per Mutter at TB2K

Anthrax alert at State Department

MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Nov. 13 — The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that it believes at least one more anthrax-contaminated letter is sitting in its mail system, based on tests conducted on samples taken from a Virginia mail facility.

EIGHT OUT of 55 samples taken from an auxiliary mail facility in Sterling, Va. — and not from the State Department’s Washington headquarters — have indicated anthrax contamination, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told NBC News. He said the samples were collected on Nov. 6, and the results came back Saturday.

The contamination, detected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has led the department to believe that there is at least one letter tainted with anthrax spores that came through the mail and was sorted at the facility, but has not yet been discovered.

There are three sorting machines at the Sterling facility, and all three showed contamination, leading experts to investigate what the sources of the spores might be, Boucher said.

The department stopped all unclassified mail delivery Oct. 24 and told all overseas posts not to open pouches they had received with unclassified mail in them. The newly returned tests mean all this mail will have to be decontaminated and searched.

The investigation — and the freeze on mail delivery — was ordered after a State Department contract employee was found to be infected with anthrax. Investigators had hoped that this was a case of cross-contamination involving mail that was processed at the Brentwood postal distribution facility in Washington, which has emerged as an epicenter for the spread of spores. But the discovery of contamination at the Sterling facility has led investigators to conclude that this was not a case of Brentwood cross-contamination.

POOR GRADES

As the new reports of possible anthrax contamination emerged, a national anti-terrorism panel gave the U.S. government generally poor grades for its response to recent attacks.

The panel said the CDC and federal, state and local agencies lacked the testing laboratories needed to respond to a bioterrorism crisis.

“A national investment in the CDC and at local levels will be required to deal with bioterrorism,” said Dr. Kenneth Shine, a commission member and president of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine.

The commission was formed by the federal government in 1999 to study how well the nation was prepared for biological and other terrorist attacks.

Panel members said at a meeting Monday that the lack of testing labs delayed the discovery of anthrax in government buildings.

In addition to the State Department contamination reported Tuesday, trace amounts of anthrax were found this weekend in 11 Capitol office buildings, nearly a month after an anthrax letter was mailed to Sen. Tom Daschle. Shine also decried turf battles between the CDC and FBI over who had control of anthrax crime scenes.

Commission member M. Patricia Quinlisk, Iowa’s state epidemiologist, said the CDC didn’t do a good job of informing the public or the health care community about who was at risk of contracting anthrax. “The imperfections in communication were widespread,” she said.

The panel, chaired by Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, is putting together its final recommendations to Congress and the White House.

D.C. COLLEGE AFFECTED

In Washington, D.C., the main mailroom at Howard University tested positive for a trace of anthrax spores, prompting campus officials to close eight mail sorting facilities for additional environmental sampling and decontamination if necessary, the Washington Post reported.

The university’s main mailroom is the first nongovernment facility to test positive for anthrax spores after receiving mail from the District’s Brentwood Road mail-processing center, but officials said the finding did not suggest widespread contamination.

Officials from the CDC said that they are satisfied that it does not pose a threat to the Howard community.

“They are following CDC regular guidelines,” agency spokeswoman Cynthia Glocker told the Post. “This is considered a low-risk event.” 11 SENATE OFFICES AFFECTED

Across town, where the number of senators’ suites found in recent days to be contaminated has now reached 11, Police Lt. Dan Nichols said that the latest findings were not unexpected. Police believe letters delivered to other offices in the Hart Senate office building may have been contaminated by the anthrax-filled letter sent to Daschle.

The latest additions are Jon Corzine, Barbara Boxer and Richard Lugar. On Sunday, anthrax was discovered in the offices of Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Russ Feingold, D-Wis.; Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.; Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

On Saturday, trace amounts were found in the Hart building offices of Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho; Bob Graham, D-Fla.; and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Dr. John Eisold, the Capitol physician, said the trace amounts of anthrax pose no health risk and no further testing or treatment is necessary for office workers or visitors.

AN EARLIER CASE?

On Monday, the CDC said that it is testing the blood of a New Jersey physician who believes he might have contracted skin anthrax in the first week of September. The date is significant because it precedes the mailing of anthrax-tainted letters sent out on or around Sept. 18.

The CDC said it is testing the blood of Dr. Gerald M. Weisfogel, one of 4,300 people who have called the state worried that they might have anthrax.

None so far actually had the disease, , state health officials said Monday. The person with New Jersey’s first suspected case of anthrax infection developed symptoms on Sept. 26, eight days after the first of three anthrax-tainted letters was postmarked at a central New Jersey postal facility.

New Jersey has seven suspected cases of anthrax infection; all but one are postal workers. Authorities believe all the infections can be traced to the Hamilton mail processing plant where the letters were routed.

Weisfogel, a cardiologist with offices in northern New Jersey, called the state’s emergency management center to report his case long after his symptoms disappeared. Weisfogel’s test results are not expected for several days.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/638169.asp

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Answers

Link

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Commission member M. Patricia Quinlisk, Iowa’s state epidemiologist, said the CDC didn’t do a good job of informing the public or the health care community about who was at risk of contracting anthrax. “The imperfections in communication were widespread,” she said.

No SHT!

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001