from the Washington Post Thousands of Letters May Have Anthrax excerpts WASHINGTON –– Tens of thousands of letters mailed around the country may have picked up trace amounts of anthrax in a New Jersey postal facility, but it's unclear what if anything should be done to track them down, anthrax investigators said. It has been almost eight weeks since this mail was possibly tainted in the anthrax bioterror attack. "With each passing day, the lack of further cases occurring is grounds to diminish the risk from any one of these letters," stressed Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Investigators already have tracked 300 letters that passed through the Trenton, N.J., facility within seconds of anthrax-laden letters mailed to Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. Health officials in every region that received the suspect letters are watching for anthrax symptoms, but so far no infections have turned up, Koplan said. But the way the mail was processed suggests far more than 300 letters could have picked up small amounts of anthrax in that post office, he said. "There seems to be the potential for not just hundreds and not just thousands but tens of thousands and maybe more letters to be potentially at risk for some level of cross-contamination," Koplan said. The CDC hasn't yet decided if this mail also needs special tracking and study... ...Still, scientists do not know the minimum safe level of anthrax, and people with weak immune systems could be infected by far lower amounts than it would take to sicken healthier people. So Koplan said such at-risk people might consider having others open their mail, or hold it away from themselves, investigators hope the Leahy letter will offer important clues to the source of the anthrax and the perpetrator, because it was discovered unopened and full of the bacteria. But they haven't yet determined how to open the letter safely. All the other known anthrax-attack letters were opened, letting the bacteria escape, before the investigation even began. In Washington, a Senate office building contaminated when the Daschle letter was opened Oct. 15 may not reopen until early next year, cleanup workers said Monday. © 2001 The Associated Press click for complete article
