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Search for Anthrax Spreads to Florida Post Office By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. agents on Friday questioned and tested Florida postal workers who might have handled mail for tabloid publisher American Media in the search for the source of the deadly anthrax that contaminated the company's headquarters.

FBI (news - web sites) officials said the anthrax outbreak in Florida appeared to be contained to the American Media headquarters in Boca Raton and testing of 965 workers, relatives and visitors to the building had turned up no new exposures to the rare bacteria, considered a possible biological warfare agent.

The death of an American Media Inc. employee, the exposure of two co-workers to anthrax and the discovery of anthrax spores in the company's mail room and on a computer keyboard raised fears of bioterrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 5,400 people.

Another case of anthrax also was disclosed in New York on Friday, where an employee of NBC News was diagnosed with a different, skin form of the disease after opening a suspicious letter.

Despite the fact that all four U.S. anthrax cases occurred at media companies, Hector Pesquera, chief of the Miami FBI office, said the agency had no evidence to connect the New York case with the three in Florida.

``No link whatsoever so far,'' he said at a news conference outside the quarantined AMI headquarters.

A week after American Media photo editor Robert Stevens, 63, died from anthrax infection, an intensive FBI investigation spread across Florida from the tabloid headquarters to three nearby postal facilities.

A limited number of postal workers who might have handled mail for the AMI building were being interviewed and swab tested for signs of anthrax.

``This is a step of extraordinary precaution to protect public safety,'' said Bradley Perkins, an investigator with the Centers for Disease Control.

Steve Coz, the editor of American Media, said he thought Stevens might have contracted anthrax after handling a letter contaminated with spores of the disease.

The American Postal Workers Union, which represents Miami-area postal workers, filed a notice of intent to sue President Bush (news - web sites), Tom Ridge, the new director of homeland security, other top U.S. officials and the U.S. Postal Service for failing to properly protect workers from the danger of attacks through the mail.

Union officials said at least a dozen of the 40 to 50 workers at the Boca main post office were being given nasal swab tests and antibiotics used to counter anthrax, a bacterial disease spread by spores and generally confined to sheep, cattle, horses, goats and pigs.

AMI employee Ernesto Blanco, who worked in the mail room, was the second worker to test positive for exposure to anthrax. He was a frequent visitor to the branch to pick up mail.

``They started questioning some of the employees that may have had contact with Mr. Blanco,'' said Gil Santana, an union official. ``They started testing the workers.''

David Pecker, chief executive of the sex-and-scandal U.S. tabloids, including the National Enquirer, Sun, Globe and Weekly World News, said he believed the company was the victim of a bioterror attack but had no idea whether Islamic militant Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 hijack attacks, was behind it.

Pesquera reiterated what FBI officials have said many times during the painstaking search of the AMI building: ``We have no information to indicate that this is a terrorist action.''

Concerned that the probe at American Media was frightening Americans -- agents protected by hazardous materials ``space suits'' have been featured regularly on TV news broadcasts -- officials emphasized that nasal swab testing of more than 1,000 people connected to the building had turned up only two anthrax exposures and neither person was sick with the disease.

Anthrax fears prompted a run on antibiotics at Boca Raton-area pharmacies this week and police have received numerous reports of suspicious packages and powders.

Boca Raton postal workers feared that AMI mail might have contaminated their workplace and wanted the offices searched, Santana said. ``The place could have been contaminated. It should be tested,'' he said.

The APWU Miami local said it would sue federal officials for insisting postal workers ``shake test'' incoming packages and refusing to allow them to wear latex gloves and masks. They also wanted to curtail incoming parcels from foreign nations.

``The United States Postal Service is the only company within the United States that goes to every home and business at least six days per week, if not seven,'' the union's notice said. ``This creates the greatest security risk for all Americans if an executive order is not done to stop all incoming international mailings.''

-- Anonymous, October 12, 2001

Answers

Don't these union officials have anything better to do than to sue the president, other officials , etc.????

-- Anonymous, October 12, 2001

gee Beckie, thanks for the kind thoughts.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2001

Barefoot, I know you work in the P.O. It just irritates me that rather than deal with a problem constructively, the union wants to sue. What is to be gained by suing President Bush?

I agree that workers should be allowed to wear gloves and masks. I don't want anyone hurt by this junk being sent through the mail.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2001

shake testing packages isn't what the mail handlers are there for.

I was at work last night and we had a 'security talk.' They went over the intructions that the postmaster general mentioned from the ELM, which applies to receivers of mail, and they want us to adapt them to our work.

i found two last night that fit the criteria of those instructions. Had to argue with a supervisor about it, just after they said "the employee is our first consideration.'

sue their pants off!

they need to make some new rules such as:

all packages to be sealed in the presence of a window clerk. Customer brings the tape. Enforce current rules regarding envelopes, paticularly those container odd items that make them unable to be processed by machine. Refuse to handle those manually, telling the public that those types of mail will be destroyed instead of returned. enforce the thickness rule. No envelope can be more than 1/4 inch thick. Some people think they can stuff legal briefs into a regular envelope if they tape it shut. The envelope becomes about 1 1/2 inches thick sometimes. These should be mailed in a flat type envelope and not business type.

We do not have access to gloves and masks, several employees have resorted to bringing their own. USPS should make sure these are available at all facilities.

Another thing they should do is remove all street collection boxes. All mail must be brought in person to the post office or mailed from your house. If from your house, the return address and name must match the resident, or it will be refused.

Just some ideas that we were kicking around at work last night.

Oh, those two I found last night? they were taken away to be handled, and I was not told anything about their disposition by the time I left work. So, if they were real threats, I haven't been treated for exposure as yet. I did wash my hands the suggested six minutes with soap and water and three minutes of rinsing. Hard to do whent he faucet likes to turn off after 5 seconds but I managed.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2001

Barefoot, You make a point that I tried to make to upper management when I was a project manager ... Those that actually do the work, usually have the best ideas.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2001