Deadly spores meant for President

24 Oct, 2001 11:12 AM4 mins to read

By GEOFF CUMMING, SCOTT MacLEOD and AGENCIES

Anthrax spores found at a mail screening facility for the White House suggest bioterrorists are targeting US President George W. Bush.

And suspected cases of inhaled anthrax among mail workers spread to New Jersey.

Tests found traces of anthrax on a letter-slitting Machine at the remote White House mail room at Bolling Air Force Base, several kilometres from the seat of presidential power.

The US Secret Service said mail was sent to the remote site from the Brentwood sorting centre, which handled the anthrax-laced letter sent to Senate leader Tom Daschle on Capitol Hill.

More than 2000 fearful Washington postal staff completed testing yesterday after two colleagues at Brentwood died of inhaled anthrax, the deadliest form of the disease. Two others remained in critical condition.

A middle-aged woman who works at a Hamilton, New Jersey, mail centre - from where the Daschle letter was sent to Brentwood - was in a serious but stable condition in hospital after developing upper respiratory problems.

The Hamilton sorting centre also handled anthrax-laced letters to NBC's Tom Brokaw and the editor of the New York Post.

District of Columbia health chief Ivan Walks said four more cases were suspicious and 12 others had a "low suspicion" of anthrax.

The source of the spores at the White House screening centre was unknown and the level was well short of harmful, but all staff were swabbed and tested.

Environmental sampling in the White House found no sign of anthrax.

President Bush issued an assurance. "I don't have anthrax. I'm confident when I come to work tomorrow that I'll be safe."

Meanwhile, his Administration's officials threatened to seek a generic version of the anthrax treatment Cipro unless its German manufacturer, Bayer, lowered the drug's price.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said he expected to pay less than $US1 a tablet for more supplies of the antibiotic, nearly half the initial asking price.

Present stocks could treat 2 million people for 60 days. The Government wants to boost the supply to be able to treat 12 million.

New York postal officials said antibiotics would be given to 7000 mail workers.

The US Postal Service ordered all its processing plants to use a new system for cleaning mail-sorting machines to avoid spreading spores.

Experts say finely milled anthrax particles may have become suspended in the air at Brentwood after the Daschle letter went through a sorter. A tiny puncture or gap in the seal would have allowed spores to escape. Blowers used to clean the sorting equipment could then have spread the particles.

The US Justice Department yesterday released the letters sent to Brokaw and the New York Post, addressed in block writing almost identical to the Daschle letter. The letters to the media outlets appeared to be photocopies.

Despite thousands of scares worldwide, anthrax has been found outside the US only in letters sent to individuals in Kenya and Argentina.

Emergency services in New Zealand yesterday dealt with scares in offices in Takapuna, downtown Auckland and Wellington and a motel in Oamaru.

All mail arriving in New Zealand is being checked by customs and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry staff in Auckland and kept apart from domestic mail until delivery.

Police said 45 anthrax scares had been reported up to Tuesday night. Of those, 28 samples were tested for anthrax and came back negative, seven were hoaxes and the other 10 were still being checked.

Suspect samples are sent to MAF's National Centre for Disease Investigation, where tests take two to four days. Samples tested so far are thought to include flour, milk powder, and talcum powder.

In Washington, the Bush Administration explicitly linked the anthrax threat to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, which prompted US air strikes on Afghanistan.

But as bombers and strike aircraft continue to pound the Taleban regime harbouring Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, signs are growing of Muslim unease over the mounting toll of civilian casualties.

Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin-Jassem bin-Jabr al-Thani, condemned the attacks on Afghanistan. The country's Al Jazeera TV network said US strikes on Tuesday killed 93 civilians at Chukar, near Kandahar.

Refugees arriving in Pakistan said 29 died when bombs hit Tarin Kot, north of Kandahar.

The Pentagon conceded a stray bomb exploded near a senior citizens' home outside the western city of Herat on Sunday. Two bombs mistakenly hit a residential area northwest of Kabul on the same day.

At least 19 members of a Pakistani militant group, the Harakatul Mujahideen, training in Afghanistan, were killed yesterday.

In Jacobabad, Pakistan, police erected roadblocks and baton-charged Islamic demonstrators who tried to approach an air base used by US forces.

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