- A 61-year-old woman from the Bronx is in critical condition
after preliminary tests showed she has inhalation anthrax.
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- The woman, a 61-year-old Bronx resident and employee
of the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, was placed on a respirator
Sunday night, the mayor said at a hastily arranged late-night news conference.
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- "It's very, very serious," the mayor said of
her condition. However, he cautioned that it is not yet known definitively
whether the woman does in fact has anthrax " but that preliminary
tests have come back positive, so they are treating it as such.
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- "We know that she has symptoms that are indicative
of anthrax, that doesn't mean it's definitive," he said. "We
could find out tomorrow that the definitive test is negative or positive."
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- The woman, who is being treated at Lenox Hill Hospital,
worked close to the mailroom of the Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital on Manhattan's
East Side, Giuliani said.
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- A hazardous materials unit has been sent to the hospital,
and other hospital workers will be interviewed today. Some may be given
anthrax tests, the mayor said.
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- However, the mayor added that even if it turns out that
the woman does in fact have anthrax, that does not mean the case is connected
to the hospital where she worked.
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- "People shouldn't jump to that conclusion yet,"
Giuliani said.
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