Anthrax confirmed in postal worker deaths

8.00 am - By ANDREW BUNCOMBE

WASHINGTON - The city's mayor, Anthony Williams, has confirmed that two postal workers who died this week, were killed by inhalation anthrax.

The men worked at a facility handling mail for the Capitol building.

A further 16 cases of possible anthrax infection among Postal Service workers within the District of Colombia are being investigated. A mail handler from New Jersey is also believed to be suffering from the disease.

Postal workers from 36 offices across Washington have been told to take an anthrax test and to receive antibiotics.

"We now know that the two deaths that were reported to you and that you know about now are confirmed cases of inhalational anthrax," said Mr Williams.

One of the men died on Monday (Washington time) at a hospital in Clinton, Maryland while the other died just hours after being admitted to a hospital in Washington on Sunday.

There is growing criticism of the way the authorities have handled the anthrax threat in the city after it was revealed last week that an infected letter sent to Senate Majority leader, Tom Daschle, had infected more than 30 people.

While Capitol Hill employees were tested, staff at the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, which handled the letter, were only tested this week after the two employees died.

The city's health director, Dr Ivan Walks, said yesterday that having discovered anthrax in 14 out of 29 locations within the facility, antibiotics were now being given to an expanded number of people, even if tests were not always being carried out.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, yesterday defended the federal government's response to the outbreaks of anthrax infection. "The president believes the cause of death was not the treatment made by the federal government or the local officials, or anyone else, but the cause of death was the attack made on our nation by people mailing anthrax," he said.

At the same time, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said officials would move more aggressively to test and treat potential victims if additional tainted mail were discovered.

The developments unfolded as the Attorney General, John Ashcroft, again said investigators "are not able to rule out an association with the terrorist acts of September 11, but neither are we able to draw a conclusive link at this time".

Congress returned to work yesterday. House and Senate office buildings remained closed for additional environmental testing, and some sources said authorities may decide to burn piles of mail for fear they could never check them adequately for anthrax.

So far there have been three known deaths due to inhalation anthrax nationwide. In addition, at least three individuals are hospitalised with the inhalation form of the disease, and several more have been reported with the less dangerous cutaneous (skin) form of the disease.

While several of those cases have connections to the news media, including ABC, CBS, NBC and the New York Post, the most recent developments depict a postal service work force at risk. In Washington, one senior Postal Service official said roughly 3,400 employees across the nation's capital had been evaluated and given antibiotics in 72 hours. In all, 10,000 workers are being told to take the 10-day supply of antibiotics that are being handed out by authorities.


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