House shut down after dozens exposed to anthrax

By David Espo

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders ordered an unprecedented shutdown of the House today after more than two dozen people in Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s office tested positive for exposure to a highly concentrated form of anthrax.

“We will not let this stop the work of the Senate,” Daschle said at a news conference outside the Capitol. He said 31 people have had “positive nasal swabs,” including two Capitol police officers. Despite the vow to remain open, officials said all three of the Senate’s office buildings would be shut down Thursday and Friday for testing.

Daschle made his announcement a short while after Speaker Dennis Hastert said that anthrax had been found in the Senate’s mailroom.

“To ensure safety we thought it best to do a complete sweep, an environmental sweep,” he said, adding that House members and staff would be sent home at day’s end, until at least Tuesday.

Three government officials said today there was no evidence of any foreign or terrorist involvement although they continue to investigate the possibility. One official said there was evidence that could point toward a domestic culprit.

On a day of rapidly unfolding events, Hastert also told reporters that a suspicious package had been removed from his suite of staff offices on the fourth floor of the Capitol and was being tested for anthrax.

In addition, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., announced that two of his aides had tested positive for exposure to anthrax. Feingold’s office is adjacent to Daschle’s suite in the Hart Senate Office Building. It was not known whether the aides had entered Daschle’s suite.

Five weeks after terrorist strikes killed thousands in New York and Washington, there was cause for bioterrorism concern elsewhere around the country. In New York, Gov. George Pataki announced that a test conducted in his midtown Manhattan office showed the presence of anthrax. Officials said the suite of offices had been closed for further testing and decontamination.

Pataki said one test did indicate “the probability of anthrax,” adding that “the odds are very high” that subsequent testing will confirm the presence of anthrax.

Outside of Washington, four people are known to have contracted anthrax and nine others have tested positive for the bacteria.

With word of the positive test results on Capitol Hill, officials opened a second anthrax testing center in the physician’s office on the first floor of the Capitol. A line extended up to the second floor. Tests also were available in an office building across the street. There, more than 1,000 people were tested on Tuesday and given a three-day supply of antibiotics as a precaution.

At his news conference, Hastert told reporters that his staff offices on the fourth floor of the Capitol had been placed under quarantine. Hastert spokesman John Feehery said the step was taken after an aide to the speaker recalled seeing a letter that bore lettering similar to what was on the letter sent to Daschle and a second anthrax-tainted letter addressed to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw.

Hastert also told reporters that anthrax had gotten “into the ventilation system” in Senate portion of the Capitol complex. But a short while later, Scott Lillibridge, a bioterrorism expert at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the only known evidence of anthrax was found in Daschle’s office across the street from the Capitol and in the Senate’s mailroom in a second office building.

“There is absolutely no evidence of infection at this point,” Daschle said. “All of those who had had this positive nasal swab have been on antibiotics for some time and the good news is that everyone is OK.”

Daschle, flanked by Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott, sought to ease concerns that had been raised by word of the positive test results and by Hastert’s announcement that House members and staff would be sent home at day’s end to allow for environmental testing.

“There will be a vote this afternoon,” Daschle said. “We will be in session and have a vote or votes tomorrow.”

Senate leaders were accompanied by numerous federal officials, several of whom stepped before the microphone to announce developments in the most reassuring manner possible.

“This particular strain of anthrax is sensitive to all antibiotics,” said Maj. Gen. John Parker, speaking on behalf of the Ft. Detrick military lab technicians in Maryland who performed the tests on the samples.

He described it as “common variety” anthrax.

While some of the anthrax-laced powder was refined in a way to make it airborne, preliminary tests suggest the strain was common to the United States, a government official said. The official added the letters sent to Brokaw and Daschle urged the use of medicine and alerted the recipients to the presence of the poison – something deemed unlikely for a terrorist seeking mass casualties.

In an atmosphere of some confusion, finger-pointing broke out between members of the House and Senate. Some senators openly questioned Hastert’s announcement of a shutdown. But at his second news conference of the day, Hastert said there had been an agreement between the two houses “that we would close our offices this evening.”

He said the Senate would conduct only a pro forma session on Friday, and its offices would be closed as well.

A positive finding does not mean the person has the disease or will get the disease. About 8,000 spores must be inhaled for a person to develop inhalation anthrax.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, testifying on Capitol Hill, said, “There’s no question this is a very serious attempt at anthrax poisoning.”

Lillibridge added: “There’s been some attempt to collect it, perhaps refine it and perhaps make it more concentrated. That seems certain.”