Anthrax tests for 2000 US postal workers

By GEOFF CUMMING, JOSIE CLARKE and AGENCIES

Two thousand Washington postal workers are fearing for their lives after two colleagues died of suspected inhaled anthrax, two other cases were confirmed and nine more staff fell ill.

The outbreak of respiratory anthrax at Washington's main mail-sorting house rocked authorities struggling to contain the germ warfare scare at home as United States forces bomb the Taleban frontline in Afghanistan.

Yesterday's developments came more than a fortnight after the death from anthrax of tabloid photo editor Bob Stevens in Florida.

Inhaled anthrax is much more dangerous than the skin form, which has since affected six journalists and postal workers in New York.

The causes of the latest deaths have yet to be confirmed, but Washington health chief Ivan Walks said the suspicion of inhaled anthrax was extremely high.

One victim was Joseph Curseen jun, aged 47, who died within hours of admission to a Maryland hospital.

Both victims died within 24 hours of seeing their doctors about respiratory problems.

Two other staff diagnosed in the past two days are receiving high doses of antibiotics.

Nine others have doctors worried, and health officials have asked 2200 postal staff to report for screening and precautionary treatment.

All infected staff work at the Brentwood Rd sorting house, which handled the anthrax-laced letter delivered to Senate majority leader Tom Daschle 10 days ago.

Investigators have not proved a link to the US campaign in Afghanistan, but homeland security director Tom Ridge said the nation was fighting on two fronts in the same war.

US bombs rained on the Taleban frontline north of Kabul for a second day yesterday, clearing the way for opposition forces to advance. The strategic northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif was also pounded.

The Taleban accused the US of using chemical and biological weapons, and of killing more than 100 people in a hospital in western Afghanistan during a bombing raid.

On the Pakistan border, United Nations agencies were struggling to cope with thousands of fleeing Afghans. Several people were taken to hospital after border guards fired over crowds throwing stones at the Chaman border crossing, which opened and closed sporadically to ease pressure.

Refugees in Pakistan say Kabul and Kandahar have descended into anarchy. Bandits are ransacking houses, and many families are without food or shelter.

As the germ warfare threat escalated in the US, anthrax anxiety continued around the world.

In Auckland, 15 staff were evacuated and two decontaminated at Air New Zealand's mail centre after sorters discovered a suspicious white powder.

A 54-year-old Invercargill woman was charged with wasting police time after sending a letter containing talcum powder to a staff member at Southland Hospice as a joke.

Emergency services spent several hours at the hospice.

The ground floor of the Porirua City Council was evacuated for 45 minutes when staff reported a suspicious letter.

Auckland police responded to two incidents in which threats were made in letters, one to the Coca-Cola Amatil building in Mt Wellington and another to a residence.

In Washington, investigators are working on the assumption that one letter caused the infections on its way though the Brentwood mail facility to the Capitol.

But Mitchell Cohen, of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged investigators did not understand how victims had inhaled anthrax, because the letter to Senator Daschle was taped shut.

"How it's actually occurring isn't clear," he said.

Twenty-eight cases of anthrax exposure in the Capitol complex were confirmed after the letter was delivered.

Preliminary tests have raised concern about spores in a room in the Capitol building itself.

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