Anthrax found in Pentagon, US prepares for smallpox attack

6 Nov, 2001 02:55 AM4 mins to read

11.45 am - By DAVID USBORNE

NEW YORK - Traces of anthrax have been found on two mailboxes in a post office inside the Pentagon. The facility remains closed even though bioterrorist teams swept the area over the weekend.

The discovery drew instant attention because the Washington DC building, headquarters of the US defence department, has already been at the forefront of the terrorist war as one of two targets hit by hijacked aircraft on 11 September.

It did not necessarily mean, however, that a new batch of anthrax had been uncovered. The government believes that new cases that are still coming to light almost every day are from cross-contamination with anthrax spores already in circulation in the mail system. This raises hopes that no fresh and unidentified does of anthrax are still turning up in the US and that the crisis may be easing.

This appeared to be true of traces found on a videocassette sent to the offices of new York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, for instance. Yesterday, the Mayor said the tape had come from the office of NBC news anchorman, Tom Brokaw, who was one of the first targets of the anthrax alert.

In the Pentagon case, investigators suspect the spores originated at a Washington postal facility where anthrax was found two weeks ago. The Brentwood sorting centre, the main hub for mail distributed through the city, was sealed off on October 15 after anthrax was found inside. Two workers there died - apparently after coming into contact with an anthrax-laced letter sent to Senate leader, Tom Daschle.

The post office in the Pentagon is located in a large shopping mall in the complex, which is open to the general public. One of the two mail boxes was rented to a Naval employee. The other was not in use.

"The entire Pentagon Concourse was decontaminated on Sunday," a spokesman insisted. "We are taking every precaution".

Officials have also confirmed that smallpox vaccinations have been administered to a small group of front-line medical workers involved in trying to contain the anthrax scare.

The decision reflected lingering nervousness that terrorists might attack cities in the US with smallpox. The impact of such an attack could be far more devastating than the damage so far caused by the anthrax scare.

Roughly 140 workers were thought to have received the shots for smallpox, which theoretically was eradicated from the world two decades ago. There a fears that samples of smallpox that were kept for research purposes and sent to two repositories, one in the US and the other in Russia, could have fallen into terrorist hands.

The United States is seeking to buy enough smallpox vaccine - about 300 million doses - to be able to vaccinate the entire American population in the event of an outbreak.

In Minnesota, meanwhile, Dr. Franklin Cockerill III, a Mayo Clinic microbiologist, said scientists had "discovered a new DNA test that identifies anthrax in less than an hour instead of days."

He said it would permit local authorities to get test results for anthrax exposure more quickly, and ease anxiety in patients who would not have to wait so long for their individual results.

In New York, a funeral service was held for a hospital worker who died from inhalation anthrax. Kathy Nguyen, who worked at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, died Wednesday. Investigators still haven't been able to determine the source of the anthrax that killed her.

Over the past month, there have been 17 cases of anthrax in the US and four people have died.

- INDEPENDENT

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