U.S. Consulate Confirms Anthrax Discovery

Nov. 6 -- The worldwide anthrax scare spread to Russia today as FBI officials conceded they still do not know the source of the deadly bacteria, and have not figured out even what labs in the United States would be able to produce it.

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The latest anthrax scare was revealed today when a U.S. Consulate in Russia confirmed it had received mail from Washington containing traces of anthrax. Consular officials said the mailbag was received on Oct. 19 and tested on Oct. 25 after the State Department notified them that an employee in its mail-handling facility in Virginia had contracted anthrax.

"The State Center for Medical-Epidemiological Control in Yekaterinburg informed the consulate this morning that one of six unclassified diplomatic mailbags received from Washington, D.C., and opened on Oct. 25 had tested positive for anthrax spores," the consulate said in a statement. "The source of the anthrax is not established, although the center told us the spores were found inside the bag."

Consulate officials said no one has contracted anthrax and one employee is on the antibiotic Cipro as a precautionary measure.

"On Oct. 26, one consulate employee decided to take a course of antiobiotics as a precautionary measure, and he'll continue taking the medication for the next 50 days," said consulate press officer Robin Holzhauer. "He is not ill and shows no symptoms of any illness. Medical experts have told us that our remaining employees do not need to begin any antibiotic treatments, and no other employees have shown any symptoms of any disease."

The consulate said that since the spores had only shown up in a second test, the amount of anthrax in the bag was likely to be negligible. Traces of anthrax have been found in two State Department mailrooms and in mail sent to U.S. embassies in Peru and Lithuania.

Yekaterinburg, in west-central Russia, served as a center for Soviet germ warfare, including anthrax development. The accidental release of anthrax spores there killed at least 69 people in 1979. The discovery of anthrax at the consulate in Yekaterinburg was the first of its kind in Russia since the spate of U.S. anthrax attacks.