- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington
Mayor Anthony Williams on Tuesday confirmed that anthrax was the cause
of death of two men who worked at the postal facility that processed mail
for the U.S. capitol.
-
- In addition to two other postal workers who were hospitalized
in nearby Fairfax, Va., with inhalational anthrax, District of Columbia
Department of Health chief Dr. Ivan Walks said there were four more cases
he listed as suspicious for anthrax.
-
- Walks said 12 other people were being looked at with
a "low suspicion" of anthrax.
-
- "We now know that the two deaths that were reported
to you and that you know about now are confirmed cases of inhalational
anthrax," Williams said during a news conference. One of the men died
on Monday at a hospital in Clinton, Md. The other died on Sunday at a Washington
hospital.
-
- The men worked at the Brentwood U.S. Postal Service facility
that processes mail for much of Washington, including Congressional offices
at the U.S. Capitol.
-
- "The Brentwood facility has tested positive for
anthrax," Williams added.
-
- Brentwood, where about 2,000 people work, handled a letter
that later was found to have been laced with anthrax spores that was delivered
to the offices of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle last week.
-
- Three deaths this month in the United States have been
attributed to anthrax. A 63-year-old supermarket tabloid newspaper photo
editor, Bob Stevens, died in Florida on Oct. 5 from anthrax inhalation.
|
