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President: Anthrax investigation progressing

SUMMARY:

President Bush went to the radio Saturday to assure the public that officials are making progress in the anthrax investigation.

"As we learn more about these anthrax attacks, the government will share the confirmed and credible information we have with you," Bush said, noting that health officials were acting quickly to distribute antibiotics for those who may have been exposed to the bacteria.

"I'm proud of our citizens' calm and reasoned response to this ongoing terrorist attack," he said.

A mailroom at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington tested positive for anthrax, officials said Saturday. Swabs were taken in the mailroom October 30, and one tested positive. Administrators closed the mailroom and said they have no evidence that anthrax has spread at the facility in the nation's capital.

State health officials in New Jersey said a mail-processing facility in Camden County tested positive for the presence of anthrax. Tests at the Bellmawr Mail Distribution Center, conducted by the FBI, turned up one sample that tested positive. Analysts took samples Wednesday after an employee was diagnosed with a suspected case of cutaneous anthrax.

In Newark, New Jersey, a postal employee at a noticed a letter that appeared to be leaking, and an analysis showed that it contained laundry detergent, a bleach powder and trace amounts of copper cyanide. Copper cyanide is used for copper electroplating, and can be fatal if large amounts are inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the skin.

Treasury Department officials said they hoped to learn during the weekend the results of environmental testing for anthrax at an off-site mail facility. They closed it Friday night following a mailroom worker's discovery of a suspicious letter with a Trenton, New Jersey, postmark. All three known letters laced with anthrax in the United States so far have been postmarked from Trenton.

The Florida publishing company where one man died of inhalation anthrax may have received more than one letter tainted with the bacteria, a health official investigating the contamination said Saturday.

CASE HISTORY:

 VIDEO
A New York woman with no known connections to recent anthrax incidents dies of the disease. CNN's Gary Tuchman reports (October 31)

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  • Summary

  • Case history

  • Key questions

  • Bottom line

Anthrax attacks
 IN-DEPTH
 VIDEO/AUDIO
  •  Investigators baffled by 94-year-old woman's death
 MORE STORIES
  •  Gephardt: Anthrax cleanup 'tougher than expected'
  •  Official: CIA uses anthrax, but no link to letters
 EXTRA INFORMATION
  •  Anthrax symptoms
  •  Tracking the bacteria
 RESOURCES
  •  Advice on suspicious packages
  •  Message board

Infections -- 17

Inhalation cases:

Florida -- Robert Stevens, photo editor at American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, died of inhalation anthrax.

Washington -- Two postal workers - Joseph Curseen Jr. and Thomas Morris Jr. -- died of inhalation anthrax. Both worked at the Brentwood mail processing center.

New York -- Kathy Nguyen, hospital supply room worker, died of inhalation anthrax.

Washington -- Two other Brentwood workers, also inhalation anthrax.

Washington area -- State Department mailroom employee, inhalation anthrax.

Florida -- Ernesto Blanco, who worked in same building as Robert Stevens, diagnosed with inhalation anthrax; released from hospital on October 24.

New Jersey -- Two Hamilton Township postal workers, inhalation anthrax.

Cutaneous (skin) cases:

New York-- NBC Nightly News, female assistant to anchor Tom Brokaw; ABC News, infant son of producer; CBS News, female assistant to anchor Dan Rather; unidentified person.

New Jersey -- West Trenton postal worker; Hamilton Township mail processing employee; Hamilton Township bookkeeper.

KEY QUESTIONS:

What other biological and chemical weapons could terrorists use? Click here for more

How families of the four people killed by anthrax could get financial help? Click here for more

Besides the United States, where else is anthrax showing up? Click here for more

BOTTOM LINE:

The president is urging the nation to remain calm as investigators probe the source of anthrax that has turned up in Washington, New Jersey, New York and Florida. Federal agencies are still checking various facilities for the presence of the bacteria, and officials are hustling to make sure antibiotics are available to those who may have been exposed to anthrax.



 
 
 
 



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