Anthrax Discovered at Princeton P. O.

PRINCETON - Authorities closed the Princeton post office Saturday after tests showed traces of anthrax.

Preliminary sampling done Friday at the facility, which is located in the adjacent municipality of West Windsor, tested positive for a single colony of anthrax in a mail bin.

Further test results were not available Saturday, said Laura Otterbourg, a spokeswoman for the state health department.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) called on postal officials to do anthrax testing of all 46 postal facilities in central New Jersey that send mail to the Hamilton processing center.

"It's a no-brainer to me that we should test those post offices that have regular contact with the infected Hamilton facility," he said.

The test results were the first sample of anthrax to be found in New Jersey other than at the regional postal facility in Hamilton, the source of three anthrax-tainted letters sent to New York and Washington.

In addition, Rep. Rush Holt and his 11-member staff have been told to begin taking antibiotics after trace amounts of anthrax were found in the 12th District congressman's Washington, D.C., office. Anyone who has visited Holt's office since Oct. 12 was also urged to seek treatment. Holt said he was told the anthrax found in his office was probably the result of cross-contamination when a piece of mail sent to him went through a House sorting machine that has tested positive.

State Health Commissioner George DiFerdinando said the CDC did not recommend antibiotic treatment of the 60 to 70 employees at the Princeton post office. But he said the workers will get assistance in obtaining antibiotics if they choose to be treated.

In a sign of how confusing and chaotic the government's investigation into the nationwide anthrax scare has become, DiFerdinando admitted authorities still don't know whether the West Trenton post office in Ewing is free of anthrax or not.

Twenty samples that came back negative which were initially reported to have come from the West Trenton post office actually came from the Hamilton facility, he said. Approximately 20 other samples from West Trenton are still being analyzed at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland.

The health department said a second postal worker from the Hamilton facility whose case has been upgraded to a "suspected" case of inhalation anthrax remained in stable condition at a local hospital, where she is being treated with antibiotics. She first showed symptoms of the disease on Oct. 15, Otterbourg said.

Some health officials warned police to tone down their response to anthrax scares to avoid unduly frightening people. Betty Gormley, a field supervisor with the Gloucester County health department, urged a subdued response, such as a single police car and a telephone call to the health department instead of dispatching multiple fire engines and haz-mat crews in protective suits.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News