New York Times hit by anthrax scare

New York Times
hit by anthrax scare

Closes mailroom after receiving suspicious letter

By Jamie L. Jones

    As the nation's concern deepens over yet more findings of anthrax, including traces in the White House's postal centers, The New York Times joins the list of media companies under threat from the potentially lethal disease.
   Yesterday the Times closed its mailroom after an envelope containing a white powder arrived at the mailroom at 8:30 a.m. Two mailroom staffers who came in closest contact with the letter were tested for anthrax exposure.
   Results of the tests are expected later today.
   The Times told Media Life this morning that the mailroom would remain closed pending the test results.
   In the meantime, the newspaper is only accepting correspondence delivered by Federal Express, UPS and other couriers. Mail received through the U.S. Postal Service will not be processed.
   "What we’ve advised our reporters is to contact the individual or organizations that they are expecting mail from to notify them of the closing of the mailroom, and try to find alternative ways of sending the mail—maybe via email or courier services," says a spokesman for the paper.
   The envelope containing the suspicious powder carried a postmark from Glasgow, Scotland, but no return address.
   Yesterday’s anthrax scare at The New York Times was the newspaper’s third incident.
    A letter containing a suspicious powder was sent to reporter Judith Miller on Friday, Oct. 12. Neither Miller nor the letter yielded positive test results for the presence of anthrax spores.
   On Friday, Oct. 19, a suspicious letter was received at the Rio de Janeiro bureau of The New York Times. It tested negative for anthrax but showed traces of another contaminant, says the Times spokesman.
    At American Media, where the story began three weeks ago, mailroom worker Ernesto Blanco is still hospitalized for inhalation anthrax and remains in stable condition.
   According to some reports, six other American Media employees tested positive for anthrax exposure but did not develop an infection. Exposure tests are often suspect due to their inherent tendency to produce false positive results.
   The American Media building in Florida is now in the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing an environmental cleanup.
   American Media continues to publish its tabloid newspapers, with staff following a "hurricane plan" under which they work from home or offices elsewhere in Florida.
   As to whether American Media will ever resume operations from the contaminated Boca Raton building, a spokesperson says that "employee concern will be of paramount importance in making the decision."
   The New York headquarters of all three major networks have seen cases of anthrax, too.
    At CBS, news anchor Dan Rather’s assistant tested positive for cutaneous anthrax. The woman was already taking penicillin for a boil on her face, which her doctors at first diagnosed as an insect bite. She is recovering.
    Trace amounts of anthrax were found in Dan Rather’s office, which was closed only one night for cleaning, according to a CBS spokesperson. The source of the contamination has not yet been identified.
   It’s a similar story at NBC, where an aide to news anchor Tom Brokaw was diagnosed with skin anthrax. Like the woman at CBS, Brokaw’s aide is recovering.
   Anthrax spores were also found in the building’s ventilation system, but in such small amounts that they would not pose a risk, according to a memo sent to NBC employees last week.
   Test results were negative for everyone else at NBC who was tested for anthrax exposure.
   The memo also indicated that much of the network’s Rockefeller Plaza headquarters was stringently cleaned, particularly the area around Tom Brokaw’s office and the Nightly News studio.
    No employee of ABC news has yet tested positive for anthrax exposure or infection, although the infant child of an ABC producer tested positive for cutaneous anthrax.
   The child, who is less than one year old, visited the office on Sept. 28 and became ill with the infection the next day, according to an ABC spokesperson. The child is recovering.
    The source of the anthrax infection has not yet been identified, but certain offices and editorial suites at ABC were cordoned off for environmental cleanup last week.
    At the New York Post, an editorial page assistant developed a cutaneous anthrax infection after handling a letter sent to the Post.
    Officials now say that the letter sent to the New York Post was nearly identical in its message to the letters sent to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
    According to a report on CNN.com, all three letters include the sentences: "Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great."
   The strain of the anthrax bacteria that was used in these letters also appears to be from the same source, all "professional-grade" or "weaponized" anthrax.

-Jamie L. Jones is a staff writer for Media Life.

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