GoddessofWisdom
October 11th, 2001, 11:20 AM
By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Writer
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - A third person at a supermaket tabloid office was contaminated with anthrax. Attorney General John Ashcroft , leading a federal criminal investigation, said Thursday there was no evidence the strain had been stolen from a lab.
A nasal swab taken from the 35-year-old woman tested positive for anthrax, authorities said Wednesday. She was being treated with antibiotics and was not exhibiting flu-like symptoms, said Dr. John Agwunobi, head of the state health department. Such symptoms can be a sign of the early stages of anthrax infection.
The woman was one of more than 1,000 people tested by health officials.
The bacteria has already killed a tabloid photo editor and was earlier detected in the nose of a co-worker who had been hospitalized for an unrelated ailment. But despite widespread concern about bioterrorism, the FBI said there was no evidence linking the anthrax to a terrorist group.
``I have absolutely no evidence to indicate that the anthrax in Florida was stolen from any lab,'' Ashcroft said on NBC's ``Today Show.'' ``We don't have any ability to announce any source of the anthrax.''
On Wednesday, a law enforcement official said preliminary testing on the anthrax that killed Robert Stevens found a possible match to a strain connected to an Iowa lab. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said further tests were necessary to determine a link.
Investigators wearing white moon suits and gas masks worked through the night into Thursday collecting evidence in the newspaper offices of American Media Inc., which publishes six tabloids.
``The FBI is going through the building on a methodical basis, floor by floor, cubicle by cubicle, area by area,'' said FBI special agent Hector Pesquera.
Aside from the evidence the woman was contaminated, the search so far has turned up no further sign of anthrax since traces were discovered on Stevens' computer keyboard. Stevens, 63, died Friday of inhaled anthrax, an especially rare form. Co-worker Ernesto Blanco, 73, was the second person found to have been exposed to anthrax.
``This is so devastating to me and my company,'' AMI chief executive David Pecker said on CNN's ``Larry King Live.'' Pecker said he thought his company was being targeted.
``My feeling is that somehow it was either brought in by mail or someone dropped off a letter, or I think it came in, someone actually brought it into the building,'' Pecker said.
Pesquera said the contamination was limited to the building and added ``this is not a time for premature conclusions and inaccurate reporting.''
Company employees began taking blood tests on Wednesday at the company's offices. Employees already had undergone nasal swab tests. County and state health department officials ordered the building closed for 30 days.
Health officials have emphasized that there is no public health threat. Anthrax tests at Stevens' home were negative, said Dr. Jean Malecki, director of the Palm Beach Health Department.
The anthrax bacterium normally has an incubation period of up to seven days, but could take 60 days to develop.
Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had said earlier this week that said authorities may never know whether Blanco actually had anthrax because antibiotics may have killed it before it was detected.
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - A third person at a supermaket tabloid office was contaminated with anthrax. Attorney General John Ashcroft , leading a federal criminal investigation, said Thursday there was no evidence the strain had been stolen from a lab.
A nasal swab taken from the 35-year-old woman tested positive for anthrax, authorities said Wednesday. She was being treated with antibiotics and was not exhibiting flu-like symptoms, said Dr. John Agwunobi, head of the state health department. Such symptoms can be a sign of the early stages of anthrax infection.
The woman was one of more than 1,000 people tested by health officials.
The bacteria has already killed a tabloid photo editor and was earlier detected in the nose of a co-worker who had been hospitalized for an unrelated ailment. But despite widespread concern about bioterrorism, the FBI said there was no evidence linking the anthrax to a terrorist group.
``I have absolutely no evidence to indicate that the anthrax in Florida was stolen from any lab,'' Ashcroft said on NBC's ``Today Show.'' ``We don't have any ability to announce any source of the anthrax.''
On Wednesday, a law enforcement official said preliminary testing on the anthrax that killed Robert Stevens found a possible match to a strain connected to an Iowa lab. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said further tests were necessary to determine a link.
Investigators wearing white moon suits and gas masks worked through the night into Thursday collecting evidence in the newspaper offices of American Media Inc., which publishes six tabloids.
``The FBI is going through the building on a methodical basis, floor by floor, cubicle by cubicle, area by area,'' said FBI special agent Hector Pesquera.
Aside from the evidence the woman was contaminated, the search so far has turned up no further sign of anthrax since traces were discovered on Stevens' computer keyboard. Stevens, 63, died Friday of inhaled anthrax, an especially rare form. Co-worker Ernesto Blanco, 73, was the second person found to have been exposed to anthrax.
``This is so devastating to me and my company,'' AMI chief executive David Pecker said on CNN's ``Larry King Live.'' Pecker said he thought his company was being targeted.
``My feeling is that somehow it was either brought in by mail or someone dropped off a letter, or I think it came in, someone actually brought it into the building,'' Pecker said.
Pesquera said the contamination was limited to the building and added ``this is not a time for premature conclusions and inaccurate reporting.''
Company employees began taking blood tests on Wednesday at the company's offices. Employees already had undergone nasal swab tests. County and state health department officials ordered the building closed for 30 days.
Health officials have emphasized that there is no public health threat. Anthrax tests at Stevens' home were negative, said Dr. Jean Malecki, director of the Palm Beach Health Department.
The anthrax bacterium normally has an incubation period of up to seven days, but could take 60 days to develop.
Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had said earlier this week that said authorities may never know whether Blanco actually had anthrax because antibiotics may have killed it before it was detected.