Two deaths confirmed as anthrax, White House targeted

24 Oct, 2001 02:06 AM4 mins to read

WASHINGTON - The deadliest form of anthrax claimed the lives of two Washington postal workers and traces of the germ warfare agent were detected at a military facility that screens all mail bound for the White House, officials said on Tuesday.

In a day of rapid-fire developments in the scare over bioterrorism, President Bush expressed fresh suspicion that letters laced with the powdery anthrax bacterial spores that have been sent to government and media targets are connected to the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Tests confirmed that Joseph Curseen, 47, and Thomas Morris Jr., 55, who worked at the central Brentwood postal processing facility that handles mail for much of Washington, including the US Capitol, died after inhaling the bacteria into their lungs, local officials said.

Two other workers at the facility remained hospitalised in serious condition in nearby Fairfax, Virginia, with inhalational anthrax.

Washington's top health officer said another four people are "suspicious" for anthrax, while another 12 cases are being viewed with "low suspicion."

A 35-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman who worked at the Brentwood plant were being treated at a hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, outside Washington, for possible inhalational anthrax, according to Maryland authorities.

In addition, a postal worker at a facility near Trenton, New Jersey, that processed anthrax-laden letters sent to Congress and NBC News in New York was being treated for possible anthrax inhalation.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer expressed confidence that anthrax had not made its way to the executive mansion where Bush lives and works even though "a small concentration of anthrax" was found miles away at a military facility where White House mail is screened.

Bush declined to comment on whether he had been tested for anthrax, but said: "I don't have anthrax." Asked whether he thought the White House was safe, he said, "I'm confident when I come to work tomorrow that I'll be safe."

Bush said he would not be surprised if the al Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, blamed in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, was behind an outbreak of anthrax spread through tainted letters. Twelve people have been confirmed with the disease, three have died.

All employees at the remote military facility were being tested for exposure to anthrax.

The US Secret Service, which is responsible for the president's safety, said it did not know the origin of the anthrax spores but said the mail sent to the remote site comes through the Brentwood mail facility in Washington.

District of Columbia Department of Health chief Dr. Ivan Walks said environmental testing also showed that numerous locations in the Brentwood mail facility had traces of anthrax spores. An anthrax-laced letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle last week was processed at the plant.

The Justice Department released copies of the anthrax-tainted letters sent to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw and the editor of the New York Post. The letters were virtually identical, both dated September 11 and postmarked the same day from Trenton, New Jersey. The letters had similar block writing to the anthrax-tainted letter sent to Daschle.

The two letters sent to the media outlets read as follows: "09-11-01. This is next. Take penicillin (sic) now. Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great."

The letter sent to Daschle read: "09-11-01. You can not stop us. We have this anthrax. You die now. Are you afraid? Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great."

Health and postal officials responded to suggestions they were slow in testing postal workers at the Washington plant after learning that the Daschle letter had been handled there.

Capitol Hill staff members were tested immediately and 28 were found to have been exposed. It took five days before mass testing began on postal workers at the facility and some employees said the delay may have cost lives.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson promised to act faster to protect people, moving to test and treat anyone who may have been exposed to a hint of anthrax.

Thompson said officials would also be watching for smallpox, tularemia or rabbit fever, plague, botulinum toxin and viruses that cause a range of hemorrhagic fevers.

"We are going to err on the side of caution in making sure people are protected," Thompson told lawmakers at a hearing held at his own HHS headquarters because congressional offices were closed to sweep for anthrax contamination.

- REUTERS

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