ANTHRAX - Hits US consulate in Russia

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BBC

Tuesday, 6 November, 2001, 13:59 GMT

Anthrax hits US consulate in Russia

American officials say anthrax has been found in mail sent to their consulate in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

The letter was sent from Washington.

The news came only hours after it was confirmed that an envelope sent to the US mission in the Pakistani city of Lahore contained anthrax, the third such discovery in Pakistan.

This brings to four the number of US diplomatic missions that have been the target of anthrax attacks.

Antibiotics taken

"Consulate officials (in Yekaterinburg) were informed today that a State Department mail bag confirmed positive for anthrax," an American embassy spokesman in Moscow said on Tuesday.

The mail bag was part of America's standard diplomatic mail service within Russia, officials say.

The consulate staff in Yekaterinburg, the capital of Russia's Ural Mountains region, have now been put on antibiotics.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, confirmed that an envelope sent to its Lahore consulate last week had tested positive for anthrax.

These add to the attacks on the American embassies in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Lima, Peru.

The white powder in the Lahore envelope is now being sent to the United States for further testing.

US officials say the envelope had a local postmark, although this was unreadable.

The consulate was prepared for such an eventuality.

The envelope was opened by a worker wearing a protective mask and gloves who was put on antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

None of the staff has shown any symptoms of anthrax.

Officials puzzled

On Friday the largest selling newspaper in Pakistan, the Daily Jang, confirmed it had also received anthrax spores in a hand-delivered envelope.

Some staff members were put on antibiotics, and the editorial offices were decontaminated.

The government had said there was another earlier confirmed case where anthrax was sent through the post to a computer company.

Pakistani Government officials are still investigating the cases and say they still have. no clear idea who could be responsible

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2001

Answers

One wonders about handling currency these days....

I cut my finger at work last night. The girl next to me was having trouble with her chair. She asked me if I knew how to adjust the backrest so she had some support. I cut my finger [thru the glove] while adjusting it.

the nurse was so funny! I went in to the med unit holding my finger up [with the glove on] and asked for a bandaid. the glove was containing all the blood and looked much worse than it really was. she stood about five feet away while pointing, 'put your gloves in that red container' 'wash your hands there' 'use that soap' 'use those towels' LOL

Once I had it cleaned, she came closer and put antibiotic cream on it, then on a bandage, and put the bandage on. I then picked up new gloves and went back to work.

the rest of the night I didn't use that finger. so I was reduced to using that one hand [my other is on the recuperating list, still] minus one finger. Talk about slow!

They posted the notice about the testing results of our facility. Clean. some workers were upset about the testing, that it wasn't comprehensive enough. The testers only sampled here and there, you see. And we handle a lot of mail. In our operation we get mail that shouldn't even be in our building. Stuff that was mailed in, say, Trenton New Jersey, and addressed to someone in Trenton New Jersey. Obviously it was mis-sorted at some point and sent to us. We then re-sort it manually [by hand] and send it back.

I have my own supply of bandaids so I can change this one each time I wash my hands. You know how they are when they get wet. When I go to work tonight, I will have the nurse look at it. so far it hasn't fallen off. guess that is good sign, huh? Otherwise I wouldn't be able to point.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2001


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