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-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

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CBS Staffer Tests Positive For Anthrax

Employee In Dan Rather's Office Expected To Make Full Recovery FBI Announces $1 Million Reward For Info On Anthrax Suspects Senate Open Despite Anthrax Scare; House Closes For Clean Sweep

NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2001 (CBS) An employee in CBS News Anchor Dan Rather's office has tested positive for the skin form of anthrax, the network said Thursday.

"She is expected to make a full recovery; in fact, she feels fine," said Andrew Heyward, CBS News president. He said she was being treated with antibiotics.

The employee experienced swelling in her face Oct. 1 and reported her symptoms to health officials. It was not immediately known she became infected, but she handled mail.

Watch a live WebCast of a CBS press conference at 12:30 p.m. ET.

New York Health Commissioner Neal Cohen said the employee was exposed to "what we presume to be from some granules of anthrax that was delivered in an envelope."

"We are not certain of that but it makes sense given the nature of the work that she does," Cohen said. "There are no public health concerns in the building or the floor that she works."

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said there was no sign of anyone else at CBS with symptoms.

Anthrax has already been found on the skin of an assistant to NBC-TV News anchor Tom Brokaw and the infant son of an ABC-TV producer who took the child on a visit to the network's office.

In Washington, the FBI and U.S. Postal Service on Thursday announced an award up to $1 million for information leading to the arrest of those who sent anthrax through the mail.

FBI director Robert Mueller said the reward would be for "information leading to the arrest and conviction for terrorist acts of mailing anthrax."

Seeking to calm public anxiety over the anthrax attacks, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge reminded Americans that a total of just five people have been infected with anthrax out of the "thousands and thousands" who have been tested so far.

"There is a great deal of speculation out there, obvious concern ... to all Americans," Ridge said. "Instead of speculating, we'd like to focus on the facts," said Ridge, in his first news briefing since taking the newly created post last week.

The Senate was open for business Thursday, continuing work despite the anthrax scare that convinced House leaders to shut down operations through the weekend to allow for extensive environmental testing.

At least 31 people in the Hart Senate Office Building across the street from the Capitol were exposed to anthrax Monday when a powdery substance fell from a letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

Tests performed on some 1,200 people at the Capitol complex were likely to show at least a few more were exposed to anthrax, said Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a medical doctor. He expressed confidence that early treatment would succeed against any who might be infected.

And in what may be the first case of tainted mail outside the United States, officials in Kenya said Thursday a letter mailed to an unidentified recipient in their country from Atlanta has tested positive for anthrax spores.

Spores have also been found in the midtown Manhattan office of New York Gov. George Pataki. The governor's office was shut Wednesday after an initial test detected anthrax.

"The odds are very high" that testing will confirm the presence of the bacterium, Pataki said.

House leaders shut down operations through the weekend to allow for extensive testing and the Senate announced plans to close all three of its sprawling office buildings but said it would still convene on Thursday.

While the only known confirmed exposures were among Senate staff, House Speaker Dennis Hastert's employees had reported suspicious mail in their suite of offices Wednesday. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said a letter sent to Hastert or his staff was being tested for anthrax.

Gephardt defended the "prudent and careful" decision to shut House operations.

"We're doing what any other building anywhere in the country should do" in a similar situation, he said. "We've got to resume normal life but we've got to be careful and vigilant and we've got to make sure we're not putting people in harm's way."

A federal health official, meanwhile, said tests indicated a link between the strains of anthrax sent to Brokaw in New York and the anthrax found at American Media in Florida, where one man has died and a second man is hospitalized.

After preliminary testing, Dr. David Fleming of the Centers for Disease Control said "the strain in New York appears to match the strain in Florida."

It was not yet clear whether the anthrax found in the letter sent to Daschle's office came from the same strain. And experts now say the anthrax spores in the Daschle letter may not be quite as potent as first thought, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

Senior law enforcement officials confirm that samples of the bacteria are responding to antibiotics, a sign that the spores may not have been designed for use in military weapons, since most military grade anthrax is treated to resist antibiotics like penicillin and Cipro.

Government scientists caution, however, that not all of their tests are complete.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001