By Sharon Salyer
Herald Writers
Anthrax-inspired fears of suspicious letters arrived in Snohomish County Friday night when a hazardous materials team was sent to a north county home because a package that contained an unknown powder caused the residents to begin coughing.
"We don’t know what this is," sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said. "We have to take every precaution."
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the home about 9:25 p.m. and called in a hazardous materials decontamination team. Authorities instructed the couple to get out of the house and wait for officers to arrive, Jorgensen said.
Authorities had few details about the package late Friday. The package arrived in the mail from Florida. There was no indication how the package was addressed.
The package appeared to be some type of advertisement, Jorgensen said. When the woman opened it, some powder came out and she began coughing. Her husband went to see it and also began coughing, she said. It was not immediately known if the couple was sent to the hospital. Authorities declined to identify the couple.
Jorgensen urged people not to panic.
"Somebody earlier today received some pudding in the mail. It was a white powder. We don’t know if this is harmful or not. We don’t know what this is," Jorgensen said.
The state Health Department lab has been flooded with requests for incidents like these for tests of suspicious substances.
"The things people are calling about for the most part are letters that they receive or objects that have a powdery substance on them," Dr. Jo Hofmann, acting state epidemiologist for communicable disease, said of tests conducted at the north Seattle lab. "But none of these things we’ve received have been associated with a specific threat."
Requests for tests have increased following the discovery of an anthrax case last week that killed a Florida man. Two of his co-workers tested positive for exposure to anthrax spores but have not actually contracted the disease. On Friday, officials announced that a NBC News employee in New York City had contracted a skin form of anthrax.
Meanwhile, Judy May, who works in Snohomish Health District’s communicable disease section, was called Friday by the supervisor of a small printing company worried about possible anthrax exposure. One of the company’s employees had received a plain white envelope with no return address several days ago that contained a white, powdery substance.
May advised the printing company supervisor that any respiratory and intestinal symptoms or skin sores that develop into a black scab should be reported to doctors. An Everett resident whose wife delivers mail said he doesn’t think advice from the postmaster general to watch for suspicious letters and packages is enough.
"I’m concerned because we can’t control it; it’s out of our hands," said John Adams, 50, as he left Everett’s downtown post office building on Hoyt Avenue Friday afternoon.
On the other hand, Jose Contreras said he doesn’t want Americans to become too paranoid.
As part of his job as an electrical engineer, Contreras, a 39-year-old Everett resident, receives many packages throughout the week. But he said he’d only become concerned if the package doesn’t have a return address.
"If I see a credible threat, I’d be a little more concerned, but these are very isolated cases," Contreras said. "There hasn’t been a major breakout, and you can count the cases on the fingers of one hand."
Herald Reporter Cathy Logg and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
You can call Herald Writer Sharon Salyer at 425-339-3486
or send e-mail to salyer@heraldnet.com.
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