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More Anthrax Cases Surface in US
Five more Americans have been tested positive for the deadly anthrax, and they are all colleagues of a photo editor who died of the inhaled form of the disease, according to local media reports Saturday.
The five persons, who work with Boca Raton, Florida-based tabloid The Sun, a newspaper published by American Media Inc., were tested positive for exposure to anthrax, Gerald Mckelvey, a spokesman for the company said Saturday.
Mckelvey said the company was notified about the five employees Saturday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said he had no further information on the exposed employees or their conditions.
Last week, Robert Stevens, a photo editor for The Sun tabloid, a newspaper published by American Media Inc., died of inhalation anthrax, the first death in the United States related to anthrax in 25 years.
Two other co-workers were found to have been exposed to the disease, but have not become ill. Nearly all the people who were in The Sun building recently were tested, and about 20 postal employees who handled the company's mail were also awaiting test results.
Meanwhile, a second threatening letter sent to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw in New York contained the anthrax that infected his assistant, New York City Mayor Rudolph Guliani announced Saturday. The letter, postmarked September 18 in Trenton, New Jersey, tested positive for anthrax. Brokaw's assistant, a female employee of the TV network in New York, was found to have contacted skin anthrax after she opened an envelop containing a powdery substance, officials said Friday.
In Nevada, local authorities said Saturday that a letter sent from Malaysia to a Microsoft office in this southwestern US state has tested positive for traces of anthrax.
However, officials said at present no cases of anthrax infection stemming from the incident were reported.
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