[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Experts: Unlikely that post office contamination tainted other mail with anthrax
Monday, Oct. 22, 2001
 
• Anthrax Primer
• Testing for Anthrax
• Anthrax: Quick Facts
AP Photo
A microscopic view of stained anthrax bacteria is seen in this undated handout photo from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command at Fort Detrick, Md.
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON – It's highly unlikely that any anthrax present in a Washington post office could have contaminated other letters awaiting delivery to people's homes, anthrax experts said Monday.

"Your mail could not hold onto enough spores in the process of making it from the postal processing area to your home," explained Dr. Bruce Clements of St. Louis University. "I don't think people need to be concerned about receiving their mail at home."

Health officials Monday announced that the bacteria somehow circulated through a Washington postal facility, sickening at least two workers with the deadly inhalation form of anthrax and possibly killing two others.

Two men in Florida, one of whom died, have also been diagnosed in the past 21/2 weeks with inhalation anthrax, a disease not seen in this country since 1978. Six others, including two postal workers in New Jersey, have been infected with a highly treatable form of anthrax that is contracted through the skin.

The Washington post office processed the anthrax-containing letter received by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle last week, but that letter was sealed. Doctors agree a person must inhale at least 8,000 spores deep into the lungs to contract inhalation anthrax.

How the postal workers could have breathed in that much remains a mystery that has bioterrorism experts like Clements puzzled.

One possibility is that the postal system cleans its equipment with air hoses. "We blow out dust from our machines," said Postmaster General John E. Potter. "We are revising those procedures as we speak."

But once anthrax spores are in the air, studies have proved they settle to the ground fairly quickly, within hours.

U.S. Army studies cited in the Journal of the American Medical Association show once that settling occurs, it is very difficult for enough spores to be blown back into the air to sicken anyone, noted Dr. Luciana Borio of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Civilian Biodefense.

One such study found no significant health risk even if 1 million anthrax spores were deposited into 11 square feet and dust-blowing helicopters landed nearby.

If someone receives a letter containing anthrax-laced powder, "it is possible for a spore to escape an envelope," Surgeon General David Satcher said Monday, noting that the spores are microscopic. "We've had people infected without the envelope being opened."

But there have to be enough spores in that one spot for that to happen.

"I would not personally be worried about handling my mail," Borio stressed.

However, she noted that since bioterrorism-through-mail hasn't happened before, it can't be said with certainty that there's no risk. "Hopefully over the next week or so, nobody gets sick" outside of the post office and "that will be the best evidence," she said.

If you get a suspicious letter at home, put it down, wash your hands with hot water and soap and call the police, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson advised.

The U.S. Postal Service on Monday began mailing all households a postcard saying what should make you suspicious about a piece of mail and what to do with it.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]