December 2001
Below is a listing of bioterrorism-related events this month, part of
an ongoing bioterrorism chronology that begins with Sep 11, 2001. To see
events from other months, go to the
Bioterrorism Watch index page.
Dec 31
Postal union wants decontamination of Morgan facility in New York
In a letter, a lawyer for the postal workers' union in New York City asks a federal judge for a conference to discuss how to clean the Morgan mail-processing center in Manhattan. The letter from Louie Nikolaidis to US District Judge John Keenan suggests that the Morgan facility be thoroughly tested and decontaminated "once and for all." Five machines at the facility were found to have anthrax contamination in October; after cleaning, one machine was again found to be contaminated in testing of samples taken Dec 23. A letter to the judge from a Postal Service lawyer says the machine has been cleaned again and the area around it closed. Meanwhile, most postal workers again report for work at the facility, despite a union leader's advice to stay away.
Dec 30
Postal workers ignore leader's call to stay home over anthrax concern
Postal workers at the Morgan mail-processing facility in Manhattan report for work in normal numbers despite advice from a union leader to stay away because of the discovery of anthrax traces on a previously cleaned machine. The union leader, William Smith, says few of the workers heard about his advisory, issued Saturday, Dec 29. The machine is one of five that were decontaminated after anthrax spores were found on them in October.
Dec 29
Anthrax again found in Manhattan postal facility
Authorities discover trace amounts of anthrax in a mail-sorting machine at Manhattans Morgan Processing and Distribution Center. US Postal Service spokeswoman Diane Todd says that an "insignificant amount" of anthrax was detected, and health officials say the bacteria pose no public health threat. New York Area Postal Union President William Smith expresses "outrage" at the news and warns postal workers to stay out of the building until all anthrax is eradicated.
Dec 28
Part of Hart building fumigated again
In Washington, Capitol Police Lt. Dan Nichols announces that chlorine dioxide gas has again been again pumped into the Hart Senate Office Building to kill remaining anthrax spores. The gas is concentrated in the ventilation system of the southeast quadrant of the building, an area that continues to test positive after an earlier fumigation attempt. The building has remained closed since Oct 17, two days after an anthrax-contaminated letter was opened in the offices of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D. A second fumigation effort failed when equipment problems kept the gas fumigant from reaching a saturation point that experts believe is necessary to kill the anthrax spores.
Dec 27
Ad campaign urges medics to learn about bioterrorism
The Association of Medical Publications has introduced a public service advertising campaign aimed at encouraging medical professionals to learn how to recognize, diagnose, and treat diseases associated with bioterrorism, the New York Times reports. A print campaign created by a New York firm, Regan Campbell Ward, proclaims the theme that "Medical professionals are Americas first defense against bioterrorism." It encourages medical professionals to be prepared and provides information to help distinguish common illnesses from those that might be a result of bioterrorism. The campaign is appearing in donated space in December or January issues of more than 30 medical publications.
Dec 26
Doctors, public health officials, politicians, and citizens are clamoring for smallpox vaccinations to allay their anxiety about the disease, according to a Washington Post report. The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials is advocating the immediate vaccination of emergency medical personnel in each state. But the Bush administration, citing limited supplies and possibly dangerous side effects, refuses to release vaccine. The government plans to stockpile a dose for every American and use the supply only in the event of a smallpox outbreak. Acambis Inc., a British company, is under contract to make 209 million doses of the vaccine, but the first supplies won't be available until late winter. The existing stockpile of vaccine is only 15.4 million doses. Public health officials anticipate a major national debate on access to the vaccine.
Dec 24
Postal union leader objects to anthrax vaccinations
William M. Smith, president of the New York Metro Area Postal Workers Union, says he objects to the anthrax vaccinations that the federal government plans to offer Postal Service employees. They want to experiment on our people, says Smith, president of a union that represents 10,000 New York employees, including the 5,500 who work at the Morgan Station mail branch. Those vaccinations can cause all kinds of harm. Until I see the Supreme Court and the Congress taking those vaccinations, I dont want them to be giving it to us. According to the federal Health and Human Services Department, minor side effects can include swelling, headaches, rashes, fever, and chills. Fewer than 1 in 100,000 people experience severe allergic reactions.
Federal stance on anthrax vaccine causes confusion
The federal government's non-recommendation about use of the anthrax vaccine is causing frustration and confusion, according to a Washington Post report. The newspaper quotes Ivan C.A. Walks, public health director for Washington, DC, as saying that many people directly affected by the anthrax vaccine plan do not have confidence in federal health officials. Walks said, I thought everybody agreed that clear messaging across a diverse population is how you build and protect public confidence. If people dont have confidence in their public leadership, they may hesitate or ignore you, and that may cost lives. If the nation faces another bioterrorist attack, public health experts say, the federal government must find a way to overcome the problems that have plagued the response to this one. Federal officials say the confusion and frustration are the result of scant scientific knowledge, not bias.
Dec 22
Postal workers counseled about anthrax vaccine
At least 40 Washington, DC, postal workers attend a meeting at the V Street NE station to receive counseling from the CDC about the risks and benefits of the experimental anthrax vaccine. Several say they will not volunteer for the vaccination program, while others say officials seem to be pushing additional antibiotics rather than vaccinations. Federal officials have not recommended the vaccine but are making it available to individuals who might have been exposed to anthrax. CDC officials say the vaccine has not been proven effective in preventing infection after exposure to anthrax spores and is not approved for that purpose. The uncertainties leave many workers unwilling to participate.
AP report says security at USAMRIID was lax in 1990s
An Associated Press report says that during much of the 1990s, little was done to prevent a possible theft of anthrax at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md. One former USAMRIID researcher says nothing would have prevented workers from removing germs from the labs. As far as carrying anything out, microorganisms are small, says Luanne Battersby, a biologist who left USAMRID in 1998. Fort Detrick spokesman Charles Dasey offers no comment on the allegations of lax security. Regarding possible anthrax theft from the lab, he says: Other people are saying it could be done. I dont expect it has been done.
Few AMI workers want anthrax vaccine
Few workers at American Media Inc. (AMI), Boca Raton, Fla., accept an offer of the anthrax vaccine. The three-shot series is made available to more than 1,100 AMI employees and contractors, but only three people accept it, says Tim OConnor, spokesman for the Palm Beach County health department. Nearly three dozen Boca Raton postal workers and investigators who had been inside the building also are offered the vaccine. The health of those who opt for the shots will be tracked for 2 years.
Dec 21
Postal workers hear pros and cons of anthrax vaccination
Health officials offer carefully qualified tips and key questions for 3,000 people considering the benefits and risks of receiving experimental anthrax vaccinations. The guidance, which stopped short of specific recommendations for vaccinating any particular groups, came from Julie L. Gerberding, acting deputy director of the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. In a presentation broadcast to the Postal Service, Gerberding says the vaccine plan does not mean workers face an emergency. Gerberding says workers must ultimately decide whether to risk vaccination or risk that anthrax spores might remain in their bodies.
Bush to seek more increases in public health spending for 2003, paper says
The Washington Post reports that President Bush plans to substantially increase spending on homeland security initiatives in his fiscal 2003 budget. According to administration and congressional sources, the budget will more than double funds for local police, firefighters, and other first responders, and will provide a major boost for public health agencies and hospitals. Additional funding will go to research on bioterrorism and for regional doomsday rehearsals, in which state and local officials would practice their response to an attack.
FBI suspects greed motivated anthrax attacks
The FBI is investigating the possibility that financial gain was the motive behind the anthrax mailings. Although investigators continue to examine other possible motives, they have conducted dozens of interviews in at least two US labs to establish whether potential profit from the sale of anthrax medications or cleanup efforts could have motivated the perpetrator of the attacks, according to a Washington Post article. The focus on a profit motive may help explain why the FBI has yet to seek samples of anthrax spores from two foreign laboratories known to possess Ames-strain anthrax microbes that genetically match the material sent to Sen. Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., and Patrick J. Leahy, D-VT.
CDC to send teams to give anthrax vaccine
The CDC announces it will send five teams of scientists and staff to help administer the anthrax vaccine and extra antibiotics to workers at sites in Florida, Washington, DC, New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Incomplete knowledge of anthrax genetics hinders investigation
USA Today reports that, while investigators work to identify the genetic fingerprints of the anthrax held at fewer than a dozen laboratories, scientists say they dont yet know enough about the genetic makeup of anthrax to distinguish one sample from the next. Its a race against time to get enough genetic information to make these matches precisely, says Jill Trewhella, bioscience division leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is assisting in the genetic fingerprinting. Though investigators know that the mailed anthrax came from the Ames strain, scientists say the bacteria changes slightly each time it grows, meaning different generations of Ames anthrax contain small genetic differences. Even if the genetics were matched to various anthrax repositories, thats still not a smoking gun, says David R. Franz, an expert in biological defense at Southern Research Institute in Fredrick, Md. More promising, researchers say, may be chemical characteristics of the anthrax spores, which could indicate how they were produced.
Dec 20
Congress approves over $2 billion to battle bioterrorism
Congress approves an $8.6 billion homeland defense bill that includes new money to counter bioterrorism by improving the nations public health infrastructure and food safety functions. The Senate also approves a bioterrorism authorization bill that will need to be reconciled with a House bill next year. Lawmakers agree to spend $1 billion in fiscal 2002 to upgrade state and local health departments and hospitals and $1.1 billion to bolster the national pharmaceutical stockpile with antibiotics and 280 million doses of smallpox vaccine. The CDC will receive $100 million to strengthen its support of state and local health departments. Its a significant down payment in terms of the public health provisions, says Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-MA, who co-sponsored the authorization bill.
48 congressional staffers receive anthrax vaccine
Forty-eight congressional staff members receive the anthrax vaccine, as other exposed people weigh the governments list of pros and cons of the experimental inoculations. The required consent forms for the shots warn that the vaccination can cause side effects, has never been used after exposure to anthrax, and is not a guarantee of protection against late-erupting anthrax. One Washington, DC, health official advises against the vaccination, saying the two months of antibiotic treatment already prescribed to people exposed to anthrax during the mail attacks was enough. The CDC is offering voluntary vaccinations or 40 more days of antibiotics to thousands who were exposed to anthrax spores.
CDC rushed to prepare consent form for vaccine
CDC officials rushed to finish preparing consent forms laying out the risks and benefits of the anthrax vaccine just hours before 48 congressional staffers began receiving the vaccine, the Washington Post reports. The final versions of the forms state that the Department of Health and Human Services is not making a recommendation whether you should or should not take this vaccine and that you should not consider the vaccine as treatment for anthrax.
Anthrax was widespread in Brentwood postal building
The CDC says that anthrax discovered in Washingtons Brentwood postal facility was more widespread than previously believed. In reporting results of its investigation of the facility in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC notes that the use of compressed air to clean sorting machines at Brentwood may inadvertently have spread anthrax spores more widely in the air.
CDC director responds to criticism over anthrax vaccine policy
CDC Director Jeffrey P. Koplan responds to criticism that he is avoiding his responsibility in refusing to advise people exposed to anthrax whether they should be vaccinated against the disease. In a press briefing, Koplan says, We fully understand that its frustrating for those whove been exposed and the people who take care of them that the government cant make a strong recommendation about who should receive vaccine. We have inadequate science upon which to base such a strong directive recommendation.
Dec 19
US anthrax scientist comments on tracing source of spores
William C. Patrick III, the scientist who helped the United States refine anthrax for use as a weapon, says the bacteria spores used in the attacks following Sep 11 could have been processed in a variety of ways, making it impossible to trace their source. "You can process the stuff in so many different ways, I don't think that it will be the smoking gun," he says in an interview with the Associated Press. "That technology is not difficult," he says. "The key to turning anthrax into a weapon is the genetic strain of the microbe." Patrick holds patents for techniques used in processing weapons-grade anthrax similar to the type mailed to the offices of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt.
HHS secretary allowed to keep secrets
The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has received the power to classify information as secret. William A. Pierce, spokesman for HHS, says President Bush granted this new authority in recognition that the agency now sits at the forefront of preparations for fighting bioterrorism. He says that only a "narrow subset" of agency documents related to bioterrorism and the nation's preparedness will fall into this category. Information that might rank as classified includes storage sites for stockpiles, certain laboratory floor plans, and some details about emergency medical stock.
State of quandary over anthrax vaccination
Officials delay the first anthrax vaccinations, as they try to explain who should receive the experimental inoculations. A consent form explaining the pros and cons of vaccination undergoes scientific review, delaying inoculations for Capitol Hill and postal workers at least a day, says CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan. "We're in a state of quandary," says US Postal Service vice president Azeezaly Jaffer. Thousands of potential candidates for extra therapy express frustration over whether or not they are at risk and should seek the extra therapy. "The employees are hungry for information and they're trying to understand what it is that the medical community wants them to do," says Jaffer. While the anthrax vaccine itself is not experimental, it has never been used for postexposure prophylaxis, so its effectiveness for this purpose is unknown.
Some companies benefit from terrorism
The Sep 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent anthrax mailings have prompted new business for a variety of companies. A Washington Post article reports that three local laboratories stand to benefit through their expertise in developing new products to help with initiatives to counteract bioterrorism. Novavax, Inc., which makes vaccines for influenza, malaria, and other infectious diseases, is currently using its technology to develop a new smallpox vaccine that could replace the current one. Meridian Medical Technologies, Inc., has received $6 million in new orders from government agencies for its nerve-gas antidotes. And Cylex, Inc., is working on blood tests that identify infection with biological agents such as smallpox and anthrax.
Dec 18
Findings on resistance to anthrax therapy
Bacillus anthracis can develop resistance to many of the antibiotics used to treat it, including ciprofloxacin, according to study findings presented at the 41st Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Dr. Itzhak Brook and colleagues from the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., say no resistance to doxycycline developed, suggesting that this agent might be useful for long-term anthrax treatment or prevention. In addition, the combination therapy recommended by CDC could prevent development of resistance, Dr. Brook adds.
Electronic data to aid bioterrorism surveillance
A nonprofit coalition of healthcare companies enters an alliance with the CDC aimed at using electronic data to help identify and respond to bioterrorist attacks. A coalition spokeswoman for the eHealth Initiative (eHI) tells Reuters Health that much of the effort is likely to focus on updating and expanding the CDC's National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS), which gathers real-time data from various sources to flag health emergencies and provide information useful in combating them. Because US hospitals are already strapped for time and money, the alliance will attempt to institute improvements that use existing infrastructures and conserve practitioners' efforts.
Dec 17
Local health officials train to deal with smallpox
The CDC begins training about 200 state and local public health officials on how to recognize smallpox and quickly contain an outbreak. The CDC wants to ensure that state and local health officials, the first line of defense against a bioterrorism attack, do not confuse smallpox in its early stages with less dangerous infections like chickenpox or syphilis. The CDCs deputy director, Dr. David Fleming, urges officials to plan with their counterparts in law enforcement because a smallpox outbreak might require them to use unusual powers to impose quarantines.
Capitol Hill staffers advised to take anthrax vaccine, paper says
The Washington Post reports that federal health officials have begun urging Capitol Hill workers to take an anthrax vaccine as part of a plan based on fears that spores may be lurking in the employees bodies and could germinate once antibiotic treatments end. The story says that two military anthrax experts met with about 70 staffers to explain the rationale for the vaccination proposals, which could involve as many as 3,000 Senate and Postal Service employees in Washington, New York, and New Jersey. Officials say they want the vaccinations to begin this week after HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson approves it. The plan is considered experimental because the anthrax vaccine is not normally used for postexposure prophylaxis.
Anthrax concern affected many Washington, DC, residents
Two out of 10 Washington area residents report that they or someone they know was exposed to anthrax, was tested for exposure, or had their workplace closed at least temporarily because of anthrax-related concerns, according to a Harvard University study. The survey also found that a third of all residents worry that they might contract anthrax through the mail. Almost 17 percent of Washington adults fear that they or a family member will contract anthrax in the next year, says Robert Blendon, a Harvard professor of health policy and political analysis. In a national sample, 4% of those interviewed said they or someone they knew had been affected directly by anthrax. A total of 1,009 adults were interviewed for the survey.
Dec 16
Scientists say attack anthrax matches USAMRIID stocks
Genetic fingerprinting studies indicate that the anthrax spores mailed to Capitol Hill are identical to stocks of the deadly bacteria maintained by the US Army since 1980, according to a Washington Post story that quotes scientists familiar with the most recent tests. Although many laboratories have the Ames strain of anthrax involved in the bioterrorist attacks, only five laboratories so far possess spores with perfect genetic matches to those in the Senate letters, the scientists say. All of those labs can trace their samples back to the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease (USAMRIID). One scientist says that means USAMRIID must have been the original source of the terrorist material. It remains unknown which lab may have lost control of the material that apparently ended up in terrorist hands.
Dec 15
Health officials ponder offering anthrax vaccine to workers
Federal health officials say they are considering recommending that about 3,000 people who were exposed to anthrax be offered the anthrax vaccine as a precaution in case antibiotic treatment alone fails to protect them from getting sick. After a forum on the issue, Dr. D. A. Henderson, director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness, says the 3,000 are mainly postal and Capitol Hill workers who may have been exposed to a heavy dose of anthrax spores. The vaccine is used in the military on a preexposure basis, but the Food and Drug Administration has given the CDC clearance to use the vaccine experimentally for postexposure prophylaxis.
FBI to seek public's help with investigation
The FBI says it will send out flyers to New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents asking for help with the anthrax investigation. The card could include pictures of the anthrax-contaminated envelopes sent from the Trenton area to New York and Washington, as well as the FBIs profile of a potential suspect and a reminder of the $1.25 million reward being offered, FBI Agent Sandra Carroll says. The flyers will center on where the investigation originated and go outward from there, she says.
Each smallpox victim could infect 4 to 6 more
A new study offers a rough answer to the question, How many people would each smallpox victim infect in the early stage of an outbreak of the deadly disease? The answer: probably 4 to 6, but possibly up to 10 or 12, say researchers at Englands Center for Applied Microbiology and Research in Salisbury. They report their conclusion in the December issue of Nature. Researchers Steve Leach and Raymond Gani culled data from five 18th century smallpox outbreaks, a 19th century outbreak in London, a 1972 outbreak in Kosovo, and various European outbreaks between 1958 and 1973. Gani and Leach say their findings show smallpox would be transmitted at a relatively modest rate compared with measles or chickenpox. But, they write, major smallpox epidemics could occur, particularly if detection of the first cases was delayed.
Dec 14
Investigators scrutinize Dugway Proving Ground
An Army test facility in Utah is emerging as a focal point of the anthrax investigation, according to a report in USA Today. Dugway Proving Ground is an important place, says a senior law enforcement official. But federal agents decline to characterize any of the Army scientists at the Dugway Proving Ground as a suspect. They emphasize that the facility is only one of dozens of US laboratories under scrutiny in the investigation. Dugway, located in the desert about 80 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, has tested the effectiveness of equipment against biological attacks. An Army statement says the anthrax produced at Dugway sometimes required an aerosol formulation.
Health system response to anthrax attacks gets mixed grades
The public health system worked well in containing the deliberate spread of anthrax but is inadequately prepared for a larger outbreak, state and local health department officials say at a two-day meeting with the CDC. Health officials express deep concern over the possibility of a much larger bioterrorism outbreak than the 18 cases of anthrax that have been confirmed since early October. Even in states that had held drills to prepare for bioterrorism attacks, laboratories were ill-prepared for the amount of testing required in the recent anthrax attacks, participants say. The attacks were a test of preparedness that the health system passed in some ways and failed in others, health officials tell the CDC.
Hart Building still has contamination
Two weeks after it was fumigated with chlorine dioxide gas, part of the Hart Senate Office Building remains slightly contaminated with anthrax bacteria, and authorities offer no word on when the building will reopen. They now plan to begin fumigating part of the buildings ventilation system. Trace amounts of anthrax spores turned up in 9 of 377 samples taken from surfaces in the offices of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., since the suite was sealed and filled with chlorine dioxide gas Dec 1, says Richard Rupert of the Environmental Protection Agency. Authorities also say they have completed their clean-up efforts in the Longworth House Office Building, where several members offices were closed for decontamination.
Irradiated mail bundles emit carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide emissions from irradiated mail bundles send at least 43 Washington, DC, postal workers to a medical center, but blood tests suggest no long-term health problems. Workers complained of headache, dry throat, and nausea after removing plastic shrink-wrap from pallets of mail that had been irradiated and returned to a postal facility on V Street in Washington, says Kristin Krathwohl of the US Postal Service. Tests detected above- normal levels of carbon monoxide in the air, she says. The Postal Service believes the gas developed from an interaction between the heat produced during irradiation and the plastic used to package the mail. Mail suspected of being contaminated by anthrax spores is currently shipped to irradiation facilities in Lima, Ohio, or Bridgeport, N.J.
Dec 12
House approves major anti-bioterrorism authorization
On a 418-2 vote, the House of Representatives approves bipartisan legislation authorizing $2.9 billion in spending to guard against bioterrorism. The bill authorizes $1 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services to bolster the nations stockpile of antidotes and vaccines, $1 billion in preparedness grants for state and local governments and public and private health facilities, $450 million for the CDC, $100 million for the Food and Drug Administration to protect the food supply, and $100 million for protecting the nations drinking water supply.
CDC may use anthrax vaccine
Federal health officials have acquired 220,000 doses of anthrax vaccine from the Pentagon and gained preliminary approval from the Food and Drug Administration to use the vaccine as an experimental treatment if antibiotics fail, according to Bradley Perkins, MD, of the CDC. The CDC has permission to use the controversial vaccine to inoculate high-risk workers or people recently exposed to anthrax, Perkins tells the Washington Post. Depending on how the vaccine is used—before or after possible exposure—36,000 to 73,000 people could be inoculated, Perkins says. The plan, which is still under review, signals continued concern among public health authorities that anthrax remains a real threat.
Army still producing anthrax
The US Army says it has produced anthrax in small amounts for years at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and has told FBI investigators that none of its supply is missing. It is the first time officials have disclosed that the US military is still producing anthrax, 32 years after President Nixon closed down the nations offensive biological weapons program. The Army confirms the FBI is investigating Dugway, along with numerous other research labs around the nation. All anthrax used at Dugway has been accounted for, according to an Army statement.
Daschle letter posed great danger, researcher says
A Washington Post report says Canadian military research indicates that when an anthrax-laden letter was opened in Sen. Tom Daschle's office, those present may have been exposed to bacteria concentrations tens and possibly hundreds of times higher than the normal fatal dose. If that is the case, immediate antibiotic treatment probably saved their lives. Bill Kournikakis, a scientist at an Alberta laboratory, described his findings at a research planning conference in Decatur, Ga., sponsored by the CDC. The Canadian research was done after an anthrax hoax in January, in which a powder-filled letter was sent to an official in Ottawa.
American Taliban member predicts bioterroist attack
The Washington Times reports that an American Taliban fighter held by Marines in Afghanistan told US intelligence officials that the al-Qaida network plans to launch a biological attack against the United States within days. John Walker, 20, captured with other Taliban fighters near Mazar-e-Sharif earlier this month, told intelligence debriefers that Phase II of al-Qaidas war on the United States would occur at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Intelligence officials say they question Walkers claims because of his apparent low status among the Taliban. Kenton Keith, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, says there is no evidence that this report is based on fact.
Dec 11
Federal inspections of university labs begin
Federal officials begin inspecting university facilities across the nation that conduct research on viruses and bacteria that could be used in bioterrorism. A team of five inspectors from the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human services has begun an inspection at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, university spokesman Tom Curtis tells CNN. More than 200 universities are registered with the CDC to do research on potentially dangerous viruses and bacteria.
Hart building cleanup not 100% successful
Lawmakers and Capitol police say the elaborately staged cleanup of anthrax at the Hart Senate Office building did not fully succeed. The fumigation with chlorine dioxide gas was mostly successful, but some spots remain problematic, says Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Capitol Police Lt. Dan Nichols says further efforts to remove anthrax contamination will probably involve the use of a liquid form of chlorine dioxide.
Anthrax spores may become airborne more than once
A month after anthrax spores were released from a letter in the office of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., researchers have stirred up remaining spores and dispersed them into the air just by simulating normal activity in the office, federal scientists report. These preliminary findings from the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Public Health Service challenge military experiments suggesting that anthrax spores are unlikely to become airborne again once they have settled on surfaces. The new findings, announced at a meeting convened by the CDC to discuss urgent research needs for anthrax and other bioterrorism threats, appear to confirm that the spores in the Daschle letter were highly refined and professionally produced.
Scientists asked to suggest anthrax research agenda
At a meeting in Decatur, Ga., the CDC challenges scientists from numerous disciplines to propose research that addresses important unanswered questions about anthrax. The meeting was organized as a discussion group, with written recommendations to follow in the winter. Dr. James M. Hughes, the CDC official overseeing the anthrax investigation, says there is a critical need for answers, because the threat will exist at least until those responsible for the recent attacks are caught.
Lundgren home no longer sealed off
The home of Ottilie Lundgren, who died of anthrax Nov 21, is no longer sealed off as a crime scene, says Sgt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut state police. Despite dozens of environmental tests and searches, no traces of anthrax or suspect letters were found in Lundgrens home.
Dec 10
Postal workers balk at completing antibiotic treatment
A substantial number of Washington, DC, postal workers are choosing not to complete a two-month course of antibiotic treatment to prevent anthrax because of unpleasant side effects or concerns about long-term use of the drugs, according to a Washington Post report. Hundreds of those urged by federal health officials to take the drugs have complained about strong reactions to ciprofloxacin or doxycycline, the two main antibiotics distributed to 2,100 workers from the Brentwood mail-processing facility after letters leaked anthrax spores in mid-October. CDC officials have urged the workers to take antibiotics for 60 days.
Lack of consensus frustrates anthrax investigators
A high-ranking FBI officer tells USA Today that signs of strain are emerging between federal investigators and scientists over the lack of solid clues coming from analysis of the anthrax-laced letters sent to media and congressional offices. At stake is the direction of the investigation and larger issues of international tension over suspicions of foreign involvement—most prominently Iraqi—which could change the shape of the war on terrorism if borne out. The FBI official says the agency has grown frustrated with a lack of scientific consensus over whether the anthrax sent to the office of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., resembled anthrax produced by the US military, was from a foreign source, or was cooked up in someones basement. Dueling theories and delays in conclusive analysis of the anthrax are coming close to hindering the investigation, the FBI official says.
Dec 7
Senate trims anti-terrorism spending package
The Senate kills a $35 billion Democratic anti-terrorism package that would have given President Bush $15 billion more than he wants for anti-terrorism programs. Instead, the Senate approves a scaled-back compromise that meets the presidents demands. The new plan limits new anti-terrorism funding to $20 billion and reduces spending for defense and other programs already in the package. The plan contains $8.5 billion for countering bioterrorism and for other domestic security programs.
Dec 6
Leahy letter identical to Daschle letter
The anthrax-laden letter sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy is identical to the one sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, the FBI says. Both letters include the phrases: You die now, Death to America, and Allah is great. Scientists extracted the letter from the envelope using carefully planned procedures to conserve all the anthrax spores and any evidence that might lead them to the sender.
Anthrax found at Federal Reserve
A mail bin at a Federal Reserve Board mail processing facility has tested positive for anthrax, says spokeswoman Michelle Smith. The anthrax was discovered during routine testing of mail at the facility, which is outside the main Federal Reserve Board building. Smith says it is not clear which piece or pieces of mail may have caused contamination of the bin, which can hold up to 150 pieces of mail.
CDC discusses risk of anthrax-contaminated mail
CDC officials report that 85 million pieces of mail were processed at anthrax-contaminated postal facilities in New Jersey and Washington, DC, before the facilities were closed. CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan, MD, says that though the risk of contracting inhalation anthrax from cross-contaminated mail is very low, it is not zero. He gives suggestions for handling mail safely, such as handing suspicious mail over to law enforcement, keeping letters away from ones face, refraining from doing anything that would cause envelope contents to float into the air, and washing hands after handling mail.
Anthrax case count drops by one
A CDC report says that, as of Dec. 5, a total of 22 cases of anthrax have been identified; 11 are confirmed as inhalational anthrax, and 11 (seven confirmed and four suspected) are cutaneous. The case of a 54-year-old New Jersey postal worker, previously classified as suspected cutaneous anthrax, no longer meets the CDC case definition for anthrax. The Connecticut investigation has not identified any additional cases of anthrax, and the source of exposure for Ottilie Lundgren, the Oxford, Conn., woman who died of inhalational anthrax, remains unknown.
Industry fights food-protection proposals
The Washington Post reports that, despite continuing concern that the nations food supply could become the next terrorist target, industry leaders continue to block or dilute proposals to strengthen federal policing of domestic food processors and imported food. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson says he is concerned that foreign terrorists could contaminate food imports because of lax inspection and security at 300 ports of entry. The industry opposes more government regulation because it increases costs, forces companies to open their books to investigation, and could slow the movement of perishable goods to market. Kelly Johnston, executive vice president and chief lobbyist for the food processors, says the current system to deal with terrorism is effective, provided the government furnishes the industry with adequate information.
Dec 5
Leahy letter opened
Scientists at the Army's biodefense laboratory in Fort Detrick, Md., open the anthrax-contaminated letter sent to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy. The event had been delayed more than 2 weeks while technicians tried to determine the best way to protect the evidence retrieved from the letter. Examination of the contents of the Leahy envelope will be a lengthy process, say governmental officials. The suspected anthrax powder will be sent to various labs for analysis, and the letter itself will be decontaminated and irradiated before it can be tested for fingerprints, DNA, and fibers.
Disagreement on source of anthrax
Experts appearing before the House International Relations Committee disagree on the source of the anthrax attacks. Dr. Richard Spertzel tells reporters he believes the FBI's profile of the anthrax killer as a deranged loner is incorrect and that the letters were probably the result of terrorism sponsored by a foreign government. Dr. Kenneth Alibek, a Soviet defector who was once a top official in that country's biological weapons program, believes the culprit is not a very highly trained professional and that the material could be homegrown or foreign.
Suspect in anthrax hoax letters arrested
Clayton Lee Waagner is arrested on suspicion of sending a string of anthrax hoax letters. Waagner, an antiabortion activist, has been on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list since Sep 21. He escaped in February from an Illinois jail, where he awaited sentencing on federal firearms and auto theft charges. According to the FBI, Waagner is suspected of sending more than 280 letters that claimed to contain anthrax to women's reproductive health clinics on the East Coast. A second series of more than 270 anthrax threat letters went to women's reproductive clinics via FedEx. The two mailings took place in October and November 2001. (AP)
Confusion over findings at American Media
New tests at the Florida workplace where an employee died of inhalation anthrax reveal a pattern of pervasive contamination that mystifies investigators. The test results issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that anthrax spores spread throughout the three-story Boca Raton office building housing American Media Inc. and point to an extremely dangerous kind of anthrax preparation, with small particles that can easily float in the air. The Florida test results suggest that the material sent there was equally as dangerous as and possibly identical to that found in letters sent to Sen. Tom Daschle and Sen. Patrick Leahy. Other contamination discovered in the American Media building conflicts with this interpretation, however. Investigators say that some contaminated sites had spores presumably stirred up and transported as mail was sorted and delivered. These findings point to a less dangerous preparation with spores that do not linger in the air but fall where they are released. These conflicting results have some investigators wondering if more than one letter arrived at American Media.
Clash over antiterrorism spending looms
Democrats push a $35 billion package for combating terrorism through the Senate Appropriations Committee, setting the stage for a partisan clash. President Bush has threatened to veto legislation that exceeds $20 billion. The bill contains extra money for bioterrorism, the Postal Service, federal and local law enforcement, security of airports and ports, and aid to New York and other areas that bore the brunt of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Experts comment on quarantining
Mass quarantines should not be the first line of defense in the case of a biological weapons attack, US public health experts say in an article appearing in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. Historically, such quarantines sometimes cause more problems than they prevent, the authors say, and in the United States no large-scale human quarantines have been imposed for the past 80 years. According to Joseph Barbera,. MD, of George Washington University and seven coauthors, sequestering of groups of healthy people who have been potentially exposed to a contagious disease is being discussed again in the wake of the anthrax cases that followed the Sep 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
AMA weighs in on smallpox vaccination
The American Medical Association (AMA) refuses to endorse smallpox vaccinations for all Americans, rejecting calls from doctors who say the disease could be used as a biological weapon. Instead, the 538 delegates attending the AMA's annual winter meeting in San Francisco voted overwhelmingly to continue studying the possible repercussions of mass inoculation. Some doctors say they worry the vaccine itself could kill as many as 300 people if the entire US population were vaccinated.
Dec 3
Thousands of contaminated letters?
Tens of thousands of letters may have been contaminated with low levels of anthrax while being sorted at a postal facility near Trenton, N.J., on Oct. 9, the same evening the facility processed two anthrax-tainted letters addressed to US senators, federal health officials say. The disclosure means that contaminated mail could have gone anywhere in the country and may not be confined to the Northeast. CDC officials are working with the US Postal Service to determine the exact number of letters that could be contaminated.
Hart building checked
Clean-up crews in the Hart Senate Office Building collect samples to confirm the success of the recent decontamination effort, in which chlorine dioxide gas and other tools were used to try to kill anthrax spores. Capitol Hill staff members return to work in the adjacent Dirksen Senate Office Building, which was closed as a precaution during decontamination of the Hart building.
Terror anthrax resembles military product
The anthrax powder in letters that were sent to two US senators is "virtually indistinguishable in critical technical respects" from anthrax that was produced by the US military before it shut down its biowarfare program, according to federal scientists interviewed by the New York Times. A preliminary analysis of the powder shows that it has the same unusually high concentration of spores as the anthrax produced in the weapons program. While it is still possible that the anthrax came from a foreign source, the concentration is higher than that of any stock publicly known to be produced by other governments. The high quality lends credibility to the idea that someone with links to military laboratories might be behind the attacks.
Dec 2
Hint of a link between Nguyen and contaminated mail
A letter apparently mailed to an address near the Bronx, N.Y., home of anthrax victim Kathy T. Nguyen passed through a New Jersey postal sorting machine seconds after the anthrax-laced letter sent to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., went through the same machine, officials report. Nguyen died of inahalational anthrax Oct 31.
Dec 1
Daschle office fumigated
Cleanup crews pump toxic chlorine dioxide gas into Sen. Tom Daschle's office suite in the Hart Senate Office Building for much of the day in an attempt to kill all anthrax spores left over from a letter sent to Daschle in October. It is the first time the process has been used to rid such a large space of anthrax, and Environmental Protection Agency officials say they hope it will be a model for future cleanup if it succeeds. Clean-ups with liquid or foam decontaminants have begun in some of 13 other senators' offices where anthrax was found.
New Jersey post office resumes some deliveries
Mail sterilized by radiation is delivered from the Hamilton Township, N.J., postal facility, which was closed for more than a month after investigators found that anthrax-tainted letters had passed through it. Postal service spokesman Carl Walton says about 1,000 pieces of mail are being sent out. About 800,000 letters, catalogues and packages were detained in the Hamilton postal facility after authorities found that at least four contaminated letters had been processed there. Three-quarters of that mail still has to be sanitized at a plant originally designed to sterilize medical equipment and industrial devices.
Analysis of Leahy letter still on hold
The FBI says the anthrax-laden letter sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy will be opened only when scientists feel confident they can recover all of the anthrax in the envelope. No one wants to go forward until additional equipment is in place and has been tested in trial runs, says FBI spokesman John Collingwood, who does not put a time frame on the process. Scientists want to use the equipment to ensure that the anthrax is free of any electrostatic charge when the envelope is opened; otherwise, anthrax spores could fly out of the envelope and be lost to investigators. The goal is to de-ionize the anthrax particles without harming them.
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