| Subject: NBC tape sent to NYC City Hall contained anthrax |
Author:
No name
| [ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 13:49:35 12/03/01 Mon
http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/11/04/anthrax/index.html
NBC tape sent to NYC City Hall contained anthrax
November 4, 2001 Posted: 1:22 p.m. EST (1822 GMT)
November 4, 2001 Posted: 1:22 p.m. EST (1822 GMT)NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani confirmed Sunday that a tape sent by NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw's office to City Hall contained anthrax.
Giuliani said the tape was sent in the first week of October before Brokaw's assistant tested positive for the cutaneous form of the disease.
Giuliani said the tape sent by NBC was dropped off at the City Hall police desk, then was picked up by two people, including his chief of staff, Tony Carbonetti. "Tony handled it, watched it," Giuliani said.
The mayor did not elaborate on what was on the tape, nor did he say why NBC News sent the tape to his office. (Full story)
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has vaccinated about 140 members of epidemiologic teams that can be summoned at a moment's notice to examine a suspected case anywhere in the country, The New York Times reported Sunday.
While officials say there is no evidence that anyone is readying a terror attack using smallpox, they say these steps are necessary to prepare for any attack. Smallpox is greatly feared as a weapon because it is contagious and has a high death rate.
Latest developments
• A mailroom in the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington has tested positive for anthrax, officials said Saturday. The mailroom is located in a hospital that houses 250 patients but is not near patient areas, said Phil Budahn, the VA's media relations director. Swabs were taken in the mailroom October 30 because the hospital receives its mail from the main Brentwood branch post office in Washington, the facility that processed an anthrax-laden letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. (Full story)
• Elsewhere in Washington, Treasury Department officials said they were still waiting for results of environmental testing for anthrax at an off-site mail facility. Officials closed the facility Friday night following the discovery by a mailroom worker 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. Results from those environmental tests should be available sometime this weekend, said a Treasury Department spokeswoman.
• President Bush on Saturday defended the government's response to the anthrax threat and stressed that the bacteria is not contagious. "As we deal with this new threat, we are learning new information every day," Bush said in his weekly radio address. (Full story)
• A mail processing facility in Camden County, New Jersey, tested positive for the presence of anthrax in tests conducted by the FBI, state health officials said. One sample taken from the Bellmawr Mail Distribution Center tested positive for anthrax. All the other samples were negative. Environmental samples were taken Wednesday after an employee was diagnosed with a suspected case of cutaneous, or skin anthrax. (Full story)
• In Newark, New Jersey, a letter turned up that contained small amounts of cyanide, but not enough to be fatal, officials said. A postal employee at a Newark facility 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. (Full story)
• To date, 17 people have been infected with anthrax in the United States. Four have died of inhalation anthrax and six more are battling that form of the disease. Seven other people have been diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
] |
|
Feedback: 