Scores of U.S. Senate staff members have complained of health problems that, some have said, might have resulted from the processes used to decontaminate mail and offices of suspected anthrax, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Feb. 4).

In a briefing yesterday, Senate officers told staff members that 73 people have complained of headaches, eye irritation and skin rashes after handling irradiated mail (see GSN, Jan. 30).  Senate workers attempted at the briefing to learn more about possible causes for the problems.

“The doctors and scientists running the meeting said everyone who is having ill health effects should go to the Capitol physician’s office and be examined, but they also said, ‘Well, it’s flu season,’” a Senate aide said.  “There was a strong implication that the mail should not be making people sick, but then people were complaining that it is.”

Last week, the General Services Administration issued a warning to federal workers that handling irradiated mail could cause minor health problems.  The warning also said, however, that treated mail contains no radioactive substances and emits no radiation.  According to the warning, workers can reduce risks by wearing nonlatex gloves, having coworkers with the least sensitive skin open mail, opening mail in a well-ventilated area and washing hands and using a moisturizer after handling mail.

Sixteen employees of Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) have complained of health problems such as headaches and burning eyes resulting from a “very heavy odor” of chlorine, the senator said yesterday.  Specter’s office is in the Hart Senate Office Building, which was fumigated with chlorine dioxide gas to kill anthrax spores there (see GSN, Jan. 23).

Environmental Protection Agency Ombudsman Robert Martin requested the test results from the EPA that indicated when the Hart building was safe to reopen, according to the Post.

Daily tests inside the building since Jan. 1 found no concentrations of chlorine dioxide above 100 parts per billion, which is the federal workplace safety standard, said Richard Rupert, the EPA on-site coordinator for the Hart building.  More advanced tests conducted last week found no concentrations above five parts per billion, the Post reported.

“We haven’t seen any chlorine dioxide to have a link” to the reported health concerns, Rupert said.  “There is no pattern” (Spencer Hsu, Washington Post, Feb. 7).

“Amerithrax” Investigation Developments

The FBI is expecting genetic testing will help investigators to reduce the list of laboratories that contain stocks of anthrax similar to that used in the attacks, and then the agency will be able to better focus its investigative efforts, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, Jan. 22).

“We can get very focused and very aggressive,” said a senior law enforcement official.

Once the number of possible sources is narrowed down, the FBI will likely use lie detector tests and subpoena employee records to conduct handwriting comparisons on them and the envelopes and letters used in the attacks, the official said.

“When we get the science done, we’re going to bring back the police work and move forward, the official said.

The FBI has also requested tests on other biological properties of the anthrax and chemical analysis on the powder found in the letters, according to the Journal.  About 10 laboratories are working on these analyses, said a senior FBI official.

FBI officials said, however, that genetic testing alone would not provide the smoking gun in the “Amerithrax” investigation into the attacks (see GSN, Jan. 24).

“I don’t think anyone is holding their breath that that alone will solve this case,” said a senior FBI investigator.

“It may not lead you to a person, although it will narrow the universe,” a high-ranking law enforcement official said.  “Then from there, we can take some very affirmative steps” (Schoofs/Fields, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 7).

Cipro Resistance Increasing

A recent study found that a salmonella strain has developed resistance to the antibiotic Cipro, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2001).

The study, to be published tomorrow in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted on 501 samples taken from patients at two Taiwanese hospitals.  Researchers found that in 2000, none of the samples were resistant to Cipro, while last year 60 percent were resistant to the drug.

Since the anthrax attacks late last year, researchers have been concerned that the broad use of Cipro, which is effective against anthrax, could build up a resistance in pathogen strains, according to the Associated Press (AP/New York Times, Feb. 7).

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