Anthrax Infects N.J. Postal Worker
By JOHN P. McALPIN
Associated Press Writer
TRENTON, N.J. - Two employees at a regional mail facility are being tested for anthrax exposure after the disease infected a worker at a post office that sends mail through the facility.
State officials said Thursday that a female letter carrier at the West Trenton post office has the skin form of the disease. She may have handled anthrax-contaminated letters sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw in New York and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in Washington, authorities say.
The two people being tested work at the regional facility in Hamilton, N.J., where authorities first tracked the tainted mail, were both working on days when the mail would have been processed. Tests results are pending.
Officials said one of them men and the letter carrier who was diagnosed with the disease were being treated with antibiotics.
"Both are doing well," acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco said.
Officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were traveling to New Jersey to decide if additional tests were warranted for other postal employees.
The Hamilton facility collects mail from 46 post offices throughout central New Jersey.
Postal officials in New Jersey have been examining video surveillance tapes to try to determine the source of the tainted letters. They are also examining the envelopes for clues.
Federal officials also questioned at least two New Jersey pharmacists about anyone buying large amounts of the antibiotic Cipro prior to Sept. 18, the day the first of the two tainted envelopes was mailed.
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