By GEOFF CUMMING and FRANCESCA MOLD
A journalist covering the US Congress is in hospital with suspected inhalation anthrax - the first case on Capitol Hill as Washington's anthrax scare spreads beyond postal workers.
The woman, admitted to a Maryland hospital with flu-like symptoms, had visited or worked in the Hart Office building that received the anthrax-laced letter sent to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle on October 9.
Tests found traces of anthrax in another part of the Hart building yesterday.
It was the fifth location in the Capitol complex to test positive for the potentially lethal bacteria.
As Congress gingerly took steps to resume normal business, reopening one building and speeding up work on legislation, authorities said other buildings would remain sealed.
Decontamination with antibacterial foam was under way in two mail rooms.
Most senators and congressmen were working from makeshift off-site offices with a minimum number of staff.
Last week, about 30 people on Capitol Hill tested positive for anthrax exposure.
But the threat escalated dramatically on Sunday and Monday when two Washington postal workers, who had not been tested, died from respiratory anthrax. Five others are now fighting the infection in Maryland's Holy Cross Hospital and 12 others are causing concern.
A mail room worker at the New York Post was being tested for suspected skin anthrax, a less dangerous form.
A letter containing anthrax was sent to the Post's editor from Trenton, New Jersey, a week after the terrorist strikes that killed 5050 people in New York and Washington.
A New Jersey postal worker, admitted to hospital on Wednesday with suspected inhalation anthrax, is receiving massive doses of antibiotics.
The first fatality was in Florida on October 5, when tabloid photo editor Bob Stevens died. But infected co-worker Ernesto Blanco, 73, was released from a Miami hospital on Wednesday and is recovering at home.
Story archives:
Links: Bioterrorism
Timeline: Major events since the Sept 11 attacks
Anthrax casts its deadly spell on Capitol Hill
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