NJ Physician to Be Tested for Anthrax

TRENTON, N.J. The Centers for Disease Control has agreed to test the blood of a New Jersey physician who believes he might have contracted skin anthrax in the first week of September. Dr. Gerald M. Weisfogel is one of 4,300 people who have called the state worried that they might have anthrax, state health officials said Monday. None so far actually had the disease, they said. The person with New Jersey's first suspected case of anthrax infection developed symptoms on Sept. 26, eight days after the first of three anthrax-tainted letters that passed through a central New Jersey postal facility was postmarked.

New Jersey has seven suspected cases of anthrax infection; all but one are postal workers. Authorities believe all the infections can be traced to the Hamilton mail processing plant where the letters were routed.

Weisfogel, a cardiologist with offices Kendall Park in northern New Jersey, called the state's emergency management center directly to report his case long after his symptoms disappeared.

"He had his lesion the first week in September and it was resolved," said Dr. Susan Goldstein, a CDC epidemiologist working with the Health Department, who first interviewed Weisfogel on Nov. 6. A blister-like lesion is the first sign of skin anthrax, which is less deadly than the inhaled form that killed two postal workers in Washington, D.C.

Weisfogel's test results are not expected for several days. His case is not being treated more urgently because he has no symptoms and does not appear to be an active infection, Goldstein said.

"Every call is a high priority, but the highest priority is given to persons who are clinically ill at this time," she said.

Since anthrax was detected in New Jersey, health officials have made daily checks of all hospitals in the search for possible infections.

Private physicians also have been urged to call and report suspicious symptoms, Health Department spokeswoman Laura Otterbourg said.

But most of the reports have come from anxious residents, she said.

Weisfogel did not return several telephone messages left at his office Monday by The Associated Press.

In an interview with the New York Times, Weisfogel said he thought his skin lesion was a spider bite and treated himself with antibiotics. He sought to have himself tested for anthrax at the urging of a relative, the newspaper reported.

State health officials have not reported Weisfogel's case to law enforcement agencies investigating the anthrax attacks, Goldstein said.

"We do not see a need to involve them at this point," she said.

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

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News