Anthrax was discovered yesterday on a machine in a White House’s offsite mail processing facility, officials said.  One new inhalation anthrax case has been reported in New Jersey. 

Spores were found at a Secret Service controlled mail facility located on military property away from the White House, according to the Washington Post. Test results found a “trace amount” of spores on a mail-opening machine at the facility, which processes mail for the White House after it passes through the Brentwood Road mail center – the site of several recent anthrax occurrences in Washington, said officials.  About 20 to 50 spores were found, according to the Post. 

The spores have not been linked to any suspicious package or letter, officials said.  White House mail delivery has been stopped since Oct. 11 and no employees have reported any anthrax symptoms, which has led officials to believe no spores reached the White House.  U.S. President George W. Bush, while refusing to say if he had been tested, did say repeatedly “I don’t have anthrax.”

Cases of the flu have been going around in the White House, according to the Post, worrying some staffers who have learned that the first symptoms of anthrax are often similar to the flu.  Many staffers, however, remain unconcerned.  “We have the best protective systems possible and we have it easy compared to many others,” said White House spokesman Jim Wilkinson.  An e-mail sent to White House workers yesterday aby the Office of Management and Administration said “environmental tests of multiple specific areas throughout the White House complex have all been negative including all tests within the 18 acres and associated downtown facilities.”  Six to eight people who worked at the facility, along with White House mailroom workers, will be given nasal swabs to test for anthrax, officials said (Mike Allen, Washington Post, Oct. 24).  

Washington public health officials increased safety precautions for postal workers today after 14 checks at the Brentwood center yesterday tested positive for anthrax (see GSN, Oct. 23).  The center’s 2,000 workers were upgraded from a 10-day to a 60-day antibiotic treatment.  Postal workers at other stations throughout Washington were offered 10 days of antibiotics.  Environmental tests have been planned for other Washington postal offices.  “We need to treat and to treat quickly,” said Washington Health Commissioner Ivan Walks. 

Inhalation anthrax was confirmed as the cause of death for two Washington postal workers, according to the New York Times.  Two other Washington postal workers have been hospitalized for the disease.  Walks said four people have shown suspicious symptoms and specialists were monitoring another 12 cases of “very low” suspicion among postal workers.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said today there would be a more thorough effort to test and treat postal workers at each point of delivery of an anthrax tainted letter.  Thompson said he was more worried about a possible terrorist attack on the U.S. food supply, according to the Times.  “I’m more fearful about this than anything else,” Thompson said. (Francis Clines, New York Times, Oct. 24). 

U.S. senators yesterday criticized the Centers for Disease Control for its lack of response to determine if the Brentwood facility had been contaminated with anthrax, according to the Washington Times.  “It seems to me something broke down here or is broken down,” said Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).  “Obviously people are getting sick and dying, and we can’t let this happen.  Whatever happened at Brentwood, we can’t let happen anywhere else.”

Expectations are being met in spite of a “severely challenged” and “run ragged” public health system, said CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan, adding the CDC had “performed admirably” but lacks funding to meet current demands.  “That’s the oldest story in the world,” said U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).  “The fact is we are generous in our resources” (Jerry Seper, Washington Times, Oct. 24).

New Jersey

The first case of inhaled anthrax in New Jersey has been discovered, officials said yesterday.  The victim is a mail handler at the Hamilton processing center, the same building where another worker contracted the skin form of anthrax last week.  The recent victim is in serious but stable condition and is responding to antibiotics, New Jersey health officials said. 

Officials are considering testing the air in the Hamilton center after finding anthrax spores on 33 of 82 recently tested surfaces, according to the Washington Post.  Rollers and air blowers used in the center may have dispersed anthrax spores into the air, according to officials.  “Now that a New Jersey postal worker has a suspected case of inhalational anthrax, we are considering air and vacuum samples in addition to the swipe samples that have been done,” said acting state Health Commissioner George DiFerdinando.  At a nearby West Trenton, New Jersey, post office, a mail carrier has tested positive for skin anthrax, however, no spores have been found (Russakoff/Powell, Washington Post, Oct. 24).   

“People are so scared.  No one knows who or what to believe anymore,” said Valerie Williams, a postal clerk at the Hamilton center. 

President Bush has ordered an immediate allocation of $175 million to improve safety at U.S. postal facilities in response to a request from the postmaster general (Sanders/Fiore, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 24).

Florida

At the American Media Inc. building in Florida, where the first occurrences of anthrax were discovered (see GSN, Oct. 5), no spores have been discovered in the first floor ventilation system, environmental officials said yesterday.  Tests on samples from the ventilation system came back negative, which may mean that anthrax spores did not spread around the building.  “That’s cause for optimism,” said Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Peyton Fleming.  “It’s good news, because it tells us those areas might be clean.” 

Officials had found anthrax spores in the first-floor mailroom on the keyboard of a worker who was the first man to die from the recent anthrax cases.  EPA officials said they hoped spores had not spread beyond those two places and plan to begin testing air and other surfaces on the second and third floor of the building today (Daniel de Vise, Miami Herald, Oct. 24).

Kenyan Anthrax Scare Proven False

A letter from the United States to Kenya that was believed to be tainted with anthrax has tested negative for the disease, U.S. officials said today.  “After further testing of the Nairobi sample with technical advice from the CDC and embassy medical staff, the initial positive result cannot be replicated or confirmed,” said U.S. embassy spokesman Peter Claussen.  “We now consider the sample to be negative for anthrax.”

Kenyan Health Minister Sam Ongeri said last week a U.S. letter sent to a Kenyan businessman had tested positive “by stain and smear for anthrax.”  Ongeri said further tests were needed to confirm the findings.  The Kenyan case was believed to be the first case of anthrax sent through the mail outside the United States (Simon Denver, RealCities.com, Oct. 24).  

How Congress Has Been Affected

Congressional buildings that have tested positive for anthrax are likely to stay closed for weeks while they are cleaned, said congressional aides.  Four buildings have tested positive since a tainted letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle: the Hart and Dirksen Senate office buildings, the Ford House office building and a Capitol police facility.  Those buildings, as well as other House and Senate office buildings, have remained closed for a sixth day while tests for anthrax continued.

The congressional buildings are planned to be flooded with gas to clean them, said a congressional aide.  “We’ve been told that the buildings have to go through a process in which they are cleaned with gas,” said the aide.  “It’s impossible to work there under those conditions, and it could take a few weeks.  All the buildings that tested positive for anthrax are going to be closed for some time” (Reuters/Planet Ark, Oct. 24).

Congressional members tried to adjust to the loss of their offices as they returned to work yesterday.  “We don’t have a fax machine or a Xerox machine.  We’re trying to hold meetings in receptions rooms and return calls on cellphones,” said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).  Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) wondered when he’d be able to get the family checkbook he left in the Hart building, according to USA Today. Some congressional mail may have to be destroyed so any bacteria cannot spread, said Senator Daschle.  It is unsure when mail delivery to Congress will continue, officials said.

Several congressional activities have been disrupted since the anthrax occurrences.  Votes on the nominations of an appellate court judge and several U.S. attorneys have been delayed because paperwork is in the closed offices, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).  A planned House-Senate conference committee meeting on an education bill was delayed.  Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said she wanted to put off drafting a farm bill until next year.  “The president and his people are trying to fight a war,” said Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) who favored the delay, but other farm state senators said the bill was needed this year (Kiely/Drinkard, USA Today, Oct. 24).

A House hearing on biological warfare defense was moved to the Health and Human Services Department because of the anthrax-related shutdown, according to the Miami Herald.  “We convene this hearing in an unaccustomed place to discuss an unprecedented need for vaccines to protect against the most unnatural outbreaks of disease imaginable – biological terrorism,” Representative Chris Shays (R-Conn.) said (Frank Davies, Miami Herald, Oct. 24).

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