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Spores found on postal machines in Connecticut center serving town where anthrax victim died
Monday, Dec. 3, 2001
 
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By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD, Conn. – After a trace of anthrax turned up at a postal center in Wallingford, the top federal health official said Monday he believes there is enough evidence to label the death of 94-year-old Ottilie Lundgren a case of cross-contamination from the mail.

New, more sophisticated tests turned up the tiny amounts of the bacteria at the center where mail is processed for Oxford, the town where Lundgren lived, authorities said Sunday.

"It appears they found enough leads now that it's definitely cross-contamination from some of the letters," U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said Monday in Washington.

"I'm happy that we can tell the American people that part of the mystery's been solved," he told a reporter outside a conference. "But at the same time I'm concerned about the cross-contamination because you can't see these little buggers and where's the next cross contamination going to take place?"

The anthrax was found on four mail-sorting machines at the Southern Connecticut Processing & Distribution Center in Wallingford, where workers handle about 3 million pieces of mail daily headed for New Haven, Middlesex and New London counties.

The center had been tested three times before and no signs of anthrax were found. But on Nov. 28, workers used a vacuum with a filter designed to trap minute particles, and scientists found trace amounts of the bacteria, said Mike Groutt, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The vacuum is designed to get down to where spores might be in the cracks and crevices," Groutt said.

The machines most likely were contaminated when an anthrax-tainted letter destined for an address in Seymour, a few miles from Lundgren's home, passed through the plant on Oct. 11, said Jon Steele, vice president of the Postal Service's Northeast Area Operations.

On Friday, officials announced the discovery of that letter, which contained a single spore of anthrax. So far, investigators have not found any link between Lundgren and the letter.

"This (latest) finding is not a complete surprise," said Steele. "The public should not be panicked by trace elements occurring nearly 60 days ago."

The sorting machines will be decontaminated, a process that could take several days, Steele said. The center will remain open for business.

The facility was tested four times and a combined total of 389 samples were taken, he said. Five samples in the latest round of testing revealed anthrax, Steele said.

About 900 of the 1,200 postal employees at the plant are taking antibiotics as a precaution, said Christine Dugas, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service.

"This is a very small amount of anthrax," said Dr. Joxel Garcia, the state's commissioner of public health. "The people of Connecticut should not be concerned about opening their mail."

Meanwhile, health officials from New York were in Hartford on Sunday to compare notes about the anthrax deaths of Lundgren and Kathy Nguyen, a 61-year-old woman from New York City.

Nguyen died on Oct. 31, becoming New York's first case of inhalation anthrax. Like Lundgren, she was older, lived alone and spent a lot of time by herself.

Investigators have so far been unable to determine conclusively how either woman contracted the disease. The mail has been a focus of both investigations.

Officials from the CDC, the health departments of both states, the FBI, and the Postal Service met Sunday to discuss the cases, Groutt said.

Tests have so far turned up no trace of anthrax at either woman's home, or at Nguyen's workplace at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. No sign of anthrax was found at the church, hair salon or other businesses Lundgren was known to visit.
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