhale it, said Greg Poland, a professor of infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic.

Meanwhile, government health officials said Monday they want more people at risk for anthrax to take the drug doxycycline, citing fears that some common bacteria are becoming resistant to the sought-after antibiotic Cipro.

Both drugs are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to treat confirmed cases of anthrax and to protect people who may have been exposed to the bacteria.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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